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| Stand In The Fire 1981 & 2007 Reissue |
706 Miles To Go
"As one who has abused privilege for a long time, I'm just glad to be alive."
- Warren Zevon on Stand In The Fire (2007 Reissue)
Excitable Boy was neither just a song nor an alter ego, it was a tortured lifestyle.
The late Warren Zevon was Jackson Browne's demented little brother, sensitive and psychotic.
He was Bruce Springsteen's kooky cousin, brilliant but unstable, possibly homicidal.
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| Learning To Flinch 1993 |
He was Hunter S. Thompson's crooning accomplice, almost always amped on vodka and other jet fuels with a pistol at his side.
Read all 452 pages of his biography - I'll Sleep When I'm Dead The Dirty Life And Times Of Warren Zevon written by former wife and lifelong friend Crystal Zevon - for a complete recanting.
It's an exhausting, sometimes hilarious and often times deeply saddening tale of an evil and absolutely intoxicating genius told by those who shared in his many (mis)adventures.
Ironically, according to David Fricke's liner notes, Stand In The Fire was recorded during one of Zevon's sober periods at a summer 1980 show at The Roxy Theatre in West Hollywood.
At this point his album catalog included Wanted Dead Or Alive (1969) Warren Zevon (1976), Excitable Boy (1978) and Bad Luck Streak In Dancing School (1980). Werewolves of London was his one hit single, though Linda Ronstadt took several of his songs to Billboard rewards for both.
A mainstream Zevon breakthrough was still just one shooting star of a song away.
And though it never really came, the performances on Stand In The Fire burn testament to what should have been just as chart-topping a career as Zevon's contemporaries.
Maybe it was the self-inflicted wounds, maybe his lyrics were just too smart or too dark for the masses. David Letterman likes to point out that Zevon is the only artist ever to work the cattle disease "brucellosis" into a pop song.
Fortunately, he never stopped trying and left us with a catalog that compares more favorably with his singer/songwriter contemporaries than he is given credit.
Try this exercise.
Take the top 10 songs of Jackson Browne, Bruce Springsteen, Eagles, James Taylor, and the various Crosby, Stills, Nash (and even Young) incarnations and lay them down against Zevon's.
Now go to 11-20, 21-30 and 31-40.
Zevon can't compete commercially, but artistically he keeps pace in the top 10 argument. From 11 to 40, Springsteen probably still rules, but Zevon blows the rest of them away with his musical .44 Magnum taken down from the shelf.
More than a decade removed from Stand In The Fire, the Learning To Flinch era Zevon is the one-man band incarnation, still relevant enough to record and tour for a devoted audience who will come to the clubs every time he does.
Recorded at a variety of 1992 solo stops in the U.S., Australia, England, Germany, New Zealand and Norway, Learning To Flinch splits between renditions of Zevon's later releases and the best of the early era.
Splendid Isolation sets the tone and The French Inhaler feels even more autobiographical almost 20 years later. The Indifference Of Heaven sings like a career self-evaluation: "But they don't live around here/Billy and Christie don't - /Bruce and Patty don't - /They don't live around here."
Four songs make the set list for both live collections.
Excitable Boy: On Stand In The Fire, Zevon's energetic vocals and piano pounding are further stoked by the guitar solos and background vocals. There's no doubt he "rubbed the pot roast all over his chest." On Learning To Flinch, it's done with a hurried ragtime flare to prop up a tired legend that has to be retold every night.
Hasten Down The Wind: The Learning To Flinch version is the clear winner here. It oozes with the wounded woe of a someone who has been kept "on the limb" many more times since it was written. The introduction on Stand In The Fire is more revealing than the performance, which doesn't make it bad just a little ragged with his voice worn out at the end of the show.
Lawyers, Guns And Money: Like Excitable Boy, this one benefits greatly from the crowd and the additional guitars on Stand In The Fire. The "Zevon!" scream as it opens is a call to arms every time. Nonetheless, it's almost a tie, as the Learning To Flinch version offers an acoustic bareness and desperation hidden in the anthem of the full-band version.
Werewolves of London: Clearly, he's having more fun with it on Stand In The Fire, calling plenty of lyrical audibles for the "werewolves of Los Angeles" and references to Brian DePalma, James Taylor and Jackson Browne - "his heart is perfect." On Learning To Flinch, it has a similar treatment to Excitable Boy. Zevon knows he has to play it and he's too much a pro to let us in on whether or not he's tired of the song.
There's no need to flinch in the flames of either album's fire. Enjoy them both to appreciate an artist who will always be an excitable boy.
Licorice Pizza Notes: I was fortunate to see Zevon several times during the 1980s and 1990s at venues varying from the Newport Music Hall to the Ohio Union to a final appearance at Ludlows.
The Newport shows were the best, but the band at the Ohio Union included The Section and Mellow Mafia member Danny "Kootch" Kortchmar on guitar, Eagles bassist Timothy B. Schmit and (by my 50-year-old memory) Russ Kunkell , a fellow Mafia-ite, on drums.
The Ohio Union show also provided the most unexpected moment when Zevon covered What's New Pussycat? as one of the encores. His selected enunciation and eyebrow raises on "You and your pussycat lips!/You and and your pussycat eyes!/You and your pussycat nose!" made it unforgettable.
After one of the Newport shows, I was able to meet him briefly and get an autograph. He was sober, me not so much. I told him that I wanted Lawyers, Guns And Money to be the bridal dance song at my wedding, but the idea was nixed. He thought that was the right call.
I'm happy/sad to have missed his appearance at the Columbus Auto Show, if for no other reason than to see his reaction to playing at an indoor car lot.
Even as the Columbus crowds dwindled, Zevon soldiered on and never gave a bad performance, whether with a band or solo.
At the Ludlow's show, one audience member kept shouting "Play Werewolves Of London!" A perturbed Zevon eventually responded, "I'll get to it. Who do you think I am? Randy Newman?"
Shortly after playing Werewolves, Zevon disappeared behind the dressing room door and never came back.
Stand In The Fire Song For The Soundtrack: Jeannie Needs A Shooter
Learning To Flinch Song For The Soundtrack: Lawyers, Guns And Money
Running Data For Sunday, April 21:
10.00 Miles
1:42:45
Mileage In The Change Jar: 0.15 Miles
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