09-09-2003, 01:46 PM
'Tis a bittersweet day for the truly politically incorrect: One of our great balladeers, Warren Zevon, lost the fight to Lung Cancer a couple of days ago.
A man with a sick and twisted sense of humor, an eye for absurdity, a knack for putting his finger on things "just so," and a fine sense of pure whimsey went down swinging: he was writing songs full of lyrics that address death with his usual sardonic wit, some released on The Wind, as the end approached. He's been laughing in the face of The Reaper for so long that I wonder if Death knows that the joke's still on Him.
Warren manged to put even our little corner of South Texas into his lyrics (how considerate, given his Southern California professional environs):
I was born down in Corpus Christi
With a dram glass in my hand
When I was just 15,
I got a job playing rhythm
With a Nashville Shaketown band
As I type this, I am listening to "Jeanie Needs a Shooter" a song he put together with Bruce Springsteen for the Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School album. The one time I got to see him live, I'd swear he was half in the bag on whiskey, and he still put on a hell of a show. He can make you laugh, he can make you cry, and he can also, like John Prine, make you go "Ah ha!" (If you can listen to Vera Cruz with out tearing up, you may have a Heart of Stone. )
To sum up with lyrics from one of his catchy little ballads:
"You're s'posed to sit on your ass
And nod at stupid things-
Man, that's hard to do.
But if you don't they'll screw you,
And if you do they'll screw you too!
Now I'm standing in the middle
Of the Diamond all alone
I always fade away
When it comes to skin and bone"
Warren, you will be missed, but I don't think you'll fade, since you've now hit the immortal stride and don't need skin and bone any longer. RIP.
PS: I realize that Warren Zevon may not be a "happening" artist for many in Generations X and Whine, but he is that rare sort of singer-songwriter and folksinger, like John Prine, whose songs are just as good twenty years later as they were the day they were released. Take a listen, sit back and enjoy, and raise a glass in memory of a unique spirit.
PPS: Post title is a parody of a chorus from a song on the Excitable Boy LP: Lawyers, Guns, and Money
A man with a sick and twisted sense of humor, an eye for absurdity, a knack for putting his finger on things "just so," and a fine sense of pure whimsey went down swinging: he was writing songs full of lyrics that address death with his usual sardonic wit, some released on The Wind, as the end approached. He's been laughing in the face of The Reaper for so long that I wonder if Death knows that the joke's still on Him.
Warren manged to put even our little corner of South Texas into his lyrics (how considerate, given his Southern California professional environs):
I was born down in Corpus Christi
With a dram glass in my hand
When I was just 15,
I got a job playing rhythm
With a Nashville Shaketown band
As I type this, I am listening to "Jeanie Needs a Shooter" a song he put together with Bruce Springsteen for the Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School album. The one time I got to see him live, I'd swear he was half in the bag on whiskey, and he still put on a hell of a show. He can make you laugh, he can make you cry, and he can also, like John Prine, make you go "Ah ha!" (If you can listen to Vera Cruz with out tearing up, you may have a Heart of Stone. )
To sum up with lyrics from one of his catchy little ballads:
"You're s'posed to sit on your ass
And nod at stupid things-
Man, that's hard to do.
But if you don't they'll screw you,
And if you do they'll screw you too!
Now I'm standing in the middle
Of the Diamond all alone
I always fade away
When it comes to skin and bone"
Warren, you will be missed, but I don't think you'll fade, since you've now hit the immortal stride and don't need skin and bone any longer. RIP.
PS: I realize that Warren Zevon may not be a "happening" artist for many in Generations X and Whine, but he is that rare sort of singer-songwriter and folksinger, like John Prine, whose songs are just as good twenty years later as they were the day they were released. Take a listen, sit back and enjoy, and raise a glass in memory of a unique spirit.
PPS: Post title is a parody of a chorus from a song on the Excitable Boy LP: Lawyers, Guns, and Money
Cry 'Havoc' and let slip the Men 'O War!
In War, the outcome is never final. --Carl von Clausewitz--
Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum
John 11:35 - consider why.
In Memory of Pete
In War, the outcome is never final. --Carl von Clausewitz--
Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum
John 11:35 - consider why.
In Memory of Pete
