![]() In 2002, after he was stricken with terminal cancer, and given just three months to live, Zevon was asked whether his illness had changed his spiritual outlook. There are many reasons for this, but one of them may be that Warren Zevon was a man of quiet, resilient faith.įaith is not something usually associated with the rocker who belted out Werewolves and wrote the even more macabre Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner. But faith there was. And yet, as terrible and inexcusable as his behavior could be, Zevons relatives and friends still remember him with much affection. At times, he was better known for his flights of rage than his music. He wrecked his marriage with frequent affairs. For much of his life, he was a serious alcoholic and suffered from Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. And Splendid Isolation is as memorable a tribute to independence as John Lennons superb Watching the Wheels.įor all his talent, however, Zevon had a dark side. Hasten Down the Wind is a piercing ballad about a once-strong relationship gone cold. ∺ccidentally like a Martyr speaks to anyone who has ever been tempted”and burned”by a misguided romance. His songs could be tender and introspective. Bad Example, he lampooned the greed of the eighties, and in ∻oom Boom Mancini and The Hockey Song he questioned the hidden violence which often drives American sports.īut Zevon was not just a man of sardonic wit. In Lawyers, Guns and Money”his biting satire about political intrigue and personal misfortune”Zevon captured the selfishness and cold war paranoia of the Me Decade: Well, I went home with the waitress That he could do this within the confines of a three or four minute song made his work all the more impressive.īeyond that, Zevon had an uncanny ability to measure his generation in friendly but critical ways. And like all good storytellers, Zevon kept everyone guessing about where his tales would go”often leaving their conclusions to listeners, after sparking their imaginations. Zevons songs told stories about strange and combustible figures. The title track”about the hedonistic exploits of its wild protagonist”was outdone only by Zevons surreal and sensational hit, Werewolves of London. The first won raves, even if it sold only modestly, but the second was a critical and commercial success. His moment came when fellow recording artist Jackson Browne”a great believer in Zevons music”produced two of his breakthrough albums, the self-titled, Warren Zevon (1976) and Excitable Boy (1978). But his dream was always to be a successful solo artist, a goal he doggedly pursued, even after his first album, Wanted Dead or Alive (1969), failed.Īfter a brief sojourn in Europe, he returned home to revive his hopes. Warren wrote more songs, did session work, and eventually became the keyboard player for the legendary Everly Brothers. ![]() The industry began to notice Zevon, and two of his other songs, Like the Seasons, and Outside Chance, were picked up by The Turtles (the first landed on the B side of their smash record, Happy Together). It was astonishingly well crafted for a song written by someone who was just nineteen”a glimpse at Zevons future brilliance. ![]() Undaunted, Zevon returned to California, where he hooked up with an old high school friend, Violet Santangelo, to form the quirky duo, lyme & cybelle, which generated an unexpected hit, ∿ollow Me (1966). But the youthful venture went poorly, giving Warren his first harsh taste of the highly competitive music business. Along the way, Warren moved from classical music toward the rhythms of his time”folk and rock”and set out for New York to become a Dylanesque troubadour. But by then, the precocious teenager had decided to become a musician, thanks largely to the influence of composer Igor Stravinsky (an improbable neighbor of the Zevons). They came from very different worlds, and not surprisingly, divorced when Warren was just sixteen. His father, Bill, was a colorful Russian-born gambler, and his mother, Beverly, the daughter of prominent Mormons. Zevon grew up on the West coast in the fifties and early sixties in a household where neither parent was musically inclined. Gifted and mercurial, Zevons tumultuous life often paralleled the self-destructive paths of other celebrities and yet”in significant ways”also diverged sharply from them. Ten years ago this month, Warren Zevon died and the world of music lost an extraordinary talent.
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