I’m just finishing Crystal Zevon’s oral history/biography (I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead) about her ex-husband, the late, great Warren Zevon. And I do mean great. Excepting the Excitable Boy album (“Werewolves of London”), Warren never had much commercial success with 15 other albums. Known as an intellectual rocker/songwriter, his success came in the form of admiration from other musicians, many many of whom recorded his witty, often hauntingly evocative songs on their albums. Springsteen: “I would rarely see Warren when he hadn’t written something that I wished in another lifetime I’d written…It’s very telling, right down to the last record, that beautiful stuff Warren came up with.”
It’s hard to believe Warren Zevon’s been gone for five years already. He died of Mesothelioma on September 7th, 2003, a year and a half after he was diagnosed and given three months. What we got from his “extra” time was a fantastic collaborative effort, The Wind. All of Zevon’s musician friends came into the studio to put together this final tribute, and if you’ve not heard it, you must. 
What Warren Zevon got from it was a chance to make amends with many of those he’d alienated in a life of hard-drinking, hard-drugging, assholish behavior. I have some trouble with a tell-all book published post-mortem, but according to Crystal Zevon, he absolutely charged her with doing the book, and telling every word of the truth. It ain’t that pretty at all, but judging from those that participated, it appears to be what he truly did want. More amends. Or as one of his many gems pleads, “reconsider me.” Because along with awful behavior, the Warren Zevon that was an intriguingly sharp, gifted fellow, who wanted more than anything to be a family man shines through as well. In other words, a rounded, if quite flawed human being.
If you don’t need to read 400+ pages of every gritty detail, then give Warren Zevon another listen. Along with The Wind, try The Envoy, Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School, Mutineer, or especially the self-titled Warren Zevon, a classic.
Books 'N Ammo 