The Humor and Heart of Warren Zevon

There was so much more to the “Werewolves of London” guy.

This morning I was in the bathroom (too much information? Oh, well) when I heard music coming from the TV that took me a minute to recognize. It was a cover of Warren Zevon’s “Lawyers, Guns, and Money.” I have no idea who it was, but it got the song into my head.

Singing it to myself, I remembered the opening verse:

I went home with the waitress The way I always do How was I to know She was with the Russians too?

To me, the funniest part of this verse is his use of the word “too” at the end. “Her too?” Like, this has happened to him before.

As in his most famous song, “Werewolves of London,” Zevon often used humor. Another favorite funny verse of his comes from “The French Inhaler:”

Loneliness and frustration We both came down with an acute case And when the lights came up at two I caught a glimpse of you And your face looked like something Death brought with him in his suitcase

In addition to the observation of the last two lines, there’s also the creative rhyming of ‘acute case’ and ‘suitcase.’ I would never have thought of it.

Many singer-songwriters, I might even say most singer-songwriters, tend to be pretty serious. I admire those who aren’t afraid to use humor. John Hiatt and Richard Thompson also fit that category.

But Warren Zevon was also really good at writing about people at the bottom of their lives, as in the chorus of “Carmelita:”

Carmelita, hold me tighter I think I’m sinking down And I’m all strung out on heroin On the outskirts of town

One of his saddest lyrics, expectedly, was written when he knew his life was ending. In “Keep Me in Your Heart” he says goodbye to his family and friends, and by extension, to us:

Shadows are fallin’ and I’m runnin’ out of breath Keep me in your heart for a while If I leave you it doesn’t mean I love you any less Keep me in your heart for a while

This year Warren Zevon made the list of nominations for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (with Billy Joel making a strong case for him) but ultimately he was not chosen as an inductee. In the overall scheme of his career, it’s almost fitting. He was an outsider in many ways, never reaching the heights that many of those around him (and who sometimes recorded his songs) achieved. But his somewhat under-the-radar level of fame allowed him to keep doing what he did with relatively little interference.

His death from mesothelioma at age 56 silenced one of the most unique songwriting voices of the last fifty-odd years. But I will continue to turn to his work for inspiration and enjoyment as one of my all-time favorites.

Engine driver’s headed north up to Pleasant Stream Keep me in your heart for a while These wheels keep turnin’ but they’re runnin’ out of steam Keep me in your heart for a while