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I think we can all agree that Sir Elton John is a living legend, but when he was just getting started back in the '70s, some of the "Great Songs" he is famous for today were not exactly chart toppers.
Take "Levon" for example.
As with most of Elton's hits, the lyrics of "Levon" were written by Bernie Taupin, who sometimes would write in a "stream of consciousness" sort of way that could be open to all sorts of interpretations.
For example: Levon sells "cartoon balloons." Does that mean he literally sells balloons with cartoons on them...OR does he sell ideas that symbolically appear like thought balloons in a comic strip? Those are just two possible examples.
When asked what the lyrics meant, Elton said, "I don't know. Ask Bernie."
When Rolling Stone Magazine asked Bernie, he said, "I have no idea; they're just lines that came out that were interesting."
Two things are for certain:
#1: Although "Levon" is "Novel" spelled backward, by all accounts it's just a coincidence.
#2: There was a lot of speculation that the song was named after Levon Helm, drummer for The Band. Bernie denied it and said he just liked the name.
So how did "Levon" do on the charts? Well, the single (from the 1971 album, "Madman Across the Water") clocked in at 5:22, which in the '70s was too long for most radio station formats. Elton refused to cut it down, so it never got the airplay it originally deserved.
It ended up peaking at just #24 on Billboard's Hot 100, but over the years, the song has grown in popularity and become a standard on classic rock and oldies stations.
Why? Because "Levon" is a "Great Song," and has been since 1971--no matter HOW you choose to interpret those lyrics.
Final note: Sir Elton and his partner David Furnish became parents to a son born on Christmas Day 2010 to a surrogate mother in California. They named him Zachary Jackson Levon Furnish-John. It's easy to assume the name "Levon" was chosen because of the song's line, "He was born a pauper to a pawn on a Christmas day."
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