Warren Zevon The Wind
Published August 13, 2003
A great profile of Warren Zevon, who is still alive even though he was given three months to live (I hope he asked for a second opinion and didn't pay the first doctor) in the New York Observer. He has a new album coming out, The Wind and a teevee special about it. Get it while you can, since I don't think they archive these.
At the beginning of VH1's Inside Out: Warren Zevon , to be broadcast on Aug. 24, Mr. Zevon tells the camera: "Clearly, one of the reasons we find ourselves here and I find myself in a unique position of not being able to complain about my present circumstances is that I've always been interested in writing about death." Then he smiles and says, "You know Hemingway said all good stories end in death."One year after his diagnosis, Mr. Zevon, 56 years old, is still hanging in there. He's the brand-new grandfather of twins, courtesy of his daughter Ariel, and his album, The Wind , is finished. It will be released on Aug. 26, and if you're expecting it to be a great album about death, you'll be sorely disappointed.
The Wind is a great album about living --a visceral document of a man determined to squeeze the most out of his remaining time on earth. When Mr. Zevon's friend David Letterman devoted a whole show to the singer last October, he asked Mr. Zevon, "From your perspective now, do you know something about life and death that maybe I don't know?"
"Not unless I know about how much you're supposed to enjoy every sandwich," Mr. Zevon said. That message is written in The Wind . It's not a joyride but it's not medicinal either, nor is it an instruction manual. Mr. Zevon doesn't tell us how to live, he simply shows us what works for him: gathering up his nearest and dearest--longtime collaborator Jorge Calderon (who co-wrote a number of songs on The Wind ), Bruce Springsteen, Jackson Browne, Tom Petty, Don Henley, musicians such as David Lindley who helped define the California sound of the 70's and 80's, his grown children Jordan and Ariel, and his hot girlfriend Kristen--heading into the studio and writing and performing a bunch of songs that right some wrongs, settle some scores and make a big noise. As Mr. Zevon wrote in his diary, "It's the best way I can think of to say goodbye to my friends and kids."
The album is freighted with human experience: happiness, bravado, humor, fear, regret, pleasure, pain, love, anger and, finally, the very human desire of wanting to make some small mark on this earth. As with most of Mr. Zevon's work, the new songs are cold-eyed, devoid of schmaltz, wincingly funny. A number of them are also strikingly intimate--something Mr. Zevon has usually avoided in his songwriting.
- Warren Zevon The Wind
- Published: August 13, 2003
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- Section: Music
- Filed Under: Music: Alternative Rock, Music: Classic Rock and Oldies, Music: News, Music: Popular and Standards, Music: Pop, Music: Rock, Video: Documentary, Video: Music
- Writer: Jim Carruthers
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He was given three months to live in the New York Observer? I'm confused.
Sorry, my inner editor would not be repressed. :)
He was given three months to live in the New York Observer ? I'm confused.
How do you think Warren felt? Goes to do the Letterman show, and winds up in some hoity-toity weekly paper?
Away from Hell-ay, having to deal with people called Mr.-this, and Mr.-that.
No wonder he went to Jersey to get The Boss to fill on the album.
And while I re-read it, the question about the "," after (or not) the paragraph mark is hugely open to question.
So can somebody send me a promo copy of the teevee special since I don't have cable and live in a foreign land. Plus can I get a review copy of the album?
I have an extra I'd be happy to send you Jim, email me your address.
Gawd, I just heard the album. On Warren's cover of "Knockin' on Heaven's Door," the background singers are wailing away at the chorus, and Zevon starts pleading repeatedly, "Open! Open!" Chills, tears, the works. Oh, my excitable boy...
Since I don't have access to VH-1, can anyone out there tell me if the special is available in Canada on an alternate channel? Thanks.
I would contact VH1 about that - if not, move to America.
And all this after we support you across the Great Lakes, you ungrateful bastards, oh, wait, nevermind. Y'know, how 'bout this, I don't see a lot or any Canadians going to the States and renouncing their citizenship. But of course you have Drew Carey and we have Bruce Cockburn. Brushcuts, music, and funny, but who is better?
Y'know I like to think Warren, if he had the choice would prefer to live tin Canada. Go ahead, ask him: Cleveland or Canada?
I'd ask him but he isn't talking much
Y'know it is so fucking cool that you would have the option to ask Warren Zevon if he would choose between Cleveland or Canada.
And if he would answer that would be even cooler.
I know and respect Warrent (tho I've never met him) too much to take up his limited time (but I know he would choose Canada over Cleveland).
I would like to make it abundantly clear that despite fumble-fingers, I do not endorse Warrant (and to add, Journy) or any other dumb-ass rock band.
That goes without saying. RE Warren, I could only reach him through an intermediary so my coolness in this regard is limited. he wasn't talking when I wrote my review many weeks ago, but he sure is hanging on, isn't he?
I'd move to America but I hear you don't get electricity down there that often!
Good one! But it seems we are all one happy grid: Canada is the 51st state after all.
What can I say? You're right; and with a much weaker dollar to boot!
isn't food the big problem up there?
i seem to remember john candy joking about how nobody ever says "hey, let's go out and eat canadian tonight".
;-)
But I eat out Canadian all the time.
Oh, were you talking about restaurants?
It always puzzled me as a kid (and still does) that Chinese restaurants in cities and towns would always advertise "Chinese and Canadian Food" and I wondered what defined Canadian Food?
I guess anything that has Maple syrup, and there's back bacon, and those tiny doughnuts, and Oh Henry bars .. screw this, I'm going to the Food Hall at the Ex.
Back to Zevon for a moment, is either "Stand in the Fire" or "The Envoy" still available or have the record company bastards made them unavailable?
I don't believe they are, which is too bad. Stand in the Fire is one of the really great live albums; one that captures the experience of a performer who really was on fire, and just flat out playing and singing his balls off. I bought it on cassette twenty some years ago, and that's STILL the only thing way I have to hear it. I don't think it has ever made it to CD; not sure if The Envoy ever has either. That one, too, has some truly great stuff on it that no Zevonhead need be denied, namely the title song as well as "The Overdraft,"(yet another Zevon paean, co-written by Sam Shephard, to the joys of running off with a nice piece of jailbait) and "Charlie's Medicine," which ranks with Neil Young's "Tired Eyes" in the pantheon of Great Songs About Offing Pushers. The whole Zevon catalog needs to be out there and available; considering they recently released his shitty early stuff, I don't see why they won't release the better stuff as well, in time.
From a quck search on Amazon, I can only conclude that Elektra has not kept those in print.
I think they are really only interested in Warren dropping dead and then just push the single "best of" title as hard as they can at a really "special price"
I was talking to a young woman last week, and she said she'd never heard of Warren Zevon. So, I did what any geek would do, I gave her a mix-tape (CD really, but you get the idea). Of course, she spent most of the listening time saying: "oh, I know this!".
Alas neither is on Amazon - I have them both on vinyl. Maybe trip to the used record store?
I have "Stand In the Fire" on vinyl LP, and it is about the only album in my "Z" section (the other underpopulated section is "Q" with one Robert Quine solo album - I once owned a Queen album, but I was young and dumb and bought it for the cover as an SF geek)
I think, the Rhino best of aside, if I had to recommend one Warren Zevon album to someone who didn't know his music, it would be "Stand In The Fire".
It is a great live album with a very hot band. I predict tha the cliche will hold and Warren will come to be very highly regarded in the long run, long after he's gone. The is some consolation in the recognition he has received in the last year and it looks like "The Wind" is receiving the deification it deserves right off the bat.
That's why I regret not seeing David Lindley a couple of weeks ago at Toronto Bluesfest. Not because I have a Lindley deathwatch, but I've seen him before and he is both entertaining and technically wonderful. Plus he has dozens of great guitars which I am impressed as artifacts.
Hey, at least with Warren, we'll have the words, stories and tunes.
I saw the special and it was GREAT. Can't wait to get the album. Warren rocks and I hope he has at least another year.
Got the album; it stands with his best work regardless of the circumstances...I just hope it sells a shitload of copies so that a lot of new people can be introduced to his music & take the time to check out his catalogue...And let's get him into the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame; it's shameful that he isn't there already. I forget the Web Site address for the petition to get him in, but I'll take a bit of time to look it up and get back to you.
i think after work today I'll try to go and pick up a copy of this. I've been hearing good things about it ever since the release.
Well I tried to get it at lunch and the bastard was sold out. So I bought Neil Young's Zuma instead.
ummm... Zuma...
Keep trying to find The Wind; it's more than worth the effort.
ummm... Zuma...
Keep trying to find The Wind; it's more than worth the effort. And shop your local independent music seller. The chains blow chunks.
Actually, Natalie, it was the local independent music seller. They said check again Tuesday. But Zuma is a fine, fine disc -- it has "Cortez the Killer" on it, one of Mr. Young's finest moments.
my first stop will be good ol' Circuit City because if they have it they'll be cheaper than anyone else. Saving money is more important to me at the moment than supporting my local indie shops. Yes, I am bad.
People have differing principles. When I'm low on fundage, I wait to buy what I want at a decent place. Others' mileage varies.
The Web address for the petition to get Warren into the Hall of Fame is www.petitiononline.com/bucsrule/petition.html (6000 signatures so far.)
Thanks, Sheldon!
Oh, and Rodney, I just saw your last comment. You rock!!! It will be worth the wait.
Hmm...Talkin' about "Zuma" led to me listening to Neil's "Decade" album and it struck me that the lyrics to "Cortez" could be applied to George Bush...except he's dancing across desert rather than water!
Sheldon, Zuma is one of my top 5 Young albums, amazing. But you forgot to mention the other parallel to "Cortez" - the part about offering up sacrifices, in Saddam's case that's somewhere around 2 million. What a killer...
after the comments about Stand In The Fire, i went and dug out my vinyl copy this past weekend.
phew! that thing rocks!
...and it's a crime that it's out of print.
I accidentally left my copy of "Stand In The Fire" at an ex-girlfriend's place sometime in the mid-1980's...she still lives around here but unfortunately it's on the "outskirts of this town" and I've always been too chickenshit to ask for it back!!!
Natalie, where the hell are ya??? I need some back up here to ease my restless conscience ( and I'm afraid, my spineless backbone!!!)
Hi all you Ann Coulter fans;
As a Canadian admirer of your country I'd like to make a few salient points;
You are the 2nd greatest country in the world (next to mine!!!) & the contributions you have made & will continue to make to the world demand respect & admiration...
But...
What the hell are you guys thinking???...Your President is a lightweight who can't find Midlothian, Texas on the map, never mind Mosul...Where has your Administration's arrogant, mean-spirited, and narrow-minded rhetoric got you?...Right back to the U.N. (to paraphrase Rumsfeld & Wolfowitz "that instrument of irrelvance")...We have shit politicians in our country too, (who doesn't?) but when they tell the truth it's a pleasant surprise & when they don't we treat is as a "Casablanca shock"...Jesus Christ, my friends, PRESIDENTS' LIE AND THEY HAVE ALWAYS LIED!!!The important thing is whether they lie about small things (Monica) or big things (Iraq)...In 2004, please vote out (for your own sakes) the undeserving non-entity you currently have as President for someone with an intelligence and curiosity about the world...In the words of Pete Townshend: "Don't get fooled again"...(Although you may not have been fooled the 1st time since Gore got more votes)!!!
P.S. I'm not some namby-pamby liberal; I just recognize a moron when (a immensely powerful one, at that) I see one.
P.P.S. What's the solution, you ask?...I'm not sure...But I suggest you vote for Howard Dean since he was the 1st one of out of the gates with any balls to take on the Bush administration while the the other Dems. were suckholes kissing ass.
P.P.P.S. You really are a great people & a great country in spite of your shithead President...Oh well, nobody's perfect!!!
P.P.P.S Zevon's great C.D. makes me love you even more!!!
I've been through thick and thin with Warren. Listening to the lyrics and relating as he worked his way through alcohol and marriage problems.
He has been my support, my admiration. I am so grateful that I seen him in concert at the Phoneix in Toronto Ontario a few years ago. One of his roadies gave me his Jim Dunlop guitar pick after asking.
I have his self entitled album "Warren Zevon" framed with the concert tickets and his pick as my trophy.
Warren, I'll keep you in my heart forever.
Terry
I bought the Wind CD and jammed on it in my car. When I got home I popped it in my comp to listen while reading email. Artemis Records has altered the files so playback on a computer is shitty with random pops!!! I wanted a nice, clear CD, not some hissing/poppy vinyl.
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Thanks Jim - Warren and Neil on Blogcritics in the same day!