Zevon Song of the Week #4
Howard Roseman
The textbook example of a song with multiple meanings, Mohammed's Radio is
one of Warren's sweetest-ever tunes, one he certainly enjoyed singing in
concert at almost every opportunity. Whether or not you care about the
lyrics, it's hard to resist being drawn in by the music's stark sense of
aching and longing.
At its most superficial, the song is about the pleasures of listening to
music on the radio ("I heard somebody singing sweet and soulful"), and the
blessed escape which that brings from the stresses of the world ("work all
day, still can't pay the price of gasoline").
But who exactly is Mohammed? My take (and I'm not alone) is that Mohammed is
the guy providing the listener with some good weed or hash, maximizing the
radio listening experience. Being just a few years younger than Warren, I
can testify to the popularity of stoned listening back in those glorious
days for rock of the late '60s and early '70s. At McGill, we used to just
flop down in a corner of the student union and break out whatever apparatus
was handy and off we'd go. I sometimes wonder how many tradesmen entering
the building got a contact high and didn't even know it. For us students, we
certainly spent a lot of time with our faces all aglow (I won't go so far as
saying we were idiots, although we probably were).
That was also the height of the Vietnam war, the draft, and the war
protesters, all of them I think hinted at in Warren's song if not explicitly
cited. Certainly it's one interpretation of the Sheriff and his problems,
the ones he'll take out on you, not to mention the General and his
aide-de-camp. Students didn't just protest against the war.At McGill, there
was a big sit-in and takeover of the administrative offices, all very
peaceful but still attention-getting. I don't even remember why it was
done - perhaps just because everybody was restless and they had no place to
go. I ignored it all and headed up the hill to the Currie gym and basketball
practice.
Parenthetically, it's worth noting the changes in today's college students.
Are any of them marching against the needless loss of life in Iraq? If so,
they haven't received much play on the news. The big difference is that
there's no longer a draft, so there's a tendency to ignore the poor
volunteers (and Iraqi civilians) being slaughtered by the roadside bombs.
And alcohol, which has replaced dope on campus as the drug of choice, hardly
lends itself to radical thoughts, or awareness of anything at all for that
matter.
The musicians on MR's studio version were as good as it gets: Waddy on
guitar, Mr. Dave on slide, both Warren and Bobby Keys on piano, Bob Glaub
and Larry Zack on bass and drums respectively, and future Fleetwood Mac'ers
Lindsey and Stevie (called Stephanie in the credits) singing the beautiful
harmonies. Linda Ronstadt did a lot for Warren in gaining the song a broader
audience, although her interpretation drew some unflattering critical
attention (for a contrary view, one that states that her version is actually
better than Warren's, see the end of this article:
http://www.ronstadt-linda.com/rockwell.htm).
As for other meanings, I recall one wag on the Net who said that the song is
about the bad state of race relations! If anyone can amplify on this, please
do so. I don't see it.
The eponymous album, in the opinion of many including me, was Warren's
masterpiece. Of course, he followed it up with so many interesting albums
and songs over the decades that followed, but it's difficult to argue that
he ever again achieved the same level of exquisite musicality on one album
as he did in 1976: Mohammed, Carmelita, Desperados, Hasten, Frank and Jesse,
Inhaler - simply an awe-inspiring collection of sonic stunners. If
Zevonatics had only that album and nothing else, we'd be incredibly the
richer for it.
Thank goodness we have the rest as well.
d...@nospam.com
> Mohammed's Radio
>
> The textbook example of a song with multiple meanings, Mohammed's Radio is
> one of Warren's sweetest-ever tunes, one he certainly enjoyed singing in
> concert at almost every opportunity. Whether or not you care about the
> lyrics, it's hard to resist being drawn in by the music's stark sense of
> aching and longing.
>
> At its most superficial, the song is about the pleasures of listening to
> music on the radio ("I heard somebody singing sweet and soulful"), and the
> blessed escape which that brings from the stresses of the world ("work all
> day, still can't pay the price of gasoline").
>
> But who exactly is Mohammed? My take (and I'm not alone) is that Mohammed is
> the guy providing the listener with some good weed or hash, maximizing the
> radio listening experience.
I always thought it was a metaphor for something soothing whatever that
might be for each person. The radio can make life seem less lonely in
trying times (at least it used to). But why the name 'Mohammed'?
Trying to tie into the unrest in the Mideast?
Dan
Howard Roseman
> Trying to tie into the unrest in the Mideast?
>
My point was that a lot of the dope at the time came in from the Middle
East.
Raoul
"Rednecks" because of the pronunciation "Moe-HAM-ed" rather than
"Moe-hah-mud". I figured he was mocking the Middle East and their
loudspeakers calling folks to prayer, etc.
Then I kept listening to it and realized that I was an idiot.
aloha
LD