Levon Helm Gave Roger Waters a Razorback Cap

Originally published Feb. 27, 2013

Several nights ago we saw a conversation on Twitters between our webmaster Patrick Houston and Blake Eddins, the former Razorback basketball star, current Razorback basketball analyst, and Weekly Fried radio show co-host.

They traded back and forths about Pink Floyd bassist/songwriter Roger Waters and the tale of Waters’ favorite article clothing – a Razorback ball cap he was given by Arkansas music legend Levon Helm.

We’ll let Patrick tell the rest.

Frankly, I was astounded. I suppose had I thought about it, it wouldn’t have surprised me that the two men were friends, but a gift from Levon to Roger of a Razorback cap being his most prized possession? Awww, c’mon girl!

Pink Floyd’s The Wall was the most important album of my high school years. This was back in the day of 8 tracks, and I owned two copies – one for my ’68 Chevy and one for the bedroom. I listened to it incessantly for months on end. Yes, I was that kid.

If you didn’t like Water’s lyrical obsessions, I probably didn’t want much to do with you. For years I tried to play with the same kind of random precision of David Gilmore, but always ended up sounding like Keith Richards at his sloppy worst. Still love the entire Floyd catalog.

Later, in college, I discovered The Band. The seminal band from Canada playing Americana spoke to my soul like few other bands ever have. Robbie Robertson, the wanker, claimed most of the credit, but anyone with half a brain and one eye could see that it was really Levon’s band.

The kind of folkish, southern Americana that The Band exemplified has formed the backbone of my musical sensibilities ever since. Finding The Band led me to Gram Parsons, Doug Sahm, Townes Van Zandt and eventually to bands like Dwight Yoakam, Uncle Tupelo, Son Volt and others.

The point is, that two of the most important bands from my musical heritage being connected by a Razorback cap was just too much for my little pea brain to get hold of. Naturally, I’m going to talk about that shit for the next 44 years.

And just as naturally, I’m going straight to Google Image Search to see if I could find any pictures.

So then I have to see if I can find the video on the YouTubes.

In the video, Waters tells the story of how Helm gave him his “fishing hat” and proclaims “This will be with me until the day I day I die because it means a lot to me.”

Levon Helm gave Waters the hat after a concert in the former no-man’s-land area of Berlin shortly after the Wall came down in that city. The two shared the stage for that concert in 1990.

Woo Pig Sooie, take a load off and put another brick in the wall.

And for your mid-week listening pleasure, a little Levon Helm and Pink Floyd.

Patrick lives in Little Rock with his wife Kyran, their three sons and Rosco the dog. You can follow Patrick on the Twitters.