Warren Zevon might be my favorite rock’n’roll celebrity. Besides putting out a record on his deathbed, writing a song with Mitch Albom, releasing a greatest hits while dying that’s cover was his skull, and being the best guest on Letterman, Warren Zevon wrote the greatest dark-humor songs ever.
This single has two of best examples of Zevon’s fucked up sense of humor, both of which were featured on the 1978 album “Excitable Boy”. Every Warren Zevon single is a dollar bin ripper, but this single is THE RIPPER. “Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner” is a rock ballad the way that every brooding piano player wishes they could write. Not to be out-fucked-up by some other songwriter, Zevon co-wrote a song about a mercenary, with the help of an actual war mercenary. This song is also the last song that Warren Zevon would play before his death on Letterman.
“Werewolves of London” is a party pleasing sing-along. I have more fond memories of this song than maybe any other single. “Excitable Boy” might have been the original hit from this record, but “Werewolves” is the ripper. If I could play piano, I would exclusively play this song until I drove myself to Zevon level of insanity-genius.
I’m including a youtube link for the first on this blog because of how badass this is. Zevo’s last time on Letterman, pretty much his last live performance, and within months of dying (all of which is documented by Billy Bob Thorton of all people):
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