Levon - Elton John

[DrCarioca]

It seems that no one, or practically no one - I did just now find 6 hits on Google - gets that “He shall be Levon” = “He shall believe on”.

And he shall believe on
And he shall be a good man
And he shall believe on
In tradition with the family plan
And he shall believe on
And he shall be a good man
He shall believe on

Or does everybody actually get this and it is so obvious that no one thinks it’s worth mentioning?

[samclem]

I’ll provide a link to the column so that everyone can follow along.

In the Elton John song “Levon,” who is Alvin Tostig?

[Jackmannii]

Few people realize this, but Andrew Gold’s “Lonely Boy” was Levon’s unhappy older brother.

[Bullitt]

I wasn’t aware of that… be Levon is really believe on. I stopped in mainly to say that I love the piano opening riff to that song.

[Czarcasm]

Interesting theory, but I don’t think the rest of the song fits it quite that well.

[Bullitt]

From samclem’s linked article:

According to Gus Dudgeon, who produced Madman Across the Water and wrote an essay containing this information to accompany the remastered version, the name “Levon” was inspired by Levon Helm, drummer, lead singer, and founder of The Band, a group from the 60s and 70s. The Band was apparently Elton John’s and Bernie Taupin’s favorite group in those days. (Taupin is the guy who writes or co-writes a lot of Elton John’s songs and who wrote the lyrics for “Levon.”)

SDMB article (March 2000): In the Elton John song “Levon,” who is Alvin Tostig?