His 1999 recording for Ruf, Sugar Candy Taxi, is a spectacular musical and lyrical odyssey. It's an example of how a Blues song is not necessarily defined by the music, but can also be given that designation via the emotional content and attitudes expressed by the lyrics. There may not be too much Mississippi Mud or Chicago grit on the music of these songs, but they still act upon you emotionally and intellectually like any Blues number should.
I'm looking for a paradise where the/Ones I love the don't tell lies/But I can't find that precious place I want you, I need you, I love you,/I'm almost dying,/I want you… "Almost Dying" Kevin Coyne Sugar Candy Taxi 1999, Ruf Records
But he's not just emotionally heavy, he can also poke fun at himself. Like on "Porcupine People" when he says things like "(All shout) He's paranoid" in reference to himself, and in the next verse he says "I sure I'm paranoid, maybe I am? … There's not much joy in being paranoid, listen to me… " Remember this is the man who had a nervous break down, so to be able to sing lyrics like that takes a sense of humour most of us are lacking.
Or then there is the song "My Wife's Best Friend" where he revels in every man's fantasy of fooling around with his wife's best friend, because you know men are really like that don't you. Than there are the lines that just stick in your head because they are so real and fly in the face of convention, maybe not in the lyric, but in the way they are said and the inflection in his voice. "Even blonde girls get the blues" might not sound too biting sitting on it's own, but in the context of the title song "Sugar Candy Taxi" it gains a texture that doesn't show up on this page.
Article comments
1 - Charlene Komar Storey
Warren Zevon's songs are intelligent, yes, but characterizing his work as marked by "constant irony, bitterness and sarcasm" simply doesn't hold up. Yes, there's irony in Zevon's writing. But it's far from constant. There's much more humor than bitterness. And there are plenty of just plain rockers and romantic songs as well. In fact, his range is pretty damn impressive.
Take a look at just a couple of his albums. Going back to the beginning of his popularity, the songs on "Excitable Boy" hardly fit your description. Even "Accidentally Like a Martyr" has only one line that might possibly be called bitter ("the hurt gets worse/and the heart gets harder"). Yes, there are songs that look at things a bit differently, shall we say, but "constant bitterness, irony and sarcasm"? No.
Later CDs? I'll pass over "The Wind" -- notable though it is for a lack of bitterness and a plethora of humor from a dying man -- because of the circumstances of its recording. Put "Life'll Kill Ya" on the player instead. Again, yes, there's irony, but hardly constant. There's some sarcasm, but again, far from constant. Some songs are rueful. More are funny ("Life'll Kill Ya" and "My Shit's Fucked Up") or touching ("Hostage-O," "Ourselves to Know" and "Don't Let Us Get Sick").
It's all too common to try to limit Zevon, but it's like trying to get a multi-sided peg into a round hole.
I understand that on March 27 we'll see re-issues of "Excitable Boy," "Stand in the Fire" and "The Envoy." Give them a listen.