Michelle Mangione: Ride (Tribute to Levon Helm)

Written by Michelle Mangione
Album: Ponies, 2014

Listen:

LA-based singer, songwriter, drummer, guitarist and political activist Michelle Mangione has co-written songs with artists like Grace Slick (Jefferson Airplane) and Exene Cervenka (X). She released her Ponies album in 2014, including a lovely, country-style tribute to Levon Helm titled "Ride".

Lyrics

I saw the pictures
I flipped through the pages
Seems like a lifetime ago
The seeds that you planted
Have grown through the ages
They're still growin' stronger than most

You were in it for somethin' you could not explain
And they offered you pieces of gold
But all of the money, misfortune and fame
They don't mean much when you're old

[Chorus]
Levon are you listening
They're playing your song
Forty years after the tide
Somewhere in heaven
There's a hell of a cornfield
So get on your tractor and ride

In this world either you're livin' or dyin'
Sometimes you have to decide
It may not be easy but it's always worth tryin'
To take the heartaches in stride

[Chorus]

Sometimes i still hear you
Comin' through loud and clear
Over an old radio
It may be an old song, it may be a sad one
But it always releases my soul

[Chorus x 2]