Robbie Robertson Talks About His Relationship With Levon Helm on The Big Interview 

A hole in the heart.

Like a ton of bricks…. 💔

Same here. His music accompanied me more than many close friends did and will continue to do so. Robbie is UNBOUND now.

😢

American Roulette

Beautifully said.

i.e. team effort?

Levon Helm's Southern musical roots and voice gave The Band authenticity.

right -- who sang them and made them classic?@@CaesarCapone

All THe Band members were very talented, Levon great singer, but so was Richard and my favorite Rick. Garth was a genius on several instruments. Robbie wrote some incredible lyrics. Levon didn't write any song I believe, perhaps 1 or 2, Richard did write, but his alcohol and drug problem got in the way. Rick wrote This wheel is on fire, with Bob Dylan, and I think he wrote some after he went solo. I is not fair to single out one member, since they all were so multitalented. It's okay to have favorites, I have mine, Rick and Robbie, but that does not mean I think they other members did not contribute equally to make The Band the outstanding band they were.@@jgwire

I respectfully, and strongly, disagree. On the contrary, he engaged in oily, passive/aggressive, narcissistic victim-blaming. The fact is his bandmates in general, and Levon in particular, were right in being upset with him. The music industry is sleazier than most can imagine. That's why Celebrity Worship is Dead.

@@fastinbulvis2223 How exactly did he “victim blame”? The facts are that 3 of them…Rick, Richard, and Levon…were drug addicts. Don’t take MY word. Ronnie Hawkins pointed out that drugs ruined what should’ve been the best band on the planet. Levon somewhat admitted to his own addiction in his “autobiography”, except that he downplayed it significantly. Their Manager from 86 to 94, Joe Forno Jr, touched on Levon’s drug addiction in his book, “Levon’s Man”. Sandra Tooze’s biography, “Levon”, discusses this as well. And Rick admitted to spending low 6 figures ANNUALLY on drugs. The idea behind the Last Waltz was to give the drug contingent time off to get their acts together. The only one who actually DID was Richard, until they reformed in 83; he went back to his old habits (Forno’s book goes into some detail regarding this). Turns out that Robbie was right after all about The Road, in spite of Levon’s mocking in his book. Robbie has been nothing but gracious about his old band mates, in spite of the fact that three of them effectively ruined The Band.

@@fastinbulvis2223 Yes, I was always under the impression that Robbie was 'the bad guy' due to, maybe his songwriting and creative differences. That was the impression I had! However, not knowing Levon or Robbie personally, I really have no idea what caused their rift. What I do know is, though is that they were two fantastic musicians and so grateful that we were all blessed with their creative artistry! Rest in peace, Brothers ☺

@@BrendanJohnDoherty Good on you, you got that right

@@fastinbulvis2223 Exactly. The mental health dig was especially cruel. RR was a complete narcissist.

how did he write these songs? any insight from your relationship with him?

@@ch-gr1kg : I can only offer this: Robbie was highly caffeinated, as he loved short single-shot espressos--sorry!

@@TheSometimesWhy

@@TheSometimesWhy "serving' him? -- oh, coffee. sorry. lol

Not to worry. He liked his espresso, short.@@jgwire

I was great, but he did not deserve all the publishing

That's why it's called Rock&Roll...mate,,,@@jonprosise7162

⁠@@jonprosise7162what inside knowledge do you possess that qualifies you to make that statement?

@@BillBurnette Garth Hudson said the same and so did Danko - Levon most famously, of course.

H e took advantage of his brothers when they were down on their luck, or really needed money. I read Levon's book, and Robbies also.

Right on. It seems music fallout at any level last a lifetime

It's easy to appear "honest" when the guys who might KEEP you honest are dead.

And Levon left the part that meant the most. The vocals.

No need to badmouth if you've got all the money...

​@@zjokka So true. Levon wouldn't have fallen on "hard times" if he and the others received credit for the collaborative work they all did together. Seems like RR forgot those "magical" moments.

It's nothing new for the chief song writer to take all the credit. That's why Mick Taylor left the Rolling Stones ,Mick Jager insisted that all music was credited Mick Jager and the Rolling Stones. Levon didn't have to rejoin The Band after he quit when they backed Dylan. Once he came back he excepted the statis quo.Its sour grapes to complain after

Have you seen the Once Were Brothers documentary. It gives a more extensive version of events. I tend to go more with Ronnie Hawkins version of events. If anyone understood the relationships between the five members it's him. Blaming it all on Robbie is a little simplistic but I get why some people see it that way

Yeah because he stole their money

The fact that Robbie had Levon, Rick or Richard sing his songs got a lot of respect from me. Also, that when he brought a song to the table, he had each of them sing it and then they went with whose voice fit the feel of the song. 👍🏻😎

Refrain from singing? He was the 4th best singer in the band, it wasn’t modesty that he wasn’t lead on those tracks. The group was wise to have Levon, Richard and Rick lead. You are falling into a trap of revisionist history.

@@markwebster4996 The Band produced seven studio albums. Out of those seven, how many songs did Robbie Robertson sing?

Just going by the evidence of my own ears. Robertson had a great voice as you can hear on his subsequent albums but he also refers to his vocal altruism in his autobiography. Despite his encouragement to the others he was the only one writing songs so felt he shouldn’t do everything. Drug and alcohol abuse was also taking its toll on the voices of Manuel and Danko though they managed to hold it together for the Last Waltz

​@@robinnicholas7867Robbie had a decent voice for sure. And occasionally he did sing lead on a Band tune, such as Chest Fever.

I wish I could agree but lets say they had a niche

not one of the best.but the very best ever

@@rodconaway you don't get out much, do you?

@@rodconaway Agreed !! The best

I love Robbie and the Band and yes Robbie was always good with words. He is a genius and he wrote most of the Band's hit songs but It's just too bad they could not have come up with a better business agreement for the royalty payments. It can't be a perfect agreement when one guy has $50 Million and every other Band member dies broke. It seems so weird for the person who writes the words to get all the money but the melody and all of the fantastic musical arrangements get nothing. Levon had a reason to be upset but I like them all and Robbie was an amazing talent and one of my all time favorites.

@@scotthuffman8514 I respect your opinion but maybe the drugs are the answer. Meanwhile Robbie was taking seriously his job, wrinting songs, the others were playing with cars and drugs. He gave an added value to the band with his work that the other were unable to do. They could be good sesion musicians but they could never organice an event as the Last Waltz. Regards.

Never underestimate the nature of Spirit and Robbie being Native would have been closest to that. Jim Morrison who said he met the Spirit of Music is a great example of spiritual gifts/insight/intuition (Break on through to the other side or The Narrow and Wide Gates 13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.- Remember the inspiration for Jimi Hendrix's Purple Haze , a dream he had where Jesus saved him under water. So if you can just get your mind together-AMEN- Going Down into the Water Anyone who goes down into the water and comes up without receiving anything and says, “I am a Christian,” has borrowed the name. But one who receives the holy spirit has the name as a gift. A gift does not have to be paid back, but what is borrowed must be paid. This is how it is with us, when one of us experiences a mystery. Gospel of Philip -NOT NECESSARILY STONED BUT BEAUTIFUL AMEN

@@santiagosanzromero3428 Maybe, but tons of rock bands from this era broke-up once the other guys figured out the writer was getting all the money. CCR with John Fogerty was the same way. Yes, it's complicated but in a perfect world the publishing money is not all or nothing. The other guys helped put those songs together. Without the music, songs are just poems. I'm just saying that it is hard to blame Levon for being upset about the business side of things.

​@@santiagosanzromero3428Bill Graham and Martin Scorsese had much to do with The Last Waltz. It was a labor of love for both of them and the finished product clearly shows this. The Last Waltz is great music history.

4/5th of America's greatest Band was Canadian!!!!

no levons book n hoskyns or heylin?? book.

@@kevinjoseph517 read all of them. All excellent

Yes! One of the best autobiographies ever, hands down. ✌️

I'm almost finished reading it, I started it weeks ago. Was schocked that Robertson when I learned that he had died. Have loved The Band since I first heard "Up on cripple creek" in the late sixties.

@@kevinjoseph517 Well, the subject here is Robbie. Besides, according to Joe Forno’s book “Levon’s Man” (he managed The Band from 86 to 94), Levon admitted to a Fayetteville Ark newspaper that the book was 50% bullshit. This confirms my suspicion that it was Stephen Davis, and not Levon Helm, who actually wrote the book. Davis mangled his biography of Led Zeppelin. Sandra Tooze’s biography of Levon is an excellent read. She covered the whole songwriting credits issue fairly.

What interview did you listen to?? He’s a raging narcissist!!! And weird as hell!! His writing was mediocre. Without Levon singing it, it would be one good fire starter.

That's because he didn't write the songs alone. He just tricked the band into giving up their rights.

@@scotttillman01nailed it

@@scotttillman01Tell more lies. The only person who purported that was a bitter addicted Levon. The other members never had that bone to pick with Robbie. Robbie always took the high road. I love Levon, but he Rick, and Richard were so far gone. The Band never wrote any good songs without Robbie is proof positive.

Guess you were in the room, eh? @@scotttillman01

@@darrellkastin6738 I was, you were obviously not.

Oh baloney...

Levon saw Robertson for the cutthroat prick he was.

Fallen Angel 😢😢😢

Did he sing on it? Hahahahaha!

@@joeking433 Yes. Try commenting on things you know about instead.

@@tyrapp262 Robertson couldn't sing a lick. Not a lick! He couldn't come close to hitting the right note on a bet! They never let him sing, his mic was always off! That's just a fact!

@@joeking433 Fallen Angel was on his first solo album about Richard Manuel. Try and keep up.

@@joeking433 ...If Robbie wrote all the songs, I believe it's his money? The rest of the band still get Performing rights, as they "played" Robbie's songs. So, he actually didn't get "ALL" the money...he got most of it. And rightly so. If Danko & Helm wrote any songs then they would get their "rights" too. It's call "business". Anything else is bullshit.

Bitter Robbie Robinson took all the credits of writing all that why do you think there was bad blood

​@dat219 He did do alot of the writing. I think Levon was jealous because Robbie was successful after leaving the band.

@@dat219 Robbie doesn't appear to be bitter at all. Haters seem to be bitter.

RR was a Canadian, he didn't know about the Civil War and all of the other Americana themes woven into the Band's music-they came from Levon. RR may have played a leading role in writing, but it was a group effort and they all deserved to share in the publishing legacy, even at lesser amounts. Levon won a Grammy for one of his solo albums. He was a talented musician and a good songwriter.

​@@CastleMcYou seriously don't think Canadians know abt the Civil War?! Or Americana?!

@@CastleMc Robbie visited more southern towns than most southerners had. He toured the chitlin circuit with Ronnie Hawkins when he was just 16. Do some research before sounding off.

His own downfall. No one else to blame.

Liar. This is a bs story.

Did that guy get royalties for writing that lyric?

@@medicalnegligence No, but years later, the guy was attempting to enter an NBC studio in NYC and wound up killing a stagehand with an assault rifle. He got a prison sentence of 25 years for manslaughter.

He always was good at bullshitting people.

Great album. My discovery of this record was...monumentous.

My vision (hallucination) is that Robbie isn't "resting" on the laurels won during his Earthly pastime. After a nap, he's now up unfolding like a morninglory, joined with the innumberable greats that've already made it hOMe, pitch shifting The Music of the Spheres to reflect today's times. ...just g'listen and see !!

Did he sing on it? LOL!

@@joeking433 He sang on his solo albums.

@@tyrapp262 Actually he didn't. He just kind of mumbled.

When you're the guy screwing others instead of the one being screwed you won't hold a grudge.

Yep ive been in bands for 25 years and the adrenaline rush of being on stage is a lot and drains you, then add alcohol.or drugs to it and tempers can easily explode, ive had cymbals thrown at my head. You learn quick to not sweat the small stuff

and in alot of cases being in a band can like a working job where you are employed and you just see your coworkers and once the job (band) is over you go your separate ways. It seems more rare to have close brotherhood in a band than not

@@jckhammer I'll just point out that there are very few jobs where the workers travel around on a bus together, stay at the same hotels and motels, spend most of their off time together in the studio, and really have to relate to each other in a way that is not common outside of a marriage. I'll grant that the musicians in B. B. King's band (for instance) are more like employees, but that's because he's the star, and they are the side meat. Outside of a few core members, they can come and go without causing a ripple. The Band wasn't a star and sidemen, it was a band in the true sense of the word.

@@peskyfervid6515 Excellent point, well said. Their ability to survive and remain a tight group while backing some notorious egos like Dylan’s and others speaks volumes too.

@@peskyfervid6515 Except Robertson weaseled his way into all the money while the others got very little.

Remember the good times.

According to him, with no one able to challenge his version of events. He talks like the person he was, "last man standing" so winner takes all. Why would he be bothered as to what Levon said? He was rolling in money and likely didn't dare rock that boat, lest it put the blowtorch to him.

Levon’s autobiography is very clear about the reasons for his anger with Robbie, so it wasn’t the media who created this story.

He was fine because he came out on top. There WAS a feud based on RR taking all of the publishing credits and royalties. That was a Big deal. Levon and the others never got over it, and Levon didn't know that RR went to his death bed.

Levon hated him from the bottom of his heart. He was a traitor for him. Robbie wrote his book and said this things because he didnt wanted to be hated by Levon and he thought he was right (legally he was). His Mission was to go from this world not to be remembered as the traitor who killed The Band.

@@djardine2520 No, it was Helm and his ghostwriter, Stephen Davis who created the nonsense. If people actually read the articles on The Band, they would know that is was nonsense. A lot of people were duped by Helm's "gentlemanly" southern conduct in public, but people who knew him said there was a dark side to him.

LOL!

Robbie is like if Bernie Taupin thought he was more important than Elton John.

Publishing rights are everything

That’s not how publishing rights work. Those guys in the Band worked hard and played harder. Levon fell on hard times, they also led him to a musical rebirth that was an absolute triumph. Robbie was the one who sat down and wrote those tunes, without that, it wouldn’t have gone any farther. The Band itself was on another level with respect to what they were able to do with that music and that includes Robbie’s contributions as a guitar player and arranger. Levon had a tough row today hoe, but look at Richard and Rick’s stories gone far too soon, Robbie isn’t to blame for that. Robbie was shrewd, he turned his back to the road and that destructive lifestyle at some point. That was the single biggest difference.

Rick, Richard, and Garth sold their publishing rights to Robbie. Levon kept his. Levon and maybe Robbie's books touch on this iirc

@@kirbydaelf - They signed them over in anger (at the time) - not sold, big difference.

What “happened “ is a story as old as time .. Levon didn’t benefit from many sing writing credits. That’s not usually a horrible thing.. because bands can make some decent coin touring. When Robbie broke up The Band, that ended . I’m subsequent years, Robbie benefitted from publishing .. as all song writers do. Hell, by the late 80’s and 90’s, The Band were getting steady airplay on FM stations.. That publishing cash went to songwriters .. Levon was such a gifted man. Incredible voice .. but his addiction and mismanagement of money got turned best off him.

I understand that for Robbie the band had run it's course and he left. Where Levon was not ready to quit, and it really pissed him off that Robbie left the band.

@@garylester8621Robbie wanted The Band to go on as a recording act only…much like The Beatles. Everyone but Garth was more interested in the bottle and needle at that time.

Except he couldn't sing.

Rather asked that question AFTER Robertson explained that there wasn't any real feud. Rather ignored Robertson's previous answer.

Well said. I’ve been a social media defender of Robbie for years now who once bought into Levon’s “autobiography”. Research shows that the credits were properly distributed. And I prefer to concentrate on an incredible body of work instead of a one-sided “feud” that seems to captivate more than the incredible songs do…and that’s a damned shame, because that second album ALONE has more great songs on it than most band’s greatest hits collections have. I was absolutely gutted at the sad news…the way I was gutted after Richard’s suicide, Danko’s way-too-early death, and Levon’s passing. I love The Band, and the men that made this magic happen.

Amen

Garth Hudson is still going at 86....

Beautifully said. Thanks.

Thanks for your words. Let's remember their musical greatness.

there was more then 3......

Every one of them

4 are gone ones still with us

@alangray9117 Just because he said he saw Levon and then made peace with him does not mean it actually happened.

@@francescadesmond8846 how the hell do you know? I'd rather believe Robbie than you anyway.

But it was a one sided payday! The Band got nothing while he got rich!!

Don't overlook Robbie's Indigenous background too.

Hahahahaha! You wouldn't know the devil if you saw him!

Fallen Angel? Ask Levon about that!

@@joeking433 This was about remembering Robbie Robertson, not about crediting Levon Helm’s authorship of a song.

@@Bill_Jones. I'm sure Robertson got his just reward.

Fallen Angel was Robbie's tribute to Richard. RIP.

Well said

Well said indeed.

Garth is still with us.

Levon speaks the truth in his books and interviews. Robbie was a soulless conniving demon.

Who among us would guess that Dylan would outlive all of them (except now Garth)? Amazing.

Maybe he didn’t want to make a sad situation worse. I believe Levon’s animus towards Robbie wasn’t based in reality. Even some who worked closely with Levon were mystified by it.

Probably because people like you would bitch about it.

Or Richard Manuel's. I was there. He was not.

Some people have a difficult time attending funerals. It doesn’t mean that they don’t love the deceased, necessarily.

@@swilkobarfingtoniii1642 i spoke to richards driver--sober driver n roadie for 10 years w the band..sad story of addiction. even violence.

I'm pretty sure he presented words and music, but I also imagine that the words were influenced by things Levon and the others said, and the music would have grown from their input. Maybe the best thing would have been to copyright the songs as Robertson/The Band, with the other four sharing 50%. Certainly, after they split, none of the others created more than the occasional co-write, and though Robertson wrote quite a few songs, maybe only the chorus to Crazy River ever approached the magic of his time in The Band.

Go watch some docs on it, its pretty well explained. Songwriters like Robbie Robertson or Roger Waters have lyrics and a basic melody. Robbie was always clear about that. In the music business unfortunately melody and lyrics are the major songwriting credits and get the most money. Not fair, but everybody knows this going on. Nick Mason in Pink Floyd didn't make the money Roger Waters or David Gilmour made. Its been well recorded that Robertson was pretty generous with songwriting credits. Nobody disputes that he wrote the lyrics, and he did the basic melody. At that point it certainly is not what we call a song. On the documentaries Robbie talks about exactly what everybody else contributed, and they get money from album sales from their management company. They don't get publishing rights because there is nothing they contributed 'to publish' and publishing rights used to be the main income generator.

@@mikearchibald744 Pretty accurate there, friend, just have to refine it a bit. I'm a songwriter, and have a bit of experience with this. What Robertson brought to the table was actually songs, not just lyrics and melody, but also--this is key--the basic chord progression. Which means that before the other guys in The Band did anything, any decent musician could take what Robbie had already done, sit at a piano or with a guitar and play and sing the song from beginning to end. Levon, who never wrote, considered arrangements (which is basically deciding what instruments will be used, and which ones do what where, as well as how vocal harmonies will be used, etc.) to be songwriting. But the fact is that he was, and still is, dead wrong about that. Legally, artistically--in every way. Without the songwriter actually providing the chords, lyrics and melody--the song itself--there is nothing to arrange in the first place. The Roger Waters case is actually a bit trickier, because Pink Floyd often (not always) wrote instrumental parts by jamming, so although Waters always wrote lyrics, a lot of stuff came from (or with) Gilmour and Wright, so credits are harder to parse. But it's very well documented--and verified by people who were there and would know, like John Simon and Ronnie Hawkins--that Robbie wrote at home and brought in full songs. Which were then arranged (brilliantly!) by The Band. There may still be questions up in the air about various things, but who wrote the songs is not one of them: Robbie did. RIP to the legend. And peace & abundance to you.

@@sunandablanc Thanks much, I was thinking specifically of much of The Wall and Dark Side. You can actually go listen to Rogers demo of "Time" and there really isn't much to it but him singing adn just strumming a guitar. In interviews he's said that he always writes with a guitar, but strumming a chord isn't songwriting, as opposed to Money, which was changed a lot, but he did have the 7/8 riff and the chord progression you mention. As he said, Levon had some trouble accepting responsibility. I looked up a story that actually had a segment of his book in the article, the article was about 'the bad luck that followed him', but thats not ALL 'bad luck'. A singer as good as him and a fairly inventive drummer he really shouldn't have been bankrupted by a fire. Only Garth can add anything to that, and he ain't talking, probably wisely.

​@@mikearchibald744When R.E.M. started to gain traction it was agreed that all songwriting royalties would be split four ways. All contributed, but the bulk was carried by Stipe and Mills. This was very smart. They also had a no hard drugs policy which again was smart. Helped the band to be together for many years.