Warren Zevon

**Warren William Zevon** (January 24, 1947 – September 7, 2003) was an American rock singer-songwriter and musician known for including his strange and somewhat critical opinions of life in his lyrics. Zevon wrote many songs that were humorous and often political

Many famous musicians have said they liked Zevon's work, including  Jackson Browne, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, and Neil Young. His most famous songs include "Werewolves of London", "Lawyers, Guns and Money", "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner" and "Johnny Strikes Up The Band."  All of these are from his third and most famous album: _Excitable Boy_ (1978).   Zevon has written  many songs that were recorded by other artists.  These include "Poor Poor Pitiful Me" (a top 40 hit by Linda Ronstadt), "Accidentally Like a Martyr," "Mohammed's Radio," "Carmelita", and "Hasten Down the Wind".

Zevon sometimes recorded or sang cover songs.  He liked to sing Bob Dylan's "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" and Leonard Cohen's "First We Take Manhattan". He was often a guest on _Late Night with David Letterman_ and the _Late Show with David Letterman_. Letterman later sang with Zevon on "Hit Somebody! (The Hockey Song)" with Paul Shaffer and members of the CBS Orchestra.

He had a lot of problems in his life, including divorce, alcoholism, and suicide attempts.  He also had a paranoia of doctors and this killed him: he did not know he had cancer until doctors could not help him.

## Early life

Zevon was born in Chicago, Illinois.  His parents were William Zevon, a Secular Jew, and Beverly Cope Simmons, a Mormon from Salt Lake City, Utah.  They soon moved to Fresno, California. By the age of 13, Zevon sometimes visited Igor Stravinsky where he studied modern classical music.  Zevon's parents divorced when he was 16 years old.  After the divorce, he dropped out of high school and moved from Los Angeles to New York to become a folk singer.

## Success

In 1978, Zevon released his most popular and critically acclaimed album _Excitable Boy_.  Radio stations often played the songs off the album, especially "Werewolves of London."  "Werewolves of London" and "Excitable Boy" were both examples of black humor (jokes about bad things).  The album also had the songs "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner" and "Lawyers, Guns and Money," which were both deadpan humor songs about geopolitics.

_Rolling Stone_ named the album one of the most important albums in the 1970s.  They said that he, Neil Young, Jackson Browne, and Bruce Springsteen were four of the best new artists to emerge in the 1970s.

After _Excitable Boy_ Warren Zevon published _Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School_ in 1980.  This album had the only other song recorded by Zevon that reached the Billboard Top 100: "A Certain Girl."  "A Certain Girl" is a rhythm and blues song written by Allen Toussaint.

This album was dedicated to Ken Millar, who calls himself "Ross Macdonald."  Millar is a writer who writes mystery novels, and Zevon really liked Millar's stories.  He met Millar in an intervention put together by the journalist Paul Nelson.  For a while this intervention helped Zevon not drink too much alcohol.

## Cancer, death and _The Wind_

Warren Zevon did not like to go to the doctor and never went to one when he was an adult.  Before playing at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival, in 2002, he started feeling dizzy and started to have a chronic cough.  When Zevon told his dentist his problems, his dentist recommended seeing a doctor.  When he finally visited one, the doctor diagnosed him with **mesothelmia**.

Warren Zevon did not want to get treated for his cancer if it might keep him from making music.  So instead he started to make his final album, titled _The Wind_. He had a lot of friends who helped him make the album.  These friends included Bruce Springsteen, Don Henley, Jackson Browne, Timothy B. Schmit, Joe Walsh, David Lindley, Billy Bob Thornton, Emmylou Harris, Tom Petty, Dwight Yoakam, and others.

### Studio albums

- _Wanted Dead or Alive (Warren Zevon album)|Wanted Dead or Alive_ – 1969  – <small>Initial release credited simply to "**Zevon**".</small>
- _Warren Zevon (album)|Warren Zevon_ – 1976
- _Excitable Boy_ – 1978 (United States: Platinum)
- _Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School_ – 1980
- _The Envoy_ – 1982
- _Sentimental Hygiene_ – 1987
- _Transverse City_ – 1989
- _Hindu Love Gods_ – 1990 – <small>As a member of "**Hindu Love Gods**".</small>
- _Mr. Bad Example_ – 1991
- _Mutineer_ – 1995
- _Life'll Kill Ya_ – 2000
- _My Ride's Here_ – 2002
- _The Wind_ – 2003

### Live albums

- _Stand in the Fire_ – 1980
- _Learning to Flinch_ – 1993

### Compilations

- _A Quiet Normal Life: The Best of Warren Zevon – 1986 (US: Gold)
- _I'll Sleep When I'm Dead (An Anthology)_ – 1996
- _Genius: The Best of Warren Zevon_ – 2002
- _The First Sessions_ – 2003
- _Reconsider Me: The Love Songs_ – 2006
- _Preludes: Rare and Unreleased Recordings_ – 2007

## Other websites

- Warren Zevon official site
- Warren Zevon official MySpace site
- Warren Zevon Wiki
- Warren Zevon live audio recordings at Archive.org
- Jordan Zevon's Official Site
- Warren Zevon  at _Rolling Stone''
- Warren Zevon's  personal archive at Human ArchivesQ
- Warren Zevon Find a Grave
- Dirty Life And Times
- Keep Me In Your Heart

## Infobox (musical artist)

- **name**: Warren Zevon
- **img**: JayCubby's copy of late 1970s Warren Zevon gloss 8x10 press photo.jpg
- **img capt**: Warren Zevon in 1978
- **background**: solo_singer
- **birth name**: Warren William Zevon
- **alias**: Sandy Zevon
Stephen Lyme
- **birth place**: Chicago, Illinois,
 United States
- **death place**: Los Angeles, California,
 United States
- **instrument**: Singing, Vocals, guitar, piano, harmonica
- **genre**: Rock music, Rock, Folk music, folk, Americana (music), Americana
- **occupation**: Singer-songwriter, musician
- **years active**: 1965–2003
- **label**: White Whale Records (1965–1967)
 Imperial Records (1969–1971)
 Asylum Records (1976–1982)
 Virgin Records (1987–1989)
 Giant Records/Reprise Records, Reprise/Warner Bros. Records (1991–1995)
 Artemis Records/Koch Entertainment (2000–2003)
- **associated acts**: Billy Bob Thornton
 Jackson Browne
David Lindley
 Waddy Wachtel
 Bruce Springsteen
 Dwight Yoakam
Hindu Love Gods
 Linda Ronstadt
 The Everly Brothers
 Don Everly
 Phil Everly
 Richie Hayward
 Jack Casady
 Chick Corea
 Jerry Garcia
 David Gilmour
 Neil Young
 Don Henley
 Timothy B. Schmit
 Bob Dylan
 Joe Walsh
 Emmylou Harris
 Tom Petty
 The Eagles
 Manfred Mann
The Turtles
lyme and cybelle
Rock Bottom Remainders
- **url**: [http://www.warrenzevon.com warrenzevon.com]