His Ride Is Here:  A Tribute to Warren Zevon

Hunter Thompson and Warren Zevon

By the time you read this little article of mine, there’s a good chance the world will have lost a one of a kind singer-songwriter.

In mid-September, Warren Zevon announced that he had terminal lung cancer and wouldn’t be with us much longer.

I don’t want to write an obit, however.  I want to celebrate a life: a musical life that has gone greatly unappreciated by the fickle pop/rock charts, but hardly unnoticed by musicians, critics, writers, and fans of literate, sardonic rock and roll.

Warren Zevon has penned some of the most tender love songs I’ve ever had the pleasure of crying through.  He’s also come up with some of the most self-deprecating and caustic tunes in rock history.  To top it all off, he’s populated many songs with characters so three-dimensional and eccentric, novels could be etched out of his 4-minute elegies.  When it comes to this particular kind of songwriting, only Randy Newman gets same breath recognition.  As Jackson Browne put it, it’s “song noir”.

If you think you’ve heard the name, but can’t place Zevon, you probably at least know “Werewolves of London” and “Poor Poor Pitiful Me”, his only legitimate ‘hits’ by industry standards.  He’s also a favorite of David Letterman, who hired him as the permanent fill-in bandleader for Paul Shaffer a few years ago.  But if you think that’s where the music ends, read on…

To give you some idea of the adoration fellow artists have for Warren, here’s a partial list of those who have performed alongside him, either as vocalists or musicians, on his albums: Linda Ronstadt, Don Henley, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, REM, Bruce Hornsby, Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood, Graham Nash, Glenn Frey, members of The Beach Boys and Pink Floyd, Jerry Garcia, Dwight Yoakam, The Everly Brothers, and Chick Corea.  Jackson Browne was his mentor and first record producer.  He’s even co-written a tune with Springsteen.  Musicians love Warren.

He has also taken to co-writing songs with novelist/writer pals, including Carl Hiaasen, Paul Muldoon, and longtime friend Hunter S. Thompson.  That’s no surprise, as his songs are populated with cultural references both classical and comical.  His most recent release (the unwittingly fittingly titled “My Ride’s Here”) manages to roll call Lord Byron, Shelley, Milton, and Keats, alongside Charlton Heston, Jesus, and John Wayne, and that’s just in the title track.

Zevon has had his dark side, both onstage and off.  In the 70’s, when he was exalted as a Wunderkind who might be the ‘next big thing’, he was riding high on a heroin addiction and a love affair with half-filled bottles of Stoli.  Clint Eastwood once said, “He did everything but drink vodka from a silver boot then”, to which Richard Gere retorted, “I saw him drink vodka from a silver boot!”.

He kicked his drug habit, then went sober from alcohol in the early 80’s, but never really reclaimed his mantle as an almost-superstar.  He also didn’t stop smoking cigarettes until 1997…which is part of the reason he’s in this fix at the young age of 55.

Musically, Zevon’s dark side is edgy and endearing.  His musical protagonists include a disembodied wartime poltergeist (Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner), a murderous lad (Excitable Boy), an aristocratic monster (Werewolves of London), and the misanthropic, hedonistic rampage of “Mr. Bad Example”, a character, ‘very well acquainted with the seven deadly sins, I keep a busy schedule trying to fit them in…”

That Zevon can then turn around and pen stirring ballads like “Reconsider Me”, “Hasten Down the Wind”, and “Searching for a Heart” only strengthens the case for his rightful place alongside Newman and Bob Dylan as a songwriting sage.

The best gift I could give Warren is to perhaps turn a few folks onto his music that otherwise might not have explored his satiric and sensitive canon.  Here, then, is a tally of a handful of CD’s that I encourage you to run out and purchase post haste:
 

Genius:  The Best of Warren Zevon -  This is actually coming out mid-October. It’s a 22-track anthology released by Rhino Records that manages to hit upon tunes from almost every Zevon album.  While not all inclusive, it’s a fine representation of the many sides of Warren, and a great place to start…

Excitable Boy  -  Warren’s breakthrough LP from 1978, produced by Jackson Browne and featuring an array of great tunes, including the well known “Werewolves of London”, “Tenderness on the Block” (later covered by Shawn Colvin), and “Lawyers, Guns, and Money”.  Warren manages to deftly (and simultaneously) lampoon and embrace the popular “California” sound that the Eagles and Browne were riding high on at the time.

Sentimental Hygiene -  Warren’s ‘comeback’ album from the late 80’s features a stellar list of guests, including ¾ of REM as his session band.  It also features his best collection of songs – there’s not a filler in the bunch – including the self-mocking “Trouble Waiting to Happen” and “Bad Karma”, as well as the bullseye commentary of “Detox Mansion”, which places our narrator at a Rehab clinic for the rich and famous, ‘raking leaves with Liza, me and Liz clean up the yard’.  Priceless.

Learning to Flinch – Zevon began touring in the 90’s with just his 12-string guitar and piano in tow.  He couldn’t afford to take a band with him everywhere, so he stripped down his sound and showed off his Stravinsky-influenced piano playing and virtuoso guitar work on some of his best known tunes.  Though some of the vocals get lost in the mix, the musicianship here is just astounding.  In fact, I’d take this version of “Lawyers, Guns, and Money” over the original – it’s that powerful.

Life’ll Kill Ya – Warren’s always had a unwitting preoccupation with the macabre, but this CD is eerily prophetic – released just two years before his fatal diagnosis.  Zevon, however, never looks at anything, not even death, without his rapier wit intact.  Thus, such tunes as “I Was In the House When The House Burned Down”, “Life’ll Kill Ya”, and the hilariously morose “My Shit’s F**ked Up”, a dirge about a dreadful diagnosis from the doctor.  I’ve vowed this CD to be my soundtrack as I head into middle age.

My Ride’s Here – Warren’s 2002 release, coming out just a few months ago, and featuring some hits and misses.  Worth having just for such gems as his recent novelty hit “Hit Somebody (The Hockey Song)”, featuring David Letterman, the astute Irish gig “MacGillycuddy’s Reeks”, and the ominous “You’re a Whole Different Person When You’re Scared”, co-written by gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson.

I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead -  This 2 CD anthology covers Warren’s career from his self-titled debut to his 1995 “Mutineer”.  It’s a bit sprawling for the non-enthusiast, but if you discover you enjoy Warren, this is the best way to gather up the treasures in one purchase, if you can look past yet another ironic title that would make Warren himself grin today.  The collection also includes the funniest liner notes I’ve ever read, penned by Warren himself.
 

You’re not gonna hear much of Warren on the radio, and he’s never bothered with the world of music video, so I implore you to go online and listen to snippets from some of these CD’s, or just take the leap and buy one.  If you’re a fan of literate, straight-ahead rock and acoustic folk, you’re bound to find Mr. Zevon to your liking.

As for Warren, he’ll be sorely missed.  There’s no one in line to fill his quirky shoes, and as the music biz grows more mundane, jesters such as him are diamonds buried deeply in the rough.  He is also, by all accounts, a really good guy, and one I’d certainly loved to know.  That he is a fiercely loyal friend comes through in the accolades his high profile pals have showered upon him.

The last song on Warren’s final album, the title track to “My Ride’s Here”, ends with this:

Thanks for the ride, Warren.

And safe journeys to you.