Enjoy Every Sandwich: The Biggest Warren Zevon Hits

Warren Zevon
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January 24 marks the date Warren Zevon was born in 1947. We celebrate the brilliant singer-songwriter with a rerun of the cult hero’s biggest hits. What’s your favorite Warren Zevon lyric?

1. "Excitable Boy”

The title track to his breakthrough album, the rollicking piano and the backing vocals of Linda Ronstadt give cheery juxtaposition to the horrific story of an “excitable boy” that takes Little Suzie to her Junior Prom, only to rape, kill, and take her home. With such an unforgiving twist, Zevon establishes his reputation as a songwriter willing to confront the gap between American ideals and mental health problems without batting an eye.

  1. “Poor, Poor Pitiful Me”

Zevon spent the early ‘70s playing the keyboard and working alongside the Everly Brothers. “The road, booze and I became an inseparable team,” he shared with Rolling Stone. He churned out a sizable body of work during this time, including “Poor, Poor Pitiful Me” that would launch his professional career with an Asylum Records contract by 1975. 

 

  1. “Lawyers, Guns & Money”

Released in 1978, “Lawyers, Guns and Money” was the closing track to the Excitable Boy anthem that had many relating (or wishing to relate) to the noir hero of “Lawyers, Guns and Money” who goes home with the waitress after gambling in Havana. It simply doesn’t get more badass than Zevon wrapping the catchy chorus, “Send lawyers, guns and money,” with “Hiyah!”

  1. “Desperados Under the Eaves”

This track from Warren Zevon’s 1976 eponymous album depicted the talented, tortured songwriter’s struggle with alcoholism as he hopped from motel to motel, “sitting in the Hollywood Hawaiian Hotel...staring in [his] empty coffee cup.” It was this same desperado that caught the attention of Asylum Records’ co-creator David Geffen, prompting Geffen to swiftly sign Zevon and procure the rights to the song.

  1. “A Certain Girl”

From Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School emerged a modest chart hit for Zevon in his cover of Allen Toussant’s “A Certain Girl” (under the pen name Noami Neville). Zevon’s edition peaked at No. 57 in April 1980 on Billboard’s Hot 100, while the album peaked at No. 20 that same year.

 

  1. “Werewolves of London”

Where would we be without honoring Zevon’s most recognizable track? Also embedded into the sleeves of Excitable Boy, “Werewolves of London” was Zevon’s only Top 40 hit, peaking at No. 21 on Billboard’s Hot 100 on May 13, 1978, but the single howled for itself from the start. Fun fact, when Zevon played this live to audiences, he sometimes swapped the line “I’d like to meet his tailor” with “And he’s looking for James Taylor!”
 

  1. “Keep Me In Your Heart”

A year after learning his lung cancer diagnosis, Zevon faced his lyrical muse and looming phobia of death. He collaborated with death itself in his farewell album The Wind, and his loyal fans responded by buying The Wind immediately, giving Zevon his first Top Forty album in twenty-five years. The finale to Zevon’s farewell album The Wind, Zevon presented the most vulnerable side of himself in the way he knew best, in heartrending song. 

 

  1. “The French Inhaler"

    Gifted to the world in 1976, literary masterpiece "The French Inhaler" was another signature Zevon timepiece, a giant of song that showcased the uncompromising storyteller's combined love of language, tune and fun.
     

  2. "Knocking on Heaven’s Door"

Track three in his final album, Zevon paid tribute to his fellow musician peers and friends by covering Bob Dylan’s “Knocking on Heaven’s Door,” still a continuation of singing poignant contemplations of mortality. 

 

  1. "Disorder in the House"

In unforgettable tribute to Zevon even after his passing, and perhaps an ironic nod to his tales of frustration, Zevon was posthumously nominated for five 2004 Grammy awards for The Wind. Zevon was awarded with a win for Best Rock Performance by Duo or Group with Vocal for his collaboration with Bruce Springsteen (providing guitarwork and his signature vocals) in “Disorder in the House.”

 

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