Scroll Down our Best Stories

Rock and roll rhetoric: Searching for a Heart

“They say love conquers all You can’t start it like a car You can’t stop it with a gun.” Searching for a Heart (Zevon), Warren Zevon What a great line. Everyone, since the Roman poet Virgil, knows that love conquers all, but no-one explains why … until Zevon states the obvious, timeless truth in his […]

Rock and roll rhetoric: Werewolves of London

“Little old lady got mutilated late last night; Werewolves of London again.” Werewolves of London, Warren Zevon Warren Zevon was such a talented songwriter. He was musical and he was literate. He was eloquent and he was deliciously dark. He was part of the West Coast scene in the 70s, along with the Eagles and […]

Cornerstones, connections and musical memory

My music collection is built on the cornerstone of three albums that I bought during the last holiday I took with my parents.  They were on vinyl, of course; CDs were still a few years away.  I was at university when breakfast time TV (also a relative novelty) demonstrated their resilience by spreading small, shiny […]

Happy birthday, Warren Zevon

The Hammock Papers remind us that the great Warren Zevon was born this day in 1947. I’ve eaten at Lee Ho Fook’s.  It was raining and yes, I had me a big dish of beef chow mein.  No werewolves were reported in the vicinity.

Veracruz is Dying

I can’t hear the continuing dreadful news coming from Veracruz without recalling the refrain from Warren Zevon’s song about the city: “Veracruz is dying.” The song comes from his 1978 album, Excitable Boy.  There doesn’t seem to be any live footage on YouTube of Zevon performing the song but here’s co-writer and long-time Zevon collaborator […]

Warren Zevon on YouTube

Because my blog has been a Warren-free zone for too long, here are a couple of great performances which neatly book-end his career. Mohammed’s Radio was an early classic performed here on the Old Grey Whistle Test with Jackson Browne:   And this rather auto-biographical tale comes from near the end:

Outcomes of the Economic Reset

“I went walking in the wasted city, Started thinking about entropy. Smelled the wind from the ruined river; Went home to watch T.V.” Warren Zevon (Run Straight Down) Zevon’s prescient lines (from 1989’s cyber-punk album, Transverse City) came to mind the other day as I was walking down the main street in Reading.  Of course, […]

Zevon's Greatest Lines?

“She only sleeps on planes” – Suzie Lightning; beautifully succinct and evocative. “A little old lady got mutilated late last night” – Werewolves Of London; fantastic staccato alliteration. “Some days I feel like my shadow’s casting me” – Dirty Life And Times; from his last album after he was diagnosed with terminal cancer. “Home is just […]

Zevon’s Greatest Lines?

“She only sleeps on planes” – Suzie Lightning; beautifully succinct and evocative. “A little old lady got mutilated late last night” – Werewolves Of London; fantastic staccato alliteration. “Some days I feel like my shadow’s casting me” – Dirty Life And Times; from his last album after he was diagnosed with terminal cancer. “Home is just […]

By continuing to use the site, you agree to the use of cookies. more information

The cookie settings on this website are set to "allow cookies" to give you the best browsing experience possible. If you continue to use this website without changing your cookie settings or you click "Accept" below then you are consenting to this.

Close