Warren Zevon’s life reads like a comical send up of almost tragic proportions. His sporadic career was derailed by bouts with alcohol, pessimism, and a tinge of laziness. On the other hand, an acerbic wit and a little dry humor — Zevon’s mightiest tools — all packaged with an unswerving musical talent earned him buckets of kudos. It helped to have friends in high places, a big asset for Zevon whose musical and personal collaborations included Jackson Browne, Jerry Garcia, David Gilmour, Bruce Springsteen, the Eagles, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, REM, and David Letterman. In 2000, with random appearances on the Late Night show and the release of Life’ll Kill Ya, Zevon found his way back to the mainstream. His 2002 follow-up My Ride’s Here — a tongue-in-cheek nod to, perhaps, his desire for alliance and need of support — dropped just months before the singer and songwriter was diagnosed with cancer.
Bumming rides with the literary crowd, Zevon’s primary quest on My Ride’s Here involved cueing up his music with the words of various writers. Poet Paul Muldoon chips in on two numbers: “Macgillycuddy’s Reeks,” a snappy Irish jig, as well as the uneventful title track. “Basket Case,” written with novelist/columnist Carl Hiaasen, is based on the characters of the writer’s latest novel, which just happens to bear the same title. More on par with Zevon’s esoteric stylings is gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson’s contribution of “You’re a Whole Different Person When You’re Scared,” a bluesy tale that morphs into a seductive jam. More in the vein of Zevon’s earlier works, i.e. “Werewolves of London,” is “Hit Somebody! (The Hockey Song),” co-written with sportswriter Mitch Albom and featuring the Late Night crew of David Letterman, Paul Shaffer, Anton Fig, and Sid McGuinness.
My Ride’s Here is rounded out by a cross-section of straightforward melodies, organic diversions, and a couple of playful, homemade rockers ala Excitable Boy and Sentimental Hygiene. “Sacrificial Lamb” pops and crackles as the CD’s opener, jumping through hoops in a furtive attempt to show Zevon’s edgier side. “Genius” rises and falls between the strings and funky counterpoint. Still, the singer-songwriter doesn’t abandon his usual knack for quirkiness. “Lord Byron’s Luggage” is an engaging piece about…what? Luggage? It’s hard to mistake love for a metaphor, but maybe that’s what he was going for. Zevon then angles through French avant-garde musician Serge Gainsbourg’s “Laissez-Moi Tranquille” as if he were Mark Knopfler and Dire Straits. Despite a propensity for long periods of inactivity, it seems as if the new millennium recharged Zevon’s batteries enough to deliver a quality record like My Ride’s Here. On 2003, he recorded The Wind, his final album released two weeks before his passing. You have to think Warren Zevon was thankful he had overcome his demons, beaten the odds, and returned to the forefront of popular music before he took his last breath. Well, maybe.
~ Shawn Perry
