Warren Zevon

**Warren William Zevon** (January 24, 1947 – September 7, 2003) was an American rock singer, songwriter, and musician.

Zevon's early music industry successes were found as a session musician, jingle composer, songwriter, touring musician, musical coordinator & bandleader. Despite all this, Zevon struggled to break through in his solo career until his music was performed by Linda Ronstadt, beginning with her 1976 album Hasten Down the Wind. This launched a cult following that lasted 25 years, with Zevon making occasional returns to album and single charts until his death from cancer in 2003. He briefly found a new audience in the 1980s by teaming up with members of R.E.M. in the blues rock outfit Hindu Love Gods.

Known for his dry wit and acerbic lyrics, he was a guest numerous times on Late Night with David Letterman and the Late Show with David Letterman.

## Links to Kershaw

Zevon was a favourite of Kershaw when he was young mentioning on his 12 March 2007 show that when he was working in a railway engine room before going to Leeds University, the music of Warren Zevon playing on the radio would motivate him on the day.

In an 2011 interview with Wanderlust, Kershaw mentioned the story of Warren Zevon's music being played whilst leaning next to explosives in Angola for a radio documentary:

> *"What a great moment that was! You couldn’t have scripted that! I was leaning against high explosives, enough, probably, to take out the whole town. When Lawyers, Guns and Money came on I thought “Warren Zevon would have loved this, the in which I was listening to his song. I was lucky enough to have Warren play on my very last Radio 1 programme. I told him the story and he thought it was fantastic. To the extent that when he got up at the end, put a twelve string around his neck and said something like “I know you’ve been waiting for this one Andy”. (Andy hums first bars of song then sings “I went home with a waitress, the way I always do”) He gets to the line that should have been “I was gambling in Havana, I took a little risk” he changed it there and then, God bless him, to “I was gambling in Angola, I took a little risk, send lawyers, guns and money, hey! Get me out of this. It was wonderful. It ended up with me and him sitting in the studio at the end of the recording and saying, “When are you next going to Haiti? I’d like to come with you.’ Phone numbers were swapped, it was all agreed, then the poor bugger got cancer and he was dead within a short space of time."* [1]
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## Sessions

1. Recorded: unknown. First Broadcast: 25 May 2000. Repeated: 20 September 2002

* I Was In The House When The House Burned Down / For My Next Trick / Excitable Boy / Don't Let Us Get Sick / Seminole Bingo / Lawyers, Guns And Money

## Other Shows Played

1986
* 03 July 1986: Lawyers, Guns And Money (LP - Excitable Boy) Asylum
* 10 July 1986: Excitable Boy (LP - Excitable Boy) Asylum

1987
* 04 June 1987: Bad Karma (7") Virgin
* 16 July 1987: The Factory (CD - Sentimental Hygiene) Virgin

1989
* 10 December 1989: Transverse City (album - Transverse City) Virgin America

1992
* 05 January 1992: Things To Do In Denver When You're Dead (CD - Mr. Bad Example) Giant
* 12 January 1992: Mr. Bad Example (CD - Mr. Bad Example) Giant
* 19 January 1992: Heartache Spoken Here (CD - Mr. Bad Example) Giant

1996
* 07 April 1996: Lawyers Guns And Money

1997
* 03 March 1997: The Factory (CD - Sentimental Hygiene) Virgin

2000
* 27 January 2000: Dirty Little Religion (CD - Life'll Kill Ya) Artemis
* 27 January 2000: For My Next Trick I Need A Volunteer (CD - Life'll Kill Ya) Artemis
* 03 February 2000: Back In the High Life Again (CD - Life'll Kill Ya) Artemis
* 10 February 2000: I Was In the House When the House Burned Down (CD - Life'll Kill Ya) Artemis
* 24 February 2000: I'll Slow You Down (CD - Life'll Kill Ya) Artemis
* 02 March 2000: Lawyers, Guns and Money (CD - A Quiet Normal Life) Asylum
* 02 March 2000: For My Next Trick (CD - Life'll Kill Ya) Artemis
* 02 March 2000: Mr Bad Example (CD - Mr Bad Example) Giant
* 09 March 2000: Even A Dog Can Shake Hands (CD - Sentimental Hygiene) Virgin
* 06 April 2000: The Factory (CD - Sentimental Hygiene) Virgin
* 27 April 2000: Back In the High Life Again (CD - Life'll Kill Ya) Artemis
* 18 May 2000: Things to do in Denver When You're Dead (CD - Mr Bad Example) Giant
* 18 May 2000: Excitable Boy (CD - A Quiet Normal Life) Asylum

2002
* 24 May 2002: You're A Whole Different Person (CD - My Ride's Here) Artemis
* 28 June 2002: My Ride's Here (CD - My Ride's Here) Artemis
* 13 September 2002: Mr. Bad Example (CD - Mr. Bad Example) Giant
* 13 December 2002: Things To Do In Denver When You're Dead (CD - Mr. Bad Example) Giant

2003
* 12 September 2003: Dirty Life And Times (CD - The Wind) Artemis
* 12 September 2003: Things To Do In Denver When You're Dead (CD - Mr. Bad Example) Giant
* 12 September 2003: Keep Me In Your Heart (CD - The Wind) Artemis
* 05 October 2003: Disorder In The House (CD - The Wind) Artemis
* 09 November 2003: Dirty Life And Times (CD - The Wind) Artemis
* 14 December 2003: The Envoy (CD - A Quiet Normal Life: The Best Of Warren Zevon) Asylum

2007
* Desert Island Discs: Lawyers, Guns and Money (CD - The Best of Warren Zevon – A Quiet Normal Life) Asylum

2021
* Andy Kershaw Podcast Episode 2: Bad Karma (album - Sentimental Hygiene) Virgin

2022
* Andy Kershaw Podcast Episode 13: Mr. Bad Example (album - Mr. Bad Example) Giant

## External Links

* Wikipedia
* Discogs
* Official Website