Zevon Song of the Week #29
haro...@yahoo.ca
Category: Family
On the 1976 Warren Zevon album, Mama Couldn't Be Persuaded can
sometimes be overlooked, which I suppose is understandable considering
it's competing with the likes of Carmelita and Desperados Under The
Eaves and The French Inhaler. However, I never overlook Mama-she's a
favourite of mine.
An autobiographical song runs two risks, those of self-importance and
being boring. Mama Couldn't Be Persuaded suffers from neither. In fact,
from the first time I heard it until today, I think of it as perhaps
the "coolest" thing Warren ever wrote, a song that clearly
differentiates him as a songwriter with a distinctive style, one that
is witty, self-deprecating, and hilarious.
To wit: "They'd all be offended at the mention still, if they heard
this song, which I doubt they will." That's so Zevon.
Lyrics aside, it's a damn good tune as well, zippy and melodious. The
supporting cast backing up Warren on piano is certainly stellar: Waddy
on guitar, David Lindley fiddling away, and J.D. Souther and producer
Jackson doing a bang-up job on harmonies.
Here's a forum, with the same shell as the WZ Bulletin Board, that
devoted a thread to Warren:
http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?t=610. One of the
posters opines that Mama Couldn't Be Persuaded had the potential for
cheesiness, but that Warren "pulls it off". Indeed.
Thirty years have gone by, but Mama still rocks.
Categories to date
---------------------
Addiction and Recovery: 3
Cover: 2
Family: 2
Geopolitical: 1
History: 1
Law and Order: 1
Love-Gone-Wrong: 6
Mortality: 2
Party: 1
Satire: 3
Social Commentary: 6
Sports: 1
Lucy Pfeffa
> Here's a forum, with the same shell as the WZ Bulletin Board, that
> devoted a thread to Warren:
> http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?t=610. One of the
> posters opines that Mama Couldn't Be Persuaded had the potential for
> cheesiness, but that Warren "pulls it off". Indeed.
Interesting thread over there. When discussing whether WZ ever wrote
any bad songs, nobody mentioned NITSY. ;-)
I love that they've persuaded that guy to buy an album and now he's a
die-hard fan, buying whatever he can get his hands on...just like WZ
predicted - he'd come into his own after his death.
-- Lucy
Ken P.
blog ...
~ Ken
<haro...@yahoo.ca> wrote in message
news:1165151675.9...@j72g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
Howard Roseman
> blog ...
> ~ Ken
>
Thanks, but I don't know how popular they would be. Since I began
dual-posting them over on the WZ BB a few weeks ago, I've noticed that they
receive about 100 views, perhaps a comment or two, and then sink like a
stone. In contrast, some non-Zevon topic of the moment over there can easily
get several hundred views and pages of responses.
Who knows whether it's my writing or discussing old Zevon songs or a
combination thereof that's responsible? Whatever it is, I suspect online
groups thrive more on future-dated events, such as the upcoming Zevon book
or trying to get him into the Hall, than on rehashing the past.
Joanne Corsano
>Category: Family
>
>On the 1976 Warren Zevon album, Mama Couldn't Be Persuaded can
>sometimes be overlooked, which I suppose is understandable considering
>it's competing with the likes of Carmelita and Desperados Under The
>Eaves and The French Inhaler. However, I never overlook Mama-she's a
>favourite of mine.
I do think that this is a minor song compared to some of the others on
the WZ album. The song has a couple of features that some fans
probably love but that I don't like as much. Lindley's fiddle, as
skillfully as he plays it, turns the jaunty ditty into a country
ditty, and I would have preferred an electric guitar. (I have
patience for but no love of country music.) The other production
flaw, in my opinion, is that the backing vocals are too predominant.
They are nicely arranged -- giving the song real potential for a vocal
exercise in singing class (and I mean that as a compliment) -- but
they are too loud. I think Warren's vocal should have been mixed a
little higher, J.D.'s and Jackson's a little lower.
I do love the little yodel or minor break in the voice, or whatever
that is, that comes out of Warren in the last few seconds of the tune;
it's his vocal imperfections that made him such a perfect singer.
As an autobiographical number, I agree it works very well. I think
the reason for this is that the family members are all portrayed with
gentleness. No one is trying to FORCE "mama" not to marry the
gamblin' man, they want to PERSUADE her. And the gambler "tried to be
a family man but it didn't suit his style" -- here's WZ trying to
portray his dad in a sympathetic way. In fact the whole song has a
somewhat gentle feel to it which I like. A lesser songwriter might
have made his family life sound like a horror show, but Warren's
version portrays the situation as people just making mistakes, as
people do.
Joanne
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Howard Roseman
> the reason for this is that the family members are all portrayed with
> gentleness. No one is trying to FORCE "mama" not to marry the
> gamblin' man, they want to PERSUADE her. And the gambler "tried to be
> a family man but it didn't suit his style" -- here's WZ trying to
> portray his dad in a sympathetic way. In fact the whole song has a
> somewhat gentle feel to it which I like. A lesser songwriter might
> have made his family life sound like a horror show, but Warren's
> version portrays the situation as people just making mistakes, as
> people do.
Astute observations as usual, Joanne.
Many of my friends have turned their early lives into self-involved
psychodramas. Warren did the opposite. He played it for laughs, in a single
song, and moved on. As I said in the original post, he was just so COOL
about it.