Warren Zevon

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Warren Zevon
Cover from Excitable Boy
Background information
Birth name	Warren William Zevon
Born	January 24, 1947 Chicago, Illinois
Died	September 7, 2003 (aged 56) Los Angeles, California
Genre(s)	Rock
Occupation(s)	Solo artist, songwriter, Session musician
Instrument(s)	Singer, piano
Years active	1960s-2003
Label(s)	Artemis Records
Associated acts	Jackson Browne, David Lindley, Waddy Wachtel, Bruce Springsteen, Hindu Love Gods, Linda Ronstadt, The Everly Brothers, Richie Hayward, Jack Casady, Chick Corea Jerry Garcia, David Gilmour, Neil Young, Don Henley, Timothy B. Schmit, Joe Walsh, Emmylou Harris, Tom Petty
Website	Warren Zevon official site

Warren William Zevon (January 24, 1947 – September 7, 2003) was an American rock and roll musician and songwriter. He was noted for his offbeat, sardonic view of life which was reflected in his dark, sometimes humorous songs, which often incorporated political or historical themes.

Contents 1 Early life and music 2 Return to L.A. and major-label debut 3 Success 4 Personal crisis and first comeback 5 Later years and second comeback 6 Cancer, death and The Wind 7 Posthumous releases and biographical works 8 Discography 9 Footnotes 10 External links

[edit] Early life and music

Zevon was born in Chicago, Illinois to William Zevon (formerly "Zivotovsky"),^[1] who was of Russian Jewish origin, and Beverly, a Mormon. He soon moved to California. By the age of 13, Warren was a regular visitor to the home of Igor Stravinsky where he, along with Robert Craft, would study music.

Zevon turned to a musical career early, including a stretch as part of a Sonny and Cher-type male/female duo called lyme and cybelle (a band whose correct spelling is all lower case), and he spent time as a session musician (notably as piano player and band leader for the Everly Brothers) and jingle composer. He wrote several songs for his White Whale label-mates the Turtles, though his participation in their recording is unknown. Another early composition ("She Quit Me") was included in the soundtrack for the film Midnight Cowboy (1969). Zevon's first attempt at a solo album, Wanted Dead or Alive (1969), was produced by 1960s cult figure Kim Fowley but did not fare well in the marketplace. Flashes of Zevon's later writing preoccupations of romantic loss and noir-ish violence are present in songs like "Tule's Blues" and "A Bullet for Ramona". Zevon's second effort, Leaf in the Wind, was scrapped (though a belated release was contemplated just prior to his death). In the early '70s, Zevon toured regularly with the Everly Brothers as keyboard player and band leader/musical coordinator. His dissatisfaction with his career led him to move to Spain briefly, where he played in a small bar owned by David Lindell, a former mercenary. Together they penned Zevon's classic "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner."

[edit] Return to L.A. and major-label debut

In the mid-1970s, Zevon returned to Los Angeles, and became associated with the then-burgeoning West Coast music scene, resulting in collaborations with Jackson Browne, who would produce and promote Zevon's self-titled major-label debut; the Eagles, who appeared on Zevon's second album; and Linda Ronstadt, who both appeared on Zevon's albums and recorded her own versions of several early Zevon songs, including "Carmelita," "Mohammed's Radio" and a hit cover of "Poor Poor Pitiful Me." Zevon's first tour in 1977 included guest appearances in the middle of Jackson Browne concerts, one of which is documented on a widely circulated bootleg recording of a Dutch radio program under the title The Offender meets the Pretender.

Though a much darker and more ironic songwriter than Browne and other leading figures of the era's L.A.-based singer-songwriter movement, Zevon shared with his '70s L.A. peers a grounding in earlier folk and country influences and a commitment to a writerly style of songcraft with roots in the work of artists like Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell. Though only a modest commercial success, the Browne-produced Warren Zevon (1976) would later be labelled a masterpiece in the first edition of the Rolling Stone Record Guide and is cited in the book's most recently revised (November, 2004) edition as Zevon's most realized work. Representative tracks include the junkie's lament "Carmelita;" the Copland-esque outlaw ballad "Frank and Jesse James;" "The French Inhaler," a scathing insider's look at life and lust on the L.A. music scene; and "Desperadoes Under the Eaves", a chronicle of Zevon's growing alcoholism. It was during this period that Zevon's excessive vodka intake earned him the nickname "F. Scott Fitzevon," a reference to the great but doomed American novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald, whose early, alcohol-fueled death Zevon seemed headed toward repeating.

[edit] Success

In 1978, Zevon released his breakthrough album, Excitable Boy, to critical acclaim and popular success. The title tune (about a juvenile sociopath's murderous prom night) name-checked "Little Susie", the heroine of former employers the Everly Brothers' signature tune "Wake Up Little Susie", while songs such as "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner" and "Lawyers, Guns and Money" used deadpan humor to wed geopolitical subtexts to hard-boiled narratives. Tracks from this album received heavy FM airplay and the single release "Werewolves of London", which featured a relatively lighthearted version of Zevon's signature macabre outlook, was a top-thirty hit. Rolling Stone called the album one of the most significant releases of the 1970s and placed Zevon alongside Neil Young, Jackson Browne, and Bruce Springsteen as one of the four most important new artists to emerge in the decade. Later, Bob Dylan would use the last line of Zevon's lyrics from "Accidentally Like a Martyr" as the title of his late-'90s comeback album, Time Out of Mind.

Zevon followed Excitable Boy with 1980s Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School, dedicated to detective novelist Ross Macdonald, a literary hero of Zevon's who met the singer for the first time while participating in an intervention that helped Zevon temporarily kick his substance addictions. Featuring a modest novelty hit with the single "A Certain Girl" (Zevon's cover of an old Yardbirds tune, which scraped its way to #45 on the Billboard Singles Chart), the album sold briskly but was uneven, and signalled a decline rather than a step toward commercial and critical consistency. It contained a collaboration with Bruce Springsteen called "Jeannie Needs a Shooter", and the ballad "Empty-Handed Heart" dealing with Zevon's divorce from second wife Crystal and featuring a descant sung by Linda Ronstadt. In 1981 came the live album Stand in the Fire (dedicated to Martin Scorsese), recorded over five nights at the Roxy in Los Angeles.

[edit] Personal crisis and first comeback

Zevon's 1982 release The Envoy is perhaps the least known of his major-label studio albums, an erratic but characteristic set that included such compositions as "Charlie's Medicine" (yet another treatise on addiction) and "Jesus Mentioned," Zevon's reaction to the squalid death of Elvis Presley. The title track was dedicated to Philip Habib, US special envoy to the Middle East during the early 1980s. In the liner notes for the 1996 "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead" anthology, Zevon stated that after the song came out, he received from Habib "a very nice letter of appreciation on State Department stationery."

After the disappointing reception to The Envoy, Zevon was dropped by his label Asylum Records, a fact Zevon discovered only when he read about it in the Random Notes gossip column of Rolling Stone. The trauma caused him to relapse into serious alcoholism, and he voluntarily checked himself into an unnamed rehab clinic somewhere in the state of Minnesota. Zevon retreated from the music business for several years, during which he finally overcame severe alcohol and drug addictions.

In this intermittent period, Zevon collaborated with R.E.M., minus Michael Stipe, on an eponymous album as the Hindu Love Gods. Allegedly comprised of outtakes from a drunken all night jam session, the album included a cover of Prince's "Raspberry Beret" and was eventually released in 1990 over the objections of both Zevon and R.E.M.

Following his five-year hiatus, Zevon returned in 1987 with Sentimental Hygiene. The release, hailed as his best since Excitable Boy, featured a thicker rock sound and taut, often humorous songs like "Detox Mansion," "Bad Karma," and "Reconsider Me." Included were collaborations with Neil Young, Bob Dylan, George Clinton, and members of R.E.M.. Also on hand were long-time collaborators Jorge Calderón and Waddy Wachtel.

The follow-up to Sentimental Hygiene, 1989's Transverse City, was a futuristic concept album inspired by Zevon's interest in the work of cyberpunk science fiction author William Gibson. It featured guests including Little Feat drummer Richie Hayward, Jefferson Airplane bassist Jack Casady, keyboard player Chick Corea and guitarists Jerry Garcia, Pink Floyd's David Gilmour and Neil Young. Key tracks include the title song, "Run Straight Down" (which had a promotional video that featured Zevon singing in a factory while Gilmour played his guitar solos) and "They Moved the Moon," the latter among Zevon's eerier ballads.

[edit] Later years and second comeback

In 1991, Zevon released Mr. Bad Example, which featured the modest pop hit "Searching for a Heart" and the rocker "Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead," later utilized for the title of a neo-noir cult movie by director Gary Fleder (after some skirmishing over the unauthorized use of Zevon's song title, the Zevon track was licensed to play over the film's end credits).

Zevon toured the United States on occasion during this period. Owing to Zevon's reduced circumstances, his performances were often true solo efforts (with minimal accompaniment); 1993's live Learning to Flinch documents such a tour. Zevon often played in Colorado to allow for an opportunity to visit with his long-time friend Hunter S. Thompson. A lifelong fan of "hard-boiled" fiction, Zevon was close to several prominent writers who also collaborated on his songwriting during this period, including Thompson, Carl Hiassen and Mitch Albom. Zevon also served as musical coordinator for an ad-hoc rock group called the Rock Bottom Remainders, a collection of writers performing rock and roll standards at book fairs and other events. This group included Stephen King, Dave Barry, and Amy Tan, among other popular writers.

Occasionally, Zevon filled in for Paul Shaffer as bandleader on Late Show with David Letterman.

In 1995, Zevon released the self-produced Mutineer. The title track was frequently covered by Bob Dylan live on tour in the 2000s, and Zevon's cover of cult artist Judee Sill's "Jesus Was a Crossmaker" predated the wider rediscovery of her work a decade later. The album, however, suffered the worst sales of Zevon's career, in part because his label, superagent Irving Azoff's short-lived Giant Records, was in the process of going out of business. Zevon released a best-of compilation that same year, I'll Sleep When I'm Dead (An Anthology).

After another five-year layoff, Zevon signed with industry veteran Danny Goldberg's Artemis Records and again rebounded with the mortality-themed 2000 release Life'll Kill Ya, containing the hymn-like "Don't Let Us Get Sick" and an austere version of Steve Winwood's '80s hit "Back in the High Life Again". With record sales reasonably brisk and adulatory music critics giving Zevon his best notices since Excitable Boy, Life'll Kill Ya is seen as his second comeback. He followed with 2002's My Ride's Here (with morbid prescience of things to come, Zevon is shown seated in a hearse on the cover), which included "Hit Somebody! (The Hockey Song)" (with a spoken guest vocal from TV host David Letterman) and the ballad "Genius," later taken as the title for a 2002 Zevon anthology, and a song whose string section illustrates the lasting influence of Stravinsky on Zevon's work.

At about this time, he and actor Billy Bob Thornton formed a close friendship, bonding over their common experiences with obsessive-compulsive disorder [1].

[edit] Cancer, death and The Wind

In interviews, Zevon described a lifelong phobia of doctors and said he seldom received medical assessment. In 2002, after a long period of untreated illness and pain, Zevon was encouraged by his dentist to see a physician; when he did so he was diagnosed with inoperable mesothelioma (a form of lung cancer associated with exposure to asbestos rather than smoking, and also the same cancer that killed Steve McQueen). Refusing treatments he believed might incapacitate him, Zevon instead began recording his final album. The album, The Wind, has guest appearances from close friends including Bruce Springsteen, Don Henley, Jackson Browne, Timothy B. Schmit, Joe Walsh, David Lindley, Billy Bob Thornton, Emmylou Harris, Tom Petty and others. At the request of the music television channel VH1, documentarian Nick Read was given access to the sessions; his cameras documented a man who retained his mordant sense of humor, even as his health was clearly deteriorating over time.

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 the doctor for 20 years." It was during this broadcast that Zevon first offered his oft-quoted insight on facing death: "Enjoy every sandwich." For his final song of the evening, and his final public performance, Zevon performed "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner" at Letterman's request.

Zevon previously stated that his illness was expected to be terminal within months after the diagnosis in the fall of 2002; however, he lived to see the birth of twin grandsons in June 2003 and the release of The Wind on August 28, 2003. Owing in part to the first VH1 broadcasts of Nick Read's documentary Warren Zevon: Keep Me In Your Heart (which brought fresh attention to Zevon's illness), the album entered the national record charts at number 16, Zevon's highest placement since Excitable Boy. When his diagnosis became public, Zevon told the media that he just hoped to live long enough to see the next James Bond movie, a goal he also accomplished. The film was called Die Another Day.

Warren Zevon died at the age of 56 at his home in Los Angeles, California. The Wind was certified gold by the RIAA in December of 2003 and Zevon received five posthumous Grammy nominations, including Song Of The Year for the ballad "Keep Me In Your Heart". The Wind won two Grammys, with the album itself receiving the award for Best Contemporary Folk Album, while "Disorder in the House," Zevon's duet with Bruce Springsteen, was awarded Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocal. These posthumous awards were the first Grammys of Zevon's more than 30-year career.

[edit] Posthumous releases and biographical works

A tribute album titled Enjoy Every Sandwich: Songs of Warren Zevon was released October 19, 2004. Zevon's son, Jordan Zevon, did a large part of the work on the album and performed "Studebaker," a previously unreleased Warren Zevon composition. A second tribute album, titled Hurry Home Early: the Songs of Warren Zevon (the line "hurry home early" is from the song "Boom Boom Mancini," on Sentimental Hygiene) was released by Wampus Multimedia on July 8, 2005.

On February 14, 2006, VH1 Classic premiered a video from a new compilation, Reconsider Me: The Love Songs of Warren Zevon. The video, titled "She's Too Good For Me," aired every hour on the hour throughout the day.

First-ever CD issues of the Zevon albums Stand in the Fire and The Envoy were released on March 27, 2007 by Rhino Records alongside a Rhino re-issue of Excitable Boy, with the three albums expanded from all previous versions by four tracks each. Noteworthy rarities in these editions include the outtakes "Word of Mouth" and "The Risk" from the The Envoy sessions and "Frozen Notes (Strings Version)," a melancholic outtake from Excitable Boy performed on acoustic piano with a string quartet in the style of 1976's Warren Zevon LP. Also included on the expanded Excitable Boy CD is the brief but hilarious "I Need A Truck," Zevon's first-ever acapella studio release.

On May 1, 2007, Ammal Records, the new label started up as a partnership with New West Records by Zevon's former boss at Artemis Danny Goldberg, will release Preludes - Rare and Unreleased Recordings, a two-disc anthology of Zevon demos and alternate versions culled from 126 pre-1976 recordings found inside an old road case after Zevon's death. The album contains five previously unreleased songs: "Empty Hearted Town," "Going All the Way," "Steady Rain," "Stop Rainin` Lord" and "The Rosarita Beach Cafe," along with Zevon's original demo for "Studebaker," the song performed by Jordan Zevon on the Enjoy Every Sandwich tribute record. Selections from an interview between Zevon and Austin-based radio personality Jody Denberg are blended with about 40 minutes of music on the collection's second disc.

I'll Sleep When I'm Dead: The Dirty Life and Times of Warren Zevon is a biography/oral history compiled by ex-wife Crystal Zevon slated for publication in May 2007 by Ecco Books. The book, which purports to be an unvarnished look at Zevon's "high times and hard ways," excerpts interviews conducted with over 80 friends, lovers and collaborators, including Bruce Springsteen, Jackson Browne, Stephen King, Billy Bob Thornton and Bonnie Raitt. Before his death, Zevon is reputed to have given the project his blessing, and to have requested that the book be unflinching in its honesty about even the most unflattering details.

In 2006, Zevon's song "Lawyers, Guns and Money" (Excitable Boy, 1978) was used as the theme song for producer Jerry Bruckheimer's short-lived TV series Justice, a program centered on the fictional exploits of high-powered LA-based attorneys. Produced by Warner Brothers and broadcast on Fox, the series produced only 13 episodes. Coincidentally, 7 years earlier Zevon's song "Even A Dog Can Shake Hands" was used as the theme song for the show Action produced by Joel Silver, which also ran for 13 episodes.

[edit] Discography

• Wanted Dead or Alive - 1969
• Warren Zevon - 1976
• Excitable Boy - 1978
• Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School - 1980
• Stand in the Fire - 1981
• The Envoy - 1982
• A Quiet Normal Life: The Best of Warren Zevon - 1986
• Sentimental Hygiene - 1987
• Transverse City - 1989
• Hindu Love Gods - 1990
• Mr. Bad Example - 1991
• Learning to Flinch - 1993
• Mutineer - 1995
• I'll Sleep When I'm Dead (An Anthology) - 1996
• Life'll Kill Ya - 2000
• My Ride's Here - 2002
• Genius: The Best of Warren Zevon - 2002
• The Wind - 2003
• Preludes - Rare and Unreleased Recordings - 2007

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] External links

• Warren Zevon official site
• "Warren Zevon On the Loose in Los Angeles" by Dave Marsh, Rolling Stone, March 9, 1978
• "Warren Zevon Takes Control" by Mikal Gilmore, Rolling Stone, September 16, 1982
• "An Excitable Boy, They All Said" by Jonathan Valania, Philadelphia Weekly, November 20, 2002
• "Interview: Jackson Browne Remembers Warren Zevon" by David Fricke, Rolling Stone, September 19, 2003
• Warren Zevon live audio recordings at Archive.org
• Jordan Zevon's Official Site