Writers: Elton John and Bernie Taupin
Producer: Gus Dudgeon
Recorded: February 27, 1971 in London, England
Released: Fall, 1971
| Players: | Elton John–vocals, piano Caleb Quaye–electric guitar Les Thatcher–acoustic guitar Brian Odgers–bass Barry Morgan–drums Brian Dee–harmonium Leslie Duncan–backing vocals Sue & Sunny–backing vocals Barry St. John–backing vocals Liza Strike–backing vocals Paul Buckmaster–string arrangement and conducting |
| Album: | Madman Across The Water (Uni, 1971) |
Elton John was born Reginald Kenneth Dwight and took his stage name from the first names of two members in the band Bluesology. He legally changed his name in 1972, adding the middle name Hercules.
He began writing with lyricist Bernie Taupin in 1969.
“Levon'' peaked at Number 24 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in January 1972.
The Madman Across The Water album hit Number Eight in the U.S. on the Billboard 200 chart and Number 41 in the U.K.
Like many of the early John-Taupin songs, “Levon” is a narrative character study. John says, “In the beginning … (Taupin) wrote in the narrative style; he didn't write songs. The early lyrics weren't in verse and chorus form at all. He didn't know about verses and choruses, he just wrote what he liked. Things like 'Madman Across The Water,' 'Indian Sunset,' and 'Talking Old Soldiers' were written in the narrative form. I used to be able to get twelve words in one line, because he had written twelve words in one line. It was a magical thing.”
Taupin told John biographer Philip Norman that “Levon” and the rest of the Madman album was inspired by the duo's travels through the U.S.: “What that album still reminds me of most is simply being in America, driving down the freeways in L.A., listening to the car radio.”
