I too will be raising a glass to Mr. Zevon this evening. We shall not see his like again.
And the pisser is, that there might very well be someone with his talent out there, but because of how fucked up the music industry is these days, we’re unlikely to hear it.
Farewell, Warren.
I’m really drained right now, because I spent a bit of time drafting my eulogy to Warren in livejournal. You can read it here, if you want.
http://www.livejournal.com/users/m_fallenangel/
Suffice it to say, Warren and his music have kept me going through some pretty heinous shit, particularly in the last couple of years.
As I said in the LJ piece, the man was one of my heroes, since to me heroism is an every day thing, not a single act of bravery.
He was my role model in how to accept life’s negatives and revel in its positives. Warren and his music taught me that if you live your life that way, you can even manage to get the positives to outweigh the negatives, if only by a little bit.
I’ll miss knowing he’s out there somewhere, living and being just himself to the best of his ability. Zevon was, for me, the embodiment of everything good about chaos: There is structure, and even great beauty, in what can appear to be total randomness.
For now, troubador, go on without me; I’ll just slow you down.
It’s me again.
You know, not only was WZ a great musician and poet, he was a prophet. Consider these lyrics written 23 years ago!!:
Nuclear arms in the Middle East
Israel is attacking the Iraqis
The Syrians are mad at the Lebanese
And Baghdad does whatever she please
Looks like another threat to world peace
For the envoy
We should all die with as much dignity.
It will be interesting to see what Letterman has to say.
My guess is, he’ll say a few words before signing off (as he often does in such cases). Both of them were obviously close friends and considering that Letterman is somewhat of a recluse, this is saying a lot!
I heard about it on Pitchfork Media earlier today. Knew about the cancer long ago, from reading various sources.
Damn, he was such a good musician.
F_X
Check out the front page of one of the fan sites.
I guess he’s about 13 there. And already a cynic. Cool, cool, cool.
I guess sending lawyers, guns, and money won’t help, eh? Damn.
I’ll miss him.
On account of Nuke’s post, I was just playing “Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner” for my wife, who’d never heard it. I think I’ll let that side (yes, I’m old) of the album keep playing, now that it’s on.
Yeah, right. Blame the cigarettes. Even if it WAS a smoking related cancer, it’s not like they leap into your mouth and force their smoke in against your will.
I’m also saddened to see him go, but let’s not put blame where it doesn’t belong…Timmy
Warren Zevon was an incredibly big part of my life, even though I never even got to see him in concert.
I first heard him just shortly after Excitable Boy was released. I was amazed. I bought that album, and Warren Zevon, and even Wanted: Dead or Alive. I went through some fairly lonely years when I moved from home and went to college, and I played those albums so much I wore them out and had to buy new ones. I think I went through 2 or 3 copies of each one. Each release of a Warren Zevon album was a BIG deal to me. I bought “Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School” on album, as well as “Sentimental Hygiene”. Played those out as well. Then the CD’s came along, and I still have them all. I must have moved 10 times in those years, and the first thing packed with each move was my Zevon collection.
I met my wife because of Warren Zevon. I was chatting with a bunch of friends one day, and mentioned Zevon. My future wife was in earshot, and she perked up and said, “You like Warren Zevon??” And it was like we were immediately old friends. We were engaged in three weeks, married in six months, and it’s now 13 years and counting. I don’t know what it is about Zevon fans, but I’ve never met one I didn’t like. Perhaps we all see the world through the same Zevonesque filter or something.
I’ll miss him a lot, and the saddest part is that we will never get to hear his take on retirement, becoming old, becoming a grandfather, a patriarch. I’m sure he could have taught us just as much about that part of life as he did about being young and middle aged.
I guess we’ll just have to muddle along without him. But the journey will be a little more empty without him walking along with us, giving us all all little kick in the ass when we get too maudlin or self-pitying.
30W motor oil, Bombay gin. Cheers, Sam
Cheers!
Btw, isn’t it, “I’m drinking heartbreak motor oil and Bombay gin”?
“Don’t you feel like desperados under the eaves/Heaven help the one who leaves.”
VH-1’s running a documentary about Warren. If they treat his death like that of Frank Sinatra’s, they’ll be running it for the next day or so.
I completely forgot to watch Letterman! Did he mention Warren?
Awwww, Rilchiam. Yes, he did. And, of course, I was WAY off base when I posted yesterday that I thought he would take a few moments at the very end to mention his passing.
Actually, he talked about him a good 5 to 10 minutes after his monologue, recalling among other things his October 2002 appearance. As expected, it was touching, in a Letterman kind of way. The band played snippets of Zevon songs before each commercial break and, as a last segment, we got to see Zevon signing Mutineer, from his October 2002 appearance. That was moving (especially for someone like me who hadn’t seen the performance the first time around), with his voice cracking perhaps from a mixture of emotion and his general physical condition [Letterman said that it was to be Zevon’s last live public performance].
A pretty nice tribute, all in all.
Shit shit shit. Can’t believe I missed it. Thanks, though.
Hey asshat, we’re all mourning here and you decide to break in and defend cigarettes? My friend has a few months to live because of smoking. True she made those decisions, but I’m not going to show up at her funeral and eulogize with “Now let’s not blame the cigarettes, the tobacco companies are the real victims here, what with the lost revenue and all…” It’s called tact, get some.