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Warren Zevon chronicled life and death in song

Tuesday, September 09, 2003

BY JAY LUSTIG
Star-Ledger Staff

In August 2002, Warren Zevon received a grim diagnosis. Terminal lung cancer, and about three months to live.

Zevon, who died Sunday afternoon at the age of 56 in his West Hollywood home, lived longer and accomplished more than anyone expected, recording a final album, "The Wind," in late 2002 and early 2003. The album -- a sometimes rowdy, sometimes poignant collection of farewell messages -- was released on Aug. 26.

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"Shadows are falling and I'm running out of breath ... If I leave you it doesn't mean I love you any less/Keep me in your heart for a while," he sang on the album's most devastating song, "Keep Me In Your Heart."

Yet there was joy on the album, too. "The Rest of the Night," for instance, was a call to "party for the rest of the night" since "we may never get this chance again."

Throughout the album, Zevon seemed remarkably clear-headed for someone who was staring straight at death. Then again, Zevon -- best known for songs such as "Werewolves Of London," "Lawyers, Guns and Money" and "Poor Poor Pitiful Me" -- has never shied away from dark subjects, and often put a humorous spin on them. His last two, pre-diagnosis albums, 2000's "Life'll Kill Ya" and 2002's "My Ride's Here," were full of meditations on mortality.

"Compared to a lot of people, I'm a happy person, but you can be cynical and be happy," he told The Star-Ledger in 2000. "It's a question of saying, 'Everything's (messed) up, but there's still a lot of beauty or fun to have -- a lot to appreciate.'"

Zevon was a lot of things. A minor celebrity and a major talent. A road warrior and a devoted father. A wild man on stage, and a poetic songwriter with a flair for reflective ballads. A voracious reader who co-wrote songs with novelists Carl Hiassen and Thomas McGuane, as well as Bruce Springsteen and Jackson Browne.

"He wrote tremendously well throughout his entire career," said Elvis Costello yesterday. "I don't know whether 'humor' is the right word, but the way in which he faced his end ... he didn't exactly change his view."

Zevon's recent music, Costello said, "is consistent with the way he wrote right in the beginning. That's not to say he didn't move forward, but he didn't suddenly become falsely pious, or start retracting positions that he clearly held."

Zevon was born in Chicago, but grew up primarily in California. His father was a Russian immigrant and a professional gambler. Classically trained, he befriended composer Igor Stravinsky as a teenager, but gravitated to pop music.

He released his debut album, "Wanted Dead Or Alive," in 1969, but it bombed. Zevon soon found work, though, with the Everly Brothers, backing them and serving as their musical director.

The duo, Zevon told the Los Angeles Times in 1976, "would always go out and perform with passion ... I learned that when you go out on-stage, you give your all even if you have been doing it for 15 years and are sick of giving your all."

The Everlys broke up in 1973, and though Zevon continued working with both of them individually, he also returned to his solo career. His second album, a self-titled effort that came out in 1976, revealed that he had bloomed into a fully mature artist. Its mixture of quirky rock songs ("Poor Poor Pitiful Me," "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead") and beautiful ballads ("Carmelita," "Mohammed's Radio") and Zevon's willingness to look at the crazy, seedy, violent side of life established him as a maverick in the laid-back Southern California music scene. An unusually poetic maverick.

"If California slides into the ocean/Like the mystics and statistics say it will/I predict this motel will be standing/Until I pay my bill," he sang in "Desperados Under the Eaves."

"He's the first and foremost proponent of song noir," Jackson Browne, who co-produced the album, once said.

"Excitable Boy," released in 1978, was Zevon's commercial breakthrough, yielding his only Top 40 hit, "Werewolves Of London," and reaching the Top Ten on Billboard's albums chart. Linda Ronstadt also scored a Top 40 hit with her cover of "Poor Poor Pitiful Me" that year.

Zevon developed a substance-abuse problem, and though he remained a dynamic concert attraction, his recordings suffered. He reemerged sober with 1987's "Sentimental Hygiene," one of the strongest albums of his career. By all accounts, he stayed away from alcohol and drugs since then, though he continued to smoke.

"When we were talking once, he described it as he got to be Jim Morrison for the first half of his life, and Ward Cleaver for the second," his son, Jordan Zevon, said in August.

He continued to record regularly, and frequently toured in solo-acoustic format, backing himself on piano and guitar. He also recorded an album with three members of R.E.M. under the name Hindu Love Gods in 1990, and had small parts in the movies "She's Having a Baby" (1988) and "South of Heaven, West of Hell" (2000).

In the summer of 2002, Zevon started suffering from shortness of breath. When he visited a doctor, he learned about his illness almost immediately. The news became public, and Zevon put out a statement: "I'm okay with it, but it'll be a drag if I don't make it till the next James Bond movie comes out."

He also began working on "The Wind" (working title: "My Dirty Life and Times") with his longtime collaborator, bassist-producer-songwriter Jorge Calderón, and friends such as Browne, Springsteen, Don Henley and Tom Petty.

"I think this is something he wanted to give to everybody he can't speak directly to," said Jordan Zevon in August. "People have been so supportive, but you get overwhelmed (dealing) with everyone you've known for all these years, or even people who met him once. This is an album dealing with those things that can't necessarily be said to each individual."

"The Wind" debuted at No. 16 on Billboard magazine's albums chart, making it Zevon's highest-ranking album since the late '70s.

Touring in the fall of 2002, Bob Dylan often performed Zevon's songs in concert, as a tribute. Zevon himself attended a Dylan concert in October, at Los Angeles' Wiltern Theater, and Dylan sang three of his songs. "It's a big thrill, but beyond the honor, it's just so strange, beyond even computing," Zevon told the New York Times.

Also in October, Zevon performed in public for the last time, on "Late Show With David Letterman." Over the years, Zevon had often appeared on the show, and this one was devoted exclusively to him.

One of the songs he chose to sing was "Mutineer," the title track of his 1995 album.

"I was born to rock the boat," he sang. "Some may sink but we will float/Grab your coat, let's get out of here/You're my witness/I'm your mutineer."

Zevon, who was married and divorced twice, is survived by Jordan Zevon and a daughter, Ariel, both of Southern California, and two grandchildren. No information on burial plans or memorial services was available at press time.