>>>...
>>>
>>>>I'll be looking for it later today. Thanks! Keep 'em coming, Terry, you're record so far is pretty good...
>>>
>>>"Werewolves of London" Warren Zevon
>>
>>
>>>
>>That has never been one of my favorite WZ songs, at all. I just started reading a new oral biography (or is it called oral history?). It is mentioned in the foreword that it drove him nuts that "Werewolves of London", a ditty he banged out in a few hours, was his most widely played song while others he was proud of are seldom heard.
>
>I loved it from first hearing. Anyway, this is still part of suggestions to Jay for stuff to download, not a skeet shoot of my tastes :-)
>
>This just came to mind last night. I'm not sure I've ever heard anything else by WZ.
>
>Just goes to show that sometimes less is more - simple is best, sometimes first cuts are the deepest :-)
>
>BTW "Ack! Ack! Ack!" - that you doing a Joan Rivers impression?


Boy, I sure hope not ;-( I change the channel as soon as I see her so doubt I could do a good one even if I wanted to.

You could be in for a treat if you haven't listened to any other Warren Zevon. He is definitely one of my favorites, and was long before his tragically early death. ("Maybe it wasn't such a good idea not to go to a doctor for 15 years," he said in typically wry WZ fashion after the verdict of untreatable cancer came down). He was a flawed and messed up person in many ways, but also had a rare talent. An accomplished pianist, a great rocker, and about as good a lyricist as rock music has seen. Maybe that's why so many of his friends and admirers were writers. (The foreword to the book was written by the popular American novelist Carl Hiaasen). Here are a few snippets.

"And if California slides into the ocean
As the mystics and statistics say it will
I predict this motel will be standing until I pay my bill

Don't the sun look angry through the trees
Don't the trees look like crucified thieves
Don't you feel like desperados under the eaves
Heaven help the one who leaves"

-- "Desperados Under the Eaves"

"She's so many women
He can't find the one who was his friend
He's hanging onto half a heart
But he can't have the restless part
So he tells her to hasten down the wind"

-- "Hasten Down the Wind"

"Grandpa p*ssed his pants again
He don't give a damn
Brother Billy has both guns drawn
He ain't been right since Vietnam

Sweet home Alabama
Play that dead band's song
Turn those speakers up full blast
Play it all night long

Daddy's doing Sister Sally
Grandma's dying of cancer now
The cattle all have brucellosis
We'll get through somehow"

-- "Play It All Night Long"

"Gambler ambled down a country lane
Looking for a game of chance
She was twenty-one or two
And she knew what she wanted
And she wanted that gamblin' man

Her parents warned her
Tried to reason with her
She was determined that she wanted Bill
They'd all be offended at the mention still
If they heard this song, which I doubt they will"

-- "Mama Couldn't Be Persuaded"

"I had the s**t till it all got smoked
I kept the promise till the vow got broke
I had to drink from the lovin' cup
I stood on the banks till the river rose up
I saw the bride in her wedding gown
I was in the house when the house burned down"

-- "I Was in the House When the House Burned Down"

I could list a hundred more. Some of his middle period albums, when he was more wasted than usual on drugs and booze, are shaky, but there was always some good stuff in there, right to the end. His last was "The Wind", recorded when he knew he was dying. Some old friends like Jackson Browne and Bruce Springsteen showed up to help out. (Bruce's incendiary guitar solo on "Disorder in the House" is IMO as good as any he has recorded on his own songs). There are of course some sad songs but also a lot of swashbuckling right to the end. Here's one I find hard to get out of my head every time I listen to it.

"Sometimes when you're doing simple things around the house
Maybe you'll think of me and smile
You know I'm tied to you like the buttons on your blouse
Keep me in your heart for awhile

Hold me in your thoughts, take me to your dreams
Touch me as I fall into view
When the winter comes keep the fires lit
And I will be right next to you

Engine driver's headed north to Pleasant Stream
Keep me in your heart for awhile
These wheels keep turning but they're running out of steam
Keep me in your heart for awhile

Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la-li-li-lo
Keep me in your heart for awhile

Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la-li-li-lo
Keep me in your heart for awhile"