Posted on 05/11/2007 9:07:23 AM PDT by real saxophonist
Mr. Bad Example on a rocky road to fame
Warren Zevon's ex-wife portrays him as a genius -- and a tyrant.
BY HOWARD COHEN
hcohen@MiamiHerald.com
I'LL SLEEP WHEN I'M DEAD: The Dirty Life and Times of Warren Zevon.
Warren Zevon was a complicated man to love and champion. Before dying of cancer in 2003, he urged his ex-wife Crystal Zevon to write the definitive biography of his tumultuous life, and he asked her to leave out nothing.
She obliged, perhaps too well. Reading the addictive diary-styled I'll Sleep When I'm Dead tests a fan's devotion. You want to like Zevon, but as you read reports of domestic violence, drunken rages and nasty comments, you have to wonder whether karma just played a natural role in his life and death.
The prickly, brilliant, witty, charming and insufferable artist was one of the few contemporary musicians to actually earn the tag ''genius.'' Yet when he died he left behind an underappreciated body of work. He drew admirers from the literary world; The Miami Herald's Carl Hiaasen and Dave Barry were close friends. ''He was always a magnet for unforgettable characters, but few could keep up with him,'' Hiaasen writes in the book's foreword.
Hiaasen, Thomas McGuane, Hunter S. Thompson and Mitch Albom collaborated with Zevon on several songs. On the music side, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen touted his songwriting. Jackson Browne produced Zevon's finest album (1976's Warren Zevon) and remained loyal even when Zevon's behavior tested his patience. As for the masses, only one of Zevon's albums made the Top 10, 1978's pop/rock classic Excitable Boy.
I'll Sleep When I'm Dead isn't as slavishly detailed as one of the late Timothy White's windy, pretentious and exhausting rock bios, but one of Crystal Zevon's accomplishments is a conversational style rather than a lengthy narrative approach. She gathered comments from those who were most intimate with the rocker and weaves in tidbits from her ex-husband's diaries, editing out only a few of the more salacious items.
One amusing revelation: Excitable Boy's hit single, Werewolves of London, the infectious song Zevon is best known for, gave him little pleasure.
''When Elektra picked Werewolves as the single, Warren and I just about threw up,'' recalls guitarist/producer Waddy Wachtel in the book. ``We were insulted, depressed. . . . They took that piece of s - - - after we gave them Tenderness on the Block and Johnny Strikes Up the Band? Meanwhile, it's the only hit we ever had.''
While members of the musical SoCal cognoscenti he associated with would go on to fortune and fame, Zevon's next 25 years would offer a series of struggles, affairs, estrangements, addictions and heartache. ''That his own work was underappreciated has always been a mystery to Warren's fans, and was a source of bitter frustration for him,'' Hiaasen writes. And still Zevon crafted exceptional music late into his career on Life'll Kill Ya and The Wind.
Zevon was so thorough a musician, the book reveals, that before a stint on his pal David Letterman's show in 1997, Zevon painstakingly notated every scrap of music he thought he might cover on the program, including the Spice Girls' entire debut CD.
Perhaps his longest musical collaborator and friend Jorge Calderone sums up Zevon's life best: ''Warren Zevon traveled down his own road, and it's unpaved.''
The path may have been rocky, but what a great musical ride.
Howard Cohen is a Miami Herald staff writer.
Best song from my perspective is My Ride is Here. Prophetic.
Probably he was a jerk because his last name began with a "Z" and he was always called on last in school, even after Xavier.
I always thought his best song was Short People but that turns out to be Randy Newman. So I guess my other favorite is the Monk theme song. It's a good song to sing along with to the opening credits.
I also saw Bruce Springsteen the week that Zevon died. Johnny Cash died the same week. He did a really heartfelt tribute to both of them.
He had an exceptional understanding of history and politics, at least insofar as he could incorporate historial episodes SOMEWHAT realistically into his songs.
Zevon was one of the true originals. And one of the greats.
"talkin' about the man." That line, in a song about someone who was dead and couldn't exist, I found hilarious.
I hear Mariachi static on my radio
And the tubes they glow in the dark
And I'm there with her in Ensenada
And I'm here in Echo Park
Carmelita hold me tighter
I think I'm sinking down
And I'm all strung out on heroin
On the outskirts of the town
Every time I hear him performing Knockin on Heavens Door, I get choked up. He recorded that knowing he was dying a few months later, and to hear his voice and think about that is really something for me.
I was gambling in Havana
I took a little risk
Send lawyers, guns and money
Dad, get me out of this
I'm the innocent bystander
Somehow I got stuck
Between the rock and the hard place
And I'm down on my luck
And I'm down on my luck
And I'm down on my luck
Now I'm hiding in Honduras
I'm a desperate man
Send lawyers, guns and money
The shit has hit the fan
Send lawyers, guns and money...
If there is a better plea for help then I can't think of it. Kind of covers all the bases.
“Keep Me in Your Heart For a While” chokes me up, too. Same album, I think - one heck of a farewell opus.
My respect for Zevon just went up a few more notches.
Think I'll play 'Carmelita' now....
I have always enjoyed his stuff as well. My wife met him years ago and said he was a slob, trying to get some from all the girls.
Ping for weegee.
Wait a minute! I took piano lessons from Mrs. Stavinsky.
Nobody is Evil, because there is no such thing. (I mean, if you acknowledge that elemental evil exists, over and above basic human nature, then it is just a hop skip and a jump to admitting that Evil's logical twin, Good, exists...and from there you have to admit God exists. If you do that, then we are all judged, and if you do that, we all fail...from there, you have to admit that we are all sinners, and if you do that, then I am required to judge my own behavior as good or evil on some kind of standardized scale such as the Bible, and as a Liberal, I WON'T DO THAT!)
Clearly, to Ms. Pelosi and her ilk, what APPEARS to be evil in the world is just different was of looking at things. (And if that is true, then there is no moral absolute, which means to be a "good" person I need to be understanding, so logically, I am only an "evil" person if I fail to accept other ways of thinking, and by that way of logical reasoning, then raping her and killing her and building a cage with her bones is just a method of expressing oneself, completely divorced from whatever foolish value system my parents or ancestors may have relied on. Logically, I should attempt to dialog with the so-called "terrorists", no wait, "freedom fighters valiantly holding out to maintain their culture against the arrogance and vitriol of the ever growing and expanding American menace that I am ashamed to be part of!" And as a Liberal, I will continue to do that, right up until the point they cut my head off. Which I only deserve, of course, for being part of something as hateful and corrupt as America.)
Whew, hope I never have to channel Liberalism again. That was unsettling.
I always thought of him as Randy Newman’s evil twin.
For my money, that's the one. One of the essential L.A. songs.
Well, I'm sittin' here playing solitaire
With my pearl-handled deck
The county won't give me no more methadone
And they cut off your welfare check.
Poor Poor Pitiful me...
The man could write lyrics. The Dylan of the 80’s but (and I know I’ll get flamed for this) with more talent.
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