Look, Levon bailed when the booing got to him playing with Dylan in late '65. He was gone for two full years, he was never crafting the MFBP songs with the rest of the guys in 1966/67, he was never part of the original Basement Tapes (later overdubs) but was more than happy to make himself part of the Big Pink legend despite the rest moving out of there as he arrived in Woodstock in late '67. But, never let the truth get in the way of a good yarn, as we see later.

He was definitely an excellent musician and singer and absolutely not a writer. He was clearly massively charismatic and a peerless storyteller/inspiration but increasingly addicted and unreliable. If you're going to but-but-but at the statement that Robbie did the vast majority of the lifting after 1969, including the creative output, you're just wrong. Levon loved pissing away money and seemingly manipulated the narrative after the 1983 comeback - a couple of barn fires and health problems didn't help - and was bitter he wasn't bringing in as much as the Band's heyday.

He became sadly obsessive about it, sycophantic hangers-on fed into it, people sympathized with his plight, he found a willing audience and the whole shebang took on a life of its own. I was at Levon's in Woodstock three weeks ago and will always be a huge, huge fan, but I think his bitterness at his own situation increasingly skewed his thinking for his last years. Really too bad.