Friday Music: Warren Zevon

Warren Zevon would be an appropriate music post on The Gimp Parade because he was a well-known musician with obsessive-compulsive disorder, or because he was dogged by alcoholism for much of his adult life, or because he died in 2003 of mesothelioma (a cancer associated with asbestos exposure) after documenting his decline in health with a final album and a VH-1 documentary. But really, I just love his music.

This YouTube video of a 1978 live studio performance of "Werewolves of London" is intercut with brief shots of a werewolf man dressed in a tux and cape. Zevon plays a grand piano and sings while a four-man backup band stands in the background.



The lyrics:

I saw a werewolf with a Chinese menu in his hand
walkin' through the streets of Soho in the rain.
He was lookin' for the place called Lee Ho Fooks,
gonna get a big dish of beef chow mein.

Chorus:
Aaahoo, werewolves of London
Aaahoo(2x)

Ya hear him howlin' around your kitchen door,
ya better not let him in.
Little old lady got mutilated late last night,
werewolves of London again.

Chorus 2x

He's the hairy, hairy gent, who ran amok in Kent.
Lately he's been overheard in Mayfair.
You better stay away from him, he'll rip your lungs out Jim.
Huh, I'd like to meet his tailor.

Chorus 2x

Well, I saw Lon Chaney walkin' with the queen, doing the werewolves of London.
I saw Lon Chaney Jr. walkin' with the queen, doin' the werewolves of London
I saw a werewolf drinkin' a pina colada at Trader Vic's
And his hair was perfect.

ahhhooooo, werewolves of London
Draw blood

Zevon's wiki reads like a Who's Who of famous musicians, actors, and authors. His career sort of died several times, and he made come-back albums several times as he worked through addictions and other personal struggles. When he learned he had cancer, he began one final album and spent his last year recording it with good friends in a kind of long, public goodbye. He appeared as the only guest on The David Letterman Show about 11 months before his 2003 death, candidly discussing his short future and singing some of his best known songs.

YouTube video of Zevon on stage playing guitar and singing "My Shit's Fucked Up." Here are the lyrics, which he wrote several years before his cancer diagnosis:

Well, I went to the doctor
I said, "I'm feeling kind of rough"
"Let me break it to you, son
"Your shit's fucked up."
I said, "my shit's fucked up?
"Well, I don't see how--"
He said, "The shit that used to work--
"It won't work now."

I had a dream
Ah, shucks, oh, well
Now it's all fucked up
It's shot to hell

Yeah, yeah, my shit's fucked up
It has to happen to the best of us
The rich folks suffer like the rest of us
It'll happen to you

That amazing grace
Sort of passed you by
You wake up every day
Hang your head and cry
Yeah, you want to die
But you just can't quit
Let me break it on down:
It's some fucked up shit

YouTube video of Zevon on a stage alone with a guitar singing "Lawyers, Guns and Money" from a 1994 BBC Christmas program titled Words and Music: American Writers.

YouTube video, in four parts, of the one-hour David Letterman episode with Zevon as his sole guest, just short of a year before his death. Parts one, two, three, and four. Sorry, I don't have a transcript, and I don't have the typing ability to whip up this length of dialogue here. I can offer the brief description from Wikipedia:

On October 30, 2002, Zevon was featured on the Late Show with David Letterman as the only guest for the entire hour. The band played "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead" as his introduction. Zevon performed several songs and spoke at length about his illness. Zevon was a frequent guest and occasional substitute bandleader on Letterman's television shows since Late Night first aired in 1982. He noted, "I may have made a tactical error in not going to a physician for 20 years." It was during this broadcast that Zevon first offered his oft-quoted insight on facing death: "Enjoy every sandwich." He also took time to thank Letterman for his years of support, calling him "the best friend my music's ever had". For his final song of the evening, and his final public performance, Zevon performed "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner" at Letterman's request. In the green room after the show, Zevon presented Letterman with the guitar that he always used on the show, with a single request: "Here, I want you to have this, take good care of it."

Other sources:

Review in the NYT of I'll Sleep When I'm Dead, the posthumous biography published by Zevon's ex-wife.

A interesting list of famous people with OCD