Got a .38 Special up on the shelf,
I'll sleep when I'm dead...
If I start acting stupid I'll shoot myself,
I'll sleep when I'm dead...
b.1947 d.2003
Chicago born, but California/Arizona raised,
Warren Zevon added a mature but cynical edge to the era of
New-Wave music. His bestselling album was 1978's
Excitable Boy - which reached
Billboard's Top Ten and spawned the hit single
Werewolves of London.
Zevon learned to play guitar by listening to and trying to mimic folk music. He claims his unorthodox style is because it was mainly the banjo parts he was trying to play on his guitar. Regardless, there is a strong folk/country influence in his music. He was friends with many of California's milder rockers; among them Fleetwood Mac, Jackson Browne, and The Eagles. But Zevon's mind generated lyrics with a much darker obsession. Of the songs he's recorded, nearly two-dozen have references to guns.
His 1969 debut album tanked, and Warren spent a few years working as a pianist for the Everly Brothers. After spending 1974 in Spain, he returned to California and recorded his self-titled second album, Warren Zevon. This received lavish critical praise and Linda Rondstadt recorded four of the songs on her own albums - having a solid hit with Poor, Poor Pitiful Me. On Warren Zevon, Warren also penned I'll Sleep When I'm Dead, a phrase that has gained popularity through the years though the song is still relatively unknown.
The success of 1978's Excitable Boy wasn't everything Warren might have wished for. The constant touring and his penchance for vodka led to a divorce and, at the urging of friends, a stay in an alcohol rehab center. Still, Warren followed up in 1980 with another superlative album, Bad Luck Streak In Dancing School. 1982's The Envoy was also critically acclaimed, but had dismal sales. And Zevon relapsed into alcohol.
It would be five years before Warren worked through his personal problems and put out another record. And while there are some highlights along the way, it was only in 2000, with the release of Life'll Kill Ya that he regained top form.
Warren married actress Kim Lankford in 1979. They had two children. He died of lung cancer on September 7, 2003 - just two weeks after the release of his final album, The Wind.
Discography
Wanted Dead or Alive 1969
Warren Zevon 1976
Excitable Boy 1978
Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School 1980
Stand in the Fire 1981 (live)
The Envoy 1982
A Quiet Normal Life: The Best of Warren Zevon 1986
Sentimental Hygiene 1987
Transverse City 1989
Mr. Bad Example 1991
Learning to Flinch 1993
Mutineer 1995
I'll Sleep When I'm Dead 1996 (Anthology)
Life'll Kill Ya 2000
My Ride's Here 2002
The First Sessions 2003
The Wind 2003