BLOG BLASTS PAST, NO. 4: REMEMBERING THE ONE-AND-ONLY WARREN ZEVON

It was three years ago today, Sept. 7, 2003, that the one, the only Warren Zevon died from complications caused by lung cancer. It wasn't a "battle." It was inoperable when it was diagnosed, and he accepted his fate, pouring his remaining time into his last album. Here's what appeared on the old blog, two days after his death:

FAREWELL TO A GREAT

A few words on one of the great singer-songwriters of this or any other generation, Warren Zevon, who succumbed to lung cancer on Sunday in Los Angeles. He was 56.

Warren was much more than the guy who had a novelty hit in the late '70s with Werewolves of London, which you can still hear today on many commercial radio stations. He penned that song during his most prolific -- and turbulent -- period of his career, 1976 to '82, when after years of writing songs for acts such as Linda Ronstadt and the Everly Brothers, he began producing his own music on the albums Warren Zevon (1976), Wanted Dead or Alive ('78), Bad Luck Streak In Dancing School ('80), Stand In The Fire ('81) and The Envoy ('82).

With his wide range of influences and blend of brutal honesty, fear-and-loathing humour, expansive imagination and wry satire, Warren was a singular talent whose songs had the depth and characterization "of a screenplay," as it said in his New York Times obituary published on Monday.

Warren's repertoire even branched out into sports, with songs about boxing's Boom Boom Mancini and baseball's Bill Lee. He also recorded a single Hit Somebody! (The Hockey Song), co-written with Mitch Albom with backup vocals provided by long-time fan David Letterman, who sometimes asked him to fill in as the bandleader on The Late Show.

Zevon devotees have long known who the inspiration for "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner" was, as the one, the only Hunter S. Thompson wrote in a Page 2 column two years ago.

Patrick Roy got his shutout and "could have beaten N.J. all by himself," Zevon boasted. "He made midgets of us all. I will never forget this game. Our song will be called 'You're a Whole Different Person When You're Afraid.' " Which proved to be true, when we played it back on his new-age Hugo machine 40 hours later.

I didn't discover Warren until the late 1990s and it really became an obsession during a lost weekend of 2000-01, but his music has enriched my life. Strangely enough, music from a guy who penned songs such as Life'll Kill Ya ...

From the President of the United States /
To the lowliest rock and roll star /
The doctor is in and he'll see ya now /
He doesn't care who you are

. . . was unfailingly reassuring in trying moments. Warren conveyed a message not to give up, that life, however disappointing, desperate and vexing, should be enjoyed for as long as it lasts. When he learned in August 2002 he only had a short time left due to inoperable lung cancer -- "I didn't see a doctor for 20 years," he told Letterman during his last Late Show appearance on Oct. 30, 2002, "It was one of those superstitions that didn't work out" -- he devoted himself to spending as much time as possible with friends and recording new music.

He lived to see his farewell, The Wind, released.

As Letterman put it, "Warren, enjoy every sandwich."

Related:
Life'll Kill Ya: Requiem For Dwayne Roloson, Who's Kind Of Like Warren Zevon (June 7)

That's all for now. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.