My Shit's Fucked Up

Well, I went to the doctor
I said, "I'm feeling kind of rough"
"Let me break it to you, son.
Your shit's fucked up."

My Shit's Fucked Up is a Warren Zevon song from his Life'll Kill Ya CD. Warren talks/sings the lyrics accompanied by a prominent acoustic guitar, light drums in the background, and non-intrusive bass.

It's a slow, almost dirge beat with a hint of military march behind it. I could easily envision this playing on the soundtrack to Ken Burns' civil war documentary.

I said, "My shit's fucked up?
Well, I don't see how."
He said, "The shit that used to work--
It won't work now."

The song is a conversation between a patient and a doctor. Given Zevon's history of abusing his body it's very easy to take this as a biographical sketch - especially since Zevon had recently become aware he had lung cancer.

I had a dream
Ah, shucks, oh, well
Now it's all fucked up
It's shot to hell

On a more general level the song speaks for itself; we grow old. The years eventually will take their toll. Our bodies soon start to fall apart. Visions of immortality are for the young, but they'll learn otherwise.

Yeah, yeah, my shit's fucked up
It has to happen to the best of us
The rich folks suffer like the rest of us
It'll happen to you

And it did finally happen to Warren. He succumbed to lung cancer and now he can finally put the .38 special away and go to sleep.