Musician Warren Zevon Dead at 56
Article posted Fri Oct 3 14:59:51 2003
Hard-living rocker Warren Zevon died Sunday September 7 from a rare form of lung cancer. He had been diagnosed a year ago and immediately set to work on his final album. He didn’t expect to live long enough to finish it, but, with a little help from his friends, he did. The CD is titled The Wind , and is available in stores now.
The disc reached number 16 on the Billboard charts, the highest since his smash 1970s success Excitable Boy . Warren lived long enough to see his grandchildren born and see his final work achieve notoriety that often eluded him in his 30-year career.
Zevon is best known for hits such as "Werewolves of London," "Excitable Boy," and "Lawyers, Guns, and Money." Though his acerbic, cerebral, and darkly humorous songs never thrust him to his 1970s fame, he was no novelty act. His “best of” CD, Genius , really only touches the surface of his work.
In addition to his album work, Zevon also scored music for television shows and contributed to film soundtracks. Among them:
• His song “She Quit Me” was featured in the Academy Award-winning film Midnight Cowboy .
• His hit song “Werewolves of London” was featured in the 1986 Paul Newman film The Color of Money.
• Zevon’s song “Tenderness on the Block” (written for his daughter Ariel) appeared in the 1998 film Sliding Doors.
• The 1991 film Grand Canyon includes Zevon’s song “Lawyers, Guns, and Money.”
Zevon has also inspired filmmakers with his song titles. The title of Andy Garcia’s 1996 film Things To Do in Denver When You’re Dead was taken from a song of the same name from Warren’s CD Mr. Bad Example . Roger Ebert, in his televised review of the film, said he wasn’t particularly impressed with the film but he loved the title and wondered where it came from; that’s where. Also, at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, British director Mike Hodges premiered his new film I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead, the title of one of Warren’s hits.
Though he met with only modest (and early) commercial success, Zevon was well-regarded by both critics and fellow musicians. His collaborators include Mick Fleetwood (who did the drums on “Werewolves of London”), Eagles Don Henley and Timothy B. Schmidt, Bob Dylan, Ry Cooder, Bruce Springsteen, members of REM, and many others. David Letterman, a friend of Warren’s, devoted an entire show to him and his music, and recently VH1 aired “Inside/Out,” a documentary about the making of Warren’s last CD as he neared death.
I have been a fan of Warren’s for twenty years, and I had the pleasure of seeing him play in small venues on tour in recent years. When I met him he was pleasant and self-effacing, happy to autograph a photo I had taken of him at another show just two weeks earlier.
When asked by Letterman if the process of dying had taught him anything that the rest of us don’t know, Warren replied, “Not unless I know how much you’re supposed to enjoy every sandwich.” This admonition, to remember to take time for the simple pleasures in life, is a welcome reminder for all.
