Warren Zevon

20 Songs Released in 1982 You Must Hear

Posted on by Egil Mosbron


My rules:

  • Only one song per artist/group
  • The song must be released that specific year
  • Songs from live albums not allowed
  • Restricted to only 20 songs

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Some great music was released in 1982, here are my 20 chosen songs.

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Bruce Springsteen – Atlantic City

A song written and recorded by Bruce Springsteen, which first appeared on Springsteen’s 1982 solo album Nebraska. Springsteen has often played the song in a full band arrangement in concert.
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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_message message_box_color=”mulled_wine” icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-quote-left”]Well, they blew up the chicken man in Philly last night
Now they blew up his house, too
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October 28: Bob Dylan covers two Warren Zevon songs – Kansas City 2002

Posted on by Egil Mosbron

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_message message_box_color=”mulled_wine” icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-quote-left”]Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum
Hoist the mainsail, here I come
Ain’t no room on board for the insincere
You’re my witness, I’m your mutineer[/vc_message][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Uptown Theatre
Kansas City, Missouri
28 October 2002

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Warren Zevon sings Bob Dylan songs

Posted on by Hallgeir Olsen

“This is a song by my hero”
– Warren Zevon (intro to Dark Eyes in Cleveland, 2000)

“Buffett I guess. Lightfoot. Warren Zevon. Randy. John Prine. Guy Clark. Those kinds of writers.”
– Bob Dylan (on his favourite songwriters)

 

Let’s listen to Warren Zevon’s renditions of Bob Dylan’s songs. He has done quite a few and they are wonderful.

We found 6 Dylan songs in his repertoire, if there are more, please tell us in the comments.

“’Lawyers, Guns and Money’. ‘Boom Boom Mancini’. ‘Down hard stuff’.” And then he adds, “‘Join me in LA’ sort of straddles the line between heartfelt and primeval. His musical patterns are all over the place, probably because he’s classically trained. There might be three separate songs within a Zevon song, but they’re all effortlessly connected. Zevon was a musician’s musician, a tortured one. ‘Desperado Under the Eaves.’ It’s all in there.”
– Bob Dylan on what he likes about Warren Zevon (Huffington post)

Let us start with Warren’s last Dylan song, his heart breaking performance of Knocking on Heavens Door.

 

Mama, take this badge off of me
I can’t use it anymore
It’s gettin’ dark, too dark for me to see
I feel like I’m knockin’ on heaven’s door

Knock, knock, knockin’ on heaven’s door
Knock, knock, knockin’ on heaven’s door
Knock, knock, knockin’ on heaven’s door
Knock, knock, knockin’ on heaven’s door

Warren Zevon – Knocking on heavens door (audio):

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August 29: Warren Zevon released Sentimental Hygiene in 1987

Posted on by Hallgeir Olsen

warren_zevon-sentimental_hygiene(virgin)

“I read things I didn’t know I’d done,
It sounded like a lot of fun.”
– Warren Zevon

“I write each song individually and each one calls for individual musicians, You sit around and wonder who can we get to play a Neil Young solo, and then you realize there`s a good chance you can get Neil himself.”
– Warren Zevon

Warren Zevon fell off the wagon after the release of The Envoy, he waited five years before releasing an album, the pause seemed to have done him good, as Sentimental Hygiene (released 29. August 1987) was one of his strongest albums.

Sentimental Hygiene was my first Warren Zevon record, I have since gotten everything I could find by him and about him, official as well as “un-official” releases, vhs, dvds and books. Warren Zevon has been a favourite of mine since Sentimental Hygiene met my ears.

There are lots of guests on the album, Bob Dylan (harmonica on The Factory), David Lindley, Neil Young (lead guitar on the title track), Brian Setzer, Don Henley and George Clinton, but the main players here are Peter Buck, Mike Mills, and Bill Berry of R.E.M. (and Michael Stipe also guested on a song…I think). They provide Zevon with a very solid back-up band, he sounds fresh and invigorated through the whole record. Warren Zevon sounded more rock’n roll than in quite a while, and he was introduced to a new audience (me included).

Here Zevon describes how it was working with Bob Dylan (July 17, 1987 – Late Night with David Letterman and May 25, 2000 – BBC Radio 1):

As always he was funny as hell!

Sentimental Hygiene (official video):

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August 26: Warren Zevon Released His Last Album The Wind in 2003

Posted on by Egil Mosbron

warren-zevon-the-wind-front-945x945

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“Timor mortis conturbat me.
It’s from a medieval Scottish poem by William Dunbar,
It means, ‘The fear of death just fucks me up’”
– Warren Zevon (told to The Guardian, and roaring with laughter)

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Warren Zevon died in 2003 aged 56, he was noted for his black humour and dry wit; he never had the big commercial success he deserved. He was highly regarded by critics and music lovers (and musicians), you could say he enjoyed a cult following. He should have been big.

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“This was a nice deal: life.”
– Warren Zevon

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Two weeks before he died of lung cancer, he released one of his best albums, The Wind.

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“It’s hard to say if he’s being sincere or darkly witty with his cover of “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door,” though he manages to make it work both ways.”
– Mark Deming (allmusic)

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When diagnosed with lung cancer, he said: “I feel the opposite of regret. I was the hardest-living rocker on my block for a while. I was a malfunctioning rummy for a while and running away for a while. Then for 18 years I was a sober dad of some amazing kids. Hey, I feel like I’ve lived a couple of lives.”

The diagnose did in his own words, lead him into one of the most intense and creative periods of his life. Many of his more famous friend came to lend a hand on the record, including Bruce Springsteen, Jackson Browne, Tom Petty, Emmylou Harris, Don Henley, Ry Cooder, Billy Bob Thornthon, Jim Keltner, David Lindley, T-Bone Burnett, Joe Walsh and Dwight Yoakam. None of them taking the show from Warren Zevon, he is so clearly in control of his last creation. It is not a big bombastic farewell, it is a guy who enjoys making a record with a bunch of his friends. It feels better, more right!

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Bob Dylan: 5 Brilliant live performances from the year 2002

Posted on by Egil Mosbron

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_message message_box_color=”mulled_wine” icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-quote-left”]My friend Renée always likes to rush the stage, and find a place in the front row, literally at Bob’s feet … she was making a bee-line for her favourite spot, she stopped dead. What the fuck? There, in the middle of the stage, where Bob ought to be, was an electric keyboard.
-Stephen Scobie[/vc_message][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Never ENDING TOUR 2002
Start date January 31, 2002
End date November 22, 2002
Legs 3
No. of shows 78 in North America
29 in Europe
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107 in Total

A year of great cover versions dedicated to the dead and dying. All of these covers came in the last leg of 2002 – US Fall Tour (Oct 5 – Nov 22).

Philips Arena
Atlanta, Georgia
9 February 2002

  • Bob Dylan (vocal & guitar
  • Charlie Sexton (guitar)
  • Larry Campbell (guitar, mandolin, pedal steel guitar & electric slide guitar)
  • Tony Garnier (bass)
  • George Recile (drums & percussion).

Lay Lady Lay

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_message message_box_color=”mulled_wine” icon_fontawesome=”fa fa-quote-left”]Lay lady lay
Lay across my big brass bed
Lay lady lay
Lay across my big brass bed[/vc_message][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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