The talk is frank and filled with mordant wit, as was Zevon’s way, and Letterman confesses he’s astounded at his longtime friend’s ability to keep his sense of humor. The two attempt light banter but lapse occasionally into awkward pauses as they discuss Zevon’s diagnosis. At the top of the post, you can see Zevon’s final appearance on Letterman’s show. In addition to the aforementioned luminaries, Zevon’s career was boosted by members of R.E.M., with whom he recorded under the name Hindu Love Gods, and-most visibly and consistently-by David Letterman, who had a twenty year relationship with Zevon as his guest and sometime substitute band leader. Whether it was his misanthropic commitment to his cynicism-as Allmusic describes his personality-that sidelined him or his struggles with acute alcoholism isn’t entirely clear, but he always had his champions among critics and peers alike. Always on the cusp of stardom but never quite a star like peers and former roommates Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks, and Jackson Browne, Zevon was nevertheless one of the most well-regarded writers of the L.A. There’s so much Zevon in so many troubadours I love: Joe Jackson, Tom Waits, Springsteen. I arrived at the Zevon party late, but I finally showed up, and came to understand why almost every musician from the seventies and eighties that I admire deeply admires Warren Zevon and his hardbitten, witty, and unsentimental narrative style. I remember the day of his passing well, but at the time I was a little baffled by the enormous number of tributes to the musician, who I vaguely thought of (stupidly) as a novelty songwriter vaguely associated with the L.A. He was 56.Singer/songwriter Warren Zevon died of lung cancer ten years ago tomorrow. In the period leading up to his death from cancer on September 7, 2003, he wrote and produced one last beautiful piece of work, titled: The Wind and the documentary “Keep me in your heart for awhile“. Yet, somehow, a decade and a half before the end, he predicted the cause of his death. Thing is, Zevon never worked in a factory, so his odds of developing cancer there were nil. ‘ The Factory’ appeared on Zevon’s 1987 comeback album ‘ Sentimental Hygiene,’ and chronicles the life of a man who grows up to be a factory worker just like his dad.Īfter Zevon hammers home his point about the uselessness of it all, he ends with these stinging lines: ”Kickin’ asbestos in the factory / Punchin’ out Chryslers in the factory / Breathin’ that plastic in the factory.” Zevon died on January 24th 1947 of advanced malignant mesothelioma, which is often caused by exposure to asbestos. Sixteen years before he died of lung cancer in 2003, Warren Zevon recorded a song about a blue-collar worker that pretty much foreshadowed his own death. Letterman later performed guest vocals on “Hit Somebody! (The Hockey Song)” with Paul Shaffer and members of the CBS Orchestra. He was a frequent guest on Late Night with David Letterman and the Late Show with David Letterman. His best-known compositions include “ Werewolves of London“, “Lawyers, Guns and Money“, “ Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner” and “J ohnny Strikes Up The Band”, all of which are featured on his 1978 sophomore release, Excitable Boy. 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. Ronstadt elected to record many of his songs, including “Hasten Down the Wind”, “Carmelita”, “Poor Poor Pitiful Me”, and “Mohammed’s Radio”. There, he collaborated with Jackson Browne, who in 1976 produced and promoted Zevon’s self-titled major-label debut.Ĭontributors to this album included Nicks, Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, members of the Eagles, Carl Wilson, Linda Ronstadt, and Bonnie Raitt. To give an idea on his stretch here is an anecdotal paragraph.īy September 1975, Zevon had returned to Los Angeles (from Spain), where he roomed with then-unknown Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham. He worked with a huge list of mega artists. He never made it into the mainstream popularity, but the in-crowd knew him as a prolific songwriter/singer/musician, noted for his offbeat, sardonic view on life which was reflected in his dark, often painfully humorous songs, which sometimes incorporated political and/or historical themes and personas. Septem– Warren Zevon was born January 24, 1947.
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