Werewolves of London/An American Werewolf In London

I posted this over in the Pit as part of the Warren Zevon dead… thread, but didn’t get an answer, so I would like to repost here if I may…

I have always wondered why Werewolves wasn’t included in the John Landis film. It would have made an awesome title track, IMHO. Do any of y’all know if WZ was even approached for its inclusion?

I am aware that the pop tunes which were used all had the word moon in their title, but taken as the title track, I don’t think it would have messed the film up and would have been perfect ;).

Thanks

Q

According to the IMDB trivia for the film

So he was never asked.

If they ever make a film of the Brian Aldiss book “Werewolves of London”, it’ll be a shoe-in.

I’d always wondered this myself.

Maybe it wasn’t used because David Naughton’s hair was far from perfect.

It is mentioned in the commentary to the DVD, but I can’t recall what was said, and even then I think it was speculation because the commentary is by the two main actors, not John Landis himself.

I’m partial to the Werewolves of Bryn Mawr track that Warren recorded as a part of a fundraiser to save The Main Point in the 1970’s.

:wink:

That’s an interesting question since a few years later it was given to the film The Color of Money

(nitpick) Brian Stableford is not the same person as Brian Aldiss.

I like the version of Werewolves that Zevon recorded on ‘Stand in the fire’, which had the lyrics changed somewhat…

“Little old lady got mutilated late last night… Brian DePalma again…”

“You’d better stay away from him, he’ll rip your lungs out, Jim… And he’s looking for James Taylor!”

“I saw a werewolf trying to buy a used car in Del Mar…It was a blood redCoupe DeVille. He said he was driving down to Mexico, gonna go to Tijuana and kill someone in a film or something!”

“I saw Jackson Browne walking slow down the avenue…and his heart was perfect.”

Boy, THERE’S an arcane trivia question. We now have the standard version, the Bryn Mawr version and the Stand In The Fire version.

Anyone have straight dope on another version that Zevon recorded/released?

Or because it would require the filmmkaers admitting that they’d heard the Zevon song and been inspired to make a movie…?

Reviews of the film asked this as soon as the movie came out, you know. It’s kinda obvious.

What about Things To Do In Denver When You’re Dead/Things To Do In Denver When You’re Dead?

I dunno about that one, jjimm. The film went downhill after the title though. The IMDB credits him with the title.

I do recall seeing WZ in about 1992 introducing “Searching for a Heart” with something like

Given that he said exactly the same thing the next night and the one after that, I guess it rankled.

Anyone know what the deal with Waddy Wachtel is?

Nah. Warren Zevon didn’t invent the phrase Werewolf of London.

Great song, but he took the title from the 1935 movie (which, I imagine, was also the inspiration for the Landis film).

All of the songs on the sountrack include the word “moon” in the title. The song “werewolves” wasn’t included because it didn’t have “moon” in the title. It sounds silly, but I think this is correct - check the complete soundtrack listing.

In “Things To Do In Denver When You’re Dead”, they did play the title song during the closing credits. I imagine Zevon got paid a little for that.

Apparently, there’s a new movie out called, “I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead”. I don’t know if the music is used.

What deal?

Waddy got in a bit of trouble with kiddie porn a few years ago, but I don’t think he’s completely disappeared.

Ohhhhhhh. I hadn’t heard that.