Thirty-seven years ago on this month Warren Zevon released his third studio LP, Excitable Boy. His 1969 debut LP, Wanted Dead or Alive, was a commercial flop. His eponymous follow-up in 76 didnt do much better. Although Linda Ronstadts cover of the track Poor Poor Pitiful Me went into Billboards Top 40 the following year. Excitable Boy with the instantly likable (if not now a bit overplayed) hit Werewolves of London was Zevons breakthrough. He released ten albums after it before he died in 2003. But none moved more units than his third. Not a bad track on the LP in my book (although Nighttime in the Switching Yard is a bit of a snooze). One of my favorites has always been Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner. Its a fictional account of Roland, a mercenary fighting in the Nigerian Civil War. He gains enough of a reputation for his deadly efficiency with his Thompson gun to attract the CIAs attention. They persuade Rolands fellow mercenary, Van Owen, to assassinate Roland. No honor among soldiers of fortune, apparently. But the headless ghost of the betrayed mercenary has its revenge on Van Owen. And after, the head ghost haunts other scenes of political unrest. It was the last song Zevon performed on his final appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman in 2002 when he was less than a year away from death. Earlier in the show Letterman asked Zevon what he had learned from his face to face confrontation with mortality. Zevons somewhat famous response was, Enjoy every sandwich, which you can hear Letterman repeat at the end of this clip.
Posted on: Mon, 05 Jan 2015 18:07:56 +0000
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