5 Reasons To Love Warren Zevon

by: Daly Tongren

Warren Zevon is arguably one of the most underrated musicians of all time. Stepping onto the music scene in 1969, his dark humor and satiric lyrics made him into a cult classic musician. In light of the tenth anniversary of his death, I put together a list of reasons that makes it impossible not to adore the man behind the glasses.

1. Story Teller Extraordinaire

Warren has a way of making a single track play out like a movie in your head. Songs like “Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner” and “Frank and Jesse James” are more than just music and lyrics, they are scenes beautifully crafted from the mind of a genius. They are stories that demand to be told, and his presentation commands you to listen.

2. Everyone Else Does

The cast of characters surrounding Zevon’s career stands as reason alone to appreciate his music. In the mid 70s, he roomed with Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham, as well as produced music with the duo. He has done collaborations with Jackson Browne, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, Linda Ronstadt, Bonnie Raitt, Don Henley, Carl Wilson, and Mick Fleetwood – to name a few. Warren was also a frequenter of The Tonight Show, and called David Letterman “the best friend my music ever had.”

3. Artistic License

I never really understood artistic license until Warren. It seemed like a dirty phrase, one that was selfish and boring and took away from the music I knew and loved. “Learning to Flinch” is a live acoustic album that was recorded at various venues around the world. It displays a lot of artistic license throughout the track listing, but in a way that adds to the songs, not takes away from them. Warren gives you a privileged ear, in that you’re able to hear the way he, as the artist, saw his songs progressing.

4. Multiple Personalities

Somewhere in that dark, twisted mind of his, Warren came up with the story behind “Excitable Boy.” The song tells the tale of a young man who was responsible for the rape and murder of his prom date. “After ten long years they let him out of the home/Excitable boy they all said/And he dug up her grave, and built a cage with her bones.”

But somehow, in that same mind, he was able to come up with “Keep Me in Your Heart,” a truly honest request about death that appeared on his last studio album in 2003, which he recorded after his cancer diagnosis. “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.”

Warren had the ability to sing about subject matter that would make you cringe, as well as write love songs that could remind you such a thing existed. Through his range of music, listeners are able to view Zevon as human, as much as an artist.

5. Werewolves of London

Yes that’s right, I said it. The biggest hit Zevon ever had remains one of the catchiest tunes that your car radio will never let you forget. Despite it possibly falling into the category of being commercialized or “over-played,” the melody is irresistible. A little diddy about a beast with an affinity for Asian Cuisine broke the Top 40 charts in 1978, and remained there for six weeks. What isn’t there to love?