Warren Zevon
I'm a fan of Warren Zevon's music, but after reading I'll Sleep When I'm Dead, I'm certainly not a fan of the man. What an asshole! This was pretty much what I thought continually while reading his life story (compelling mostly because you can't believe someone can behave so badly for his entire life). Not that I didn't suspect that he was probably an asshole in real life. I had read that he was a problem drinker. What I didn't know was the extent to which he would callously hurt anyone and everyone who came into his life. The amazing thing is that it didn't stop when he became sober. He just channeled his asshole energies in new directions (OCD, serial womanizing). And for a guy who worked very hard to project a tough guy aura (guns, booze, broads, hard-boiled crime fiction etc.), he spent a lot of time "tanning" and shopping at the mall (one of the manifestations of his OCD was an unhealthy preoccupation with gray Calvin Klein t-shirts). Also, the journal entries by Zevon himself hardly attest to the many claims to his genius elsewhere in the book (by far, the strangest thing in the book is a single quote from Gore Vidal, of all people, claiming that Zevon was "one of the most interesting writers of the era." Really?! Where the hell did that come from?) Vain, self-absorbed, insecure, Zevon covered all the bases in traits least admirable in a man. Which begs the question: Does writing a bunch of good songs give you a free pass to behave badly for your entire life? I say, "no," but judging the number of people willing to forgive and forget in this book, it seems "artists" get a little more leeway in life.
posted by BayonneMike at 8:13 AM
5 Comments:
Agree on Zevon although I'm a little more sympathetic to him.
Two thoughts and I don't mean to talk shop. Zevon was certainly dry, but not necessarily sober. He didn't work a good program, quit AA over a resentment and while he didn't drink until the very end, he resorted back to all the other bad habits. In the book, there is a part where he is working at sobriety, steps, etc. and his tone and the tone of those around him changes for the better, but when he gives that up and uses sex to fill the so-called donut hole in him, all the old problems return.
Second thought. Unfortuntately most of the people around him, if not outright enablers, were willing to tolerate and overlook his bad behavior because of his musical skills. Same as Keith Moon and scores of others, I'm sure.
You make good points, Rambler. His decision to opt out of AA did begin the destructive cycle all over again, but in new ways.
Also, if it weren't for his musical skills, he certainly wouldn't have had as many people hanging in there with him (although the list of people he cut out of his life completely was quite extensive by the end of the line). The ones who made it the longest were his family (no choice) and people who only saw him sporadically (Springsteen and some his author buddies).
This comment has been removed by the author.
Yeah I read an article somewhere about this guy. I'm not sure how reliable the information was. Seemed very sketchy to me....
"Well, you know, I think Warren was just an excitable boy. I mean, sure he was Mr. Bad Example, a renegade even, always preoccupied with lawyers, guns and money, while underneath, I suspect he was really just searching for a heart. Ya know...I think the real heartache began back at the Factory, while putting the final touches on "Things to do in Denver when you are Dead". He became quite ugly one morning, but that was Warren, trouble waiting to happen, you know bad karma. He was heard shouting something like "Leave my monkey alone, and you know practicing his sentimental hygeine on boom boom Mancini. That kind of whacky stuff landed him in Detox Mansion and from there on in, though he tried to be a model citizen he was more like an angel in black, you know, a werewolf of London...stark out of his mind. But nobody held it against him. Said he was a genius, but I guess even a dog can shake hands."
I heard an interview with Crystal Zevon on Fresh Air with Teri Gross. I was shocking to say the least. We should have known.
He took little Suzie to the Junior Prom
Excitable boy, they all said
And he raped her and killed her, then he took her home
Excitable boy, they all said
Well, he's just an excitable boy
After ten long years they let him out of the home
Excitable boy, they all said
And he dug up her grave and built a cage with her bones
Excitable boy, they all said
Well, he's just an excitable boy
Post a Comment
<< Home