Early years
Helm was born in Marvell, Arkansas and began playing the guitar at the age of eight. Helm also played drums during his formative years and established his first band The Jungle Bush Beaters while in high school. He was influenced by the Grand Ole Opry and by R&B songs that he heard on radio station WLAC out of Nashville, Tennessee.
Helm became interested in rock and roll after attending an Elvis Presley concert. He moved from Arkansas to Memphis, Tennessee where he was influenced by Bo Diddley and Conway Twitty. At age 17 he was invited to join The Hawks, backing rockabilly singer Ronnie Hawkins. Soon after Helm joined The Hawks, they moved to Toronto where, in 1959, they signed with Roulette Records and released several singles, including a few hits.
In the early 1960s Helm and Hawkins recruited an all-Canadian lineup of musicians: guitarist Robbie Robertson, bassist Rick Danko, pianist Richard Manuel and organist Garth Hudson. In 1963, the band parted ways with Hawkins and started touring under the name Levon and The Hawks and later to the Canadian Squires before finally changing back to The Hawks. They recorded two singles, but found little success.
The Band
By the mid 1960s, Bob Dylan was interested in performing electric rock music, and asked The Hawks to be his backing band. Disheartened by fans' negative response to Dylan's new sound, Helm returned to Arkansas for what turned out to be a two-year layoff, being replaced by Mickey Jones. During his absence, The Hawks had taken up residence in Woodstock, New York and began writing their own songs; Danko and Manuel also shared writing credits with Dylan on a few songs. Here they recorded a large volume of demo tapes, many with fellow Woodstock resident Dylan (who had completely withdrawn from public life the previous year). These recordings were widely bootlegged, and the best tracks were officially released only in 1975 as The Basement Tapes double album. The songs and themes developed during this period played a crucial role in the group's future direction and style.
In 1967 Helm returned to the group, which by then was christened simply as The Band. They recorded Music From Big Pink, which catapulted them into stardom. On Big Pink, Manuel was the most prominent vocalist and Helm sang mainly backup, with the outstanding exception of "The Weight," but as Manuel's health deteriorated and Robertson's songwriting increasingly looked south for influence and direction, subsequent albums relied more and more on Helm's growling but eerily plaintive vocals (alone or in harmony with Danko), both enriched by and anchored in lush Southern texture. Singing lead, Helm brought out common elements in folk and blues vocal styles, often assuming the character of a kind of mythical Southern everyman, who witnesses bewildering events and reacts to them with wonder and rage. Helm played drums for perhaps 85% of The Band's songs, including most of those for which he sang lead. But the entire group was multi-instrumental, and often Helm would be found performing on mandolin or 12-string rhythm guitar when Manuel played drums, and bass when Danko played fiddle.
Helm remained with The Band until their 1976 farewell performance, The Last Waltz, which was recorded in a documentary film by Martin Scorsese. Although many now know Helm through his appearance in the concert film – a performance remarkable for the fact that Helm's vocal tracks appear substantially as he sang them during a grueling concert – he repudiated his involvement with the film shortly after the final scenes were shot and, in his autobiography, offers scathing criticisms of the film and of his former bandmate, Robertson, who produced the film.
As solo artist, The Band reunited
With the breakup of The Band in its original form, Helm began working on a solo album Levon Helm & the RCO All-Stars, which was followed soon thereafter by Levon Helm. He recorded solo albums in 1980 and 1982 entitled American Son and (once again) Levon Helm. Helm also participated in Paul Kennerley's 1980 country music concept album, The Legend of Jesse James, singing the role of Jesse James alongside Johnny Cash, Emmylou Harris and Albert Lee.
In 1983, The Band reunited without Robbie Robertson, but then Manuel committed suicide while on tour in 1986. Helm, Danko and Hudson continued in The Band, releasing the album Jericho in 1993 and High on the Hog in 1996. The final album from The Band was the 30th anniversary album, Jubilation, released in 1998.
His most recent solo albums, Dirt Farmer, was released in 2007 to favorable reviews and followed in 2009 with an album entitled "Electric Dirt", which included a cover of the Grateful Dead song Tennessee Jed.
Helm was diagnosed with throat cancer in 1998. On April 19, 2012, Helm died of throat cancer complications in New York City.
You Better Move On
Levon Helm Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
You tell me I'm not the man she's worthy of
But who are you to tell her who to love?
That's up to her, yes and the Lord above
You better move on
Well, I know you can buy her fancy clothes and a diamond ring
But I believe she's happy with me without those things
My friend that will never be
You better move on
I can't blame you for loving her
But can't you understand that she's my girl
And I'm never gonna let her go
'Cause I'm the one who loves her so
I think you'd better go on now I'm getting mighty mad
You ask me to give up the only love I've ever had
Maybe I would but I love her so
I'm never gonna let her go
You better move on
You better move on
You better move on
You better move on
You better move on
You better move on
You better move on
You better move on
You better move on
In "You Better Move On," Levon Helm sings about a man who tries to convince him to give up the woman he loves. The man insists that Helm is not worthy of her, but the singer asserts that it's not up to anyone else to tell her who to love. He even invokes the Lord above to emphasize that point.
The singer acknowledges that the other man may be wealthy enough to give her fancy clothes and a diamond ring, but he believes that she is happy with him even without those things. Despite the other man's appeals, the singer insists that he will never let her go because he loves her so much.
The song is a powerful assertion of a person's right to choose their own love and defiance against those who try to interfere. It's also a statement against societal norms that try to dictate who is worthy of love and who isn't.
Line by Line Meaning
You ask me to give up the hand of the girl I love
You're asking me to leave the girl I love.
You tell me I'm not the man she's worthy of
You're telling me I'm not good enough for her.
But who are you to tell her who to love?
Who are you to tell her who she can and cannot love?
That's up to her, yes and the Lord above
It's her decision, not yours or anyone else's.
You better move on
You should leave us alone.
Well, I know you can buy her fancy clothes and a diamond ring
I know you can impress her with your money.
But I believe she's happy with me without those things
But I believe that she's happy with me without all those material possessions.
Still you beg me oh to set her free
But you keep asking me to let her go.
My friend that will never be
Sorry, but that's not going to happen.
I can't blame you for loving her
I don't blame you for loving her.
But can't you understand that she's my girl
But do you not understand that she's my girlfriend?
And I'm never gonna let her go
And I'll never let her go.
'Cause I'm the one who loves her so
Because I'm the one who truly loves her.
I think you'd better go on now I'm getting mighty mad
I think you should leave now, I'm getting angry.
Maybe I would but I love her so
Maybe I would leave, but I love her too much.
I'm never gonna let her go
I'll never let her go.
You better move on
You should leave us alone.
You better move on
You should leave us alone.
You better move on
You should leave us alone.
You better move on
You should leave us alone.
Contributed by Lillian M. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Peter Plunkett
This is definately the best cover of this song, I like it even more than the original version by Arthur Alexander. Levon Helm and his band had to love this song very much. Excellent job!
NevadaBoss
One of the greatest of the greats...there can't/won't ever be another Levon.
Rick Keogh
Although many artists have covered this song do a great job, this is the best of all
Jim Gurney
RIP Levon Thanks for the music.
Joe Fronti
I love it.Levon Helm is one of the best.R.I.P.
skintmule
Levon Helms... A true Legend.
Jane Dwyer
The Rolling Stones version is very good.
Richard F
My favorite version..Willie deVilles version is good also
salmax12
R.I.P Levon
musicray65
Great version of this song...better than the Arthur Alexander version...only one other version i like better than Levon Helm's version is by Piet Vermann of The Cats...take a listen the that version.