Song · Levon Helm
“When I Go Away” by Levon Helm
From the album Electric Dirt (2009)
“When I Go Away” by Levon Helm appears on 13 radio countdowns from 4 stations between 2009 and 2024. It was first released in 2009 on the album Electric Dirt. Its best result is #4 on the WXPN Year in Review: Top 100 Songs of 2009. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #67 indie & aaa song of 2009, #1,010 indie & aaa song of all time and #82 of the '00s.
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"When I Go Away" comes from Electric Dirt, the 2009 record that turned out to be Levon Helm's last studio album, the follow-up to his Grammy-winning Dirt Farmer of 2007. The song is Larry Campbell's from top to bottom: he wrote the words and music, produced the session, played both acoustic and electric guitar and joined the backing singers.
Helm is where you want him, behind the drums and out front on the vocal, that weathered voice carrying the tune while Byron Isaacs holds down the bass and Brian Mitchell leans on the organ. Behind him, Campbell, Jay Collins, Amy Helm and Teresa Williams fill in the harmonies like old friends crowding round the microphone. Justin Guip recorded and mixed it. Electric Dirt went on to win the first Grammy ever handed out for Best Americana Album.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz.
RockLists rankings
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 4 | WXPN Philadelphia, PA | WXPN Year in Review: Top 100 Songs of 2009 | 100 |
| 2009 | 53 | 106.1 The Corner Charlottesville, VA | 106.1 The Corner Top 106 Songs of 2009 | 106 |
| 2009 | 39 | WTMD Baltimore, MD | WTMD Top 89 Songs of 2009 | 89 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 116 | WYEP | WYEP 913 Songs That Matter from the Last Decade | 913 |
| 2013 | 152 | WXPN | WXPN 885 Greatest Songs of the New Millennium (2013) | 885 |
| 2016 | 680 | WYEP | WYEP 913 Countdown 2016 | 913 |
| 2018 | 510 | WTMD | WTMD Listeners' Top 897 Songs, 2003-2018 | 896 |
| 2019 | 575 | WYEP | WYEP Big Spring Countdown 2019 | 1017 |
| 2019 | 575 | WYEP | WYEP Labor Day Weekend Countdown 2019 | 1099 |
| 2020 | 1327 | WXPN | WXPN 2020 Greatest Songs of All Time | 2020 |
| 2022 | 1135 | WYEP | WYEP Countdown to Fall 2022 | 603 |
| 2023 | 481 | WYEP | WYEP Countdown to Fall 2023 | 1229 |
| 2024 | 466 | WYEP | WYEP Best Songs of the Past 50 Years | 1049 |
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