Song Anatomy ● "Levon" - Elton John

"LEVON" / From UNI album “Madman Across the Water” / Elton John & Bernie Taupin / Side A of original 1971 US single

Song Anatomy ● "Levon" - Elton John

The Song● Levon

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)

Madman Across the Water ● Elton John

Madman Across the Water is Elton John’s fourth studio album, released in 1971 through DJM and Uni Records. The album was his third album to be released in 1971, at which point John had been rising to prominence as a popular music artist. John's first progressive rock album, Madman Across the Water contains nine tracks, each composed and performed by John and with lyrics written by songwriting partner Bernie Taupin. Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman plays Hammond organ on two songs.

The song, "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.

Elton John began writing with lyricist Bernie Taupin in 1969, and 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.”

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