Zevon Song of the Week #32
haro...@yahoo.ca
Category: Cover
I've always been a big fan of Christmas, even though our family didn't
celebrate it when I was a kid. (We did Chanukah-as Adam Sandler has
pointed out, instead of one day of presents, we had eight crazy
nights!) But I dug the entire Xmas scene, from the trees and tinsel to
the songs, crooned in those days by the likes of Bing Crosby and Perry
Como and Dean Martin.
Today, pretty well everyone performs Christmas songs. Just today, I
heard a rendition of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen on Deep Tracks on XM
Radio that blew me away. It was by fellow Canadian Bruce Cockburn, and
his singing was as excellent as his guitar accompaniment.
One vocal artist I worshipped early on was the great Nat "King" Cole,
arguably the best ever, whose silky voice was unfortunately leavened by
heavy cigarette smoking (he apparently believed it helped his singing)
that led to his death at the tender age of 45.
At around ten or so, I was able to purchase a 3-LP set of the best of
Nat King Cole (I still have it). I played those records over and over.
One of my favourites was The Christmas Song. It was only much later
that I learned that the song was written by Mel Torme and Bob Wells.
Many have sung it, but Nat's version was, and still is to most of us,
definitive. In fact, I recently read that it has been voted the #1
Christmas song of all time. I agree, it's perfect.
So it must have taken some courage for Warren to do the vocal himself,
on the record Christmas Moods, released by his friend Michael Wolff in
2003 after Warren had died. (You can see Warren and Wolff on stage
together on DVD 7 in the Arsenio Hall clip-Wolff was the Paul Shaffer
of that show.) The album consists of a couple of piano solos by Wolff,
as well as several duets with other artists including Warren (who also
sings Ave Maria), Alex Foster (soprano sax), Mark Isham (trumpet), and
Kenny Rankin (vocals).
Michael Wolff has some very insightful as well as moving things to say
in the CD booklet:
"I called on musicians I know who always bring a multi-layered, rich,
and many colored approach to their performances, musicians who are
adept at conveying more than one simple thought or feeling in their
music."
(Wolff then mentions his sidemen, who include bassist John B. Williams
and drummers Roy McCurdy and Dick Berk, before writing a short
paragraph each about Isham, Foster, and Rankin.)
"Now we come to the late Warren Zevon, one of my dearest friends. An
extremely creative, one of a kind singer/songwriter, Warren took his
singing very seriously. When I asked him to sing these two songs, he
worked very hard on them. He came into the studio dressed for the
occasion in a beautiful gray suit, totally prepared to give his all. He
had a back-story for each song. For Mel Torme's "The Christmas Song",
Warren told me he was the divorced father at the bar on Christmas Eve
who wasn't allowed to see his kids. On "Ave Maria", he was the
soundtrack under a hit in a Martin Scorsese movie. This was just like
Warren, to put his creativity and dark view of life into two Christmas
standards. And he does them beautifully.
"I miss Warren very much, and I dedicate this CD to him and his memory.
I am so proud that he was my friend, and that he agreed to do something
he had never done before, which was to record simply as a singer, on my
Xmas CD to boot."
I don't know exactly when Warren was in the studio (although the
"beautiful gray suit" may provide a clue), but you can't really tell
from his vocal on The Christmas Song how sick he was. His voice is very
low, very deep, but there's none of the breaking up that we witnessed
on the Letterman appearance in late 2002 (except at the very end of the
song, which may simply be a result of singing in such a low key). I
just played it for Ellen, and she remarked, "That's quite beautiful."
As usual, she knows whereof she speaks.
But I have to say that, mixed in with the beauty of Warren's singing
and Wolff's laidback but quite effective piano stylings, there's an
overarching sense of sadness. Given the timing and the somewhat doleful
melody, how could there not be?
In fact, the two Zevon songs on Christmas Moods can be viewed as a
holiday supplement to the songs on The Wind. In this case, it's just
Wolff and Warren, the latter singing his heart out as he confronts the
fading of the light.
What better Christmas present could there be?
Oh, and to those who propose that "Merry Christmas" should be replaced
with "Happy holidays", and to the opposing crew that decries the
so-called "death of Christmas"-I say to both groups, SHUT UP! Try
practising your religion instead of whining about it.
I hope to feature Ave Maria at this time next year as the Song of the
Week. I figure there's still a couple of years' worth of songs left to
do. One-hit wonder-bah, humbug!
Meanwhile, Ellen and I are heading to Whistler tomorrow for two days of
skiing. We'll be accompanied by our extended family here in Vancouver
that includes my Zevon DVD-R favourite, now eight-year-old niece
Rachel. It's an interesting phenomenon that anyone who's ever skied
knows all about, the fact that in the heart of the season, the mountain
will be nearly empty on both Christmas Eve day and Christmas Day.
Just one more reason I like this holiday.
Merry Christmas, everybody.
Categories to date
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Addiction and Recovery: 3
Cover: 3
Family: 2
Geopolitical: 1
History: 1
Law and Order: 1
Love-Gone-Wrong: 6
Mortality: 2
Party: 1
Satire: 3
Social Commentary: 8
Sports: 1