Zevon Song of the Week #28
haro...@yahoo.ca
Category: Love-Gone-Wrong
In 1991, I purchased the MBE CD and it became my best musical friend
for the rest of the decade. I still played other Zevon music, but the
connection with this particular album was strongest. I loved it on
first hearing, and never stopped. Not a weak song on there.
I'm particularly fond of the lead track, Finishing Touches, a rousing
rocker that sets the tone for much of the "bad example" material that
follows. Lyrically, Warren is in arguably the nastiest mood ever (the
title could just as easily have been "Get The Fuck Out!"), but it's the
music, particularly Waddy's pounding guitar licks, that makes this song
so special.
Waddy also sings the harmony, and does it very well. MBE staples Bob
Glaub and Jeff Porcaro do their standard good work on bass and drums
respectively. Warren handles the keyboards.
OK, let's get it out of the way early. Warren uses an attention-getting
device in the second verse, a four-letter word you don't hear in that
many rock songs. It doesn't bother me, in fact I've been there, but in
some ways I wish he hadn't done it, if only to avoid the leering
Arsenios of the world from concentrating on that line to the exclusion
of everything else. Their loss.
But man, is he pissed. Gone is the young romantic who wrote the likes
of Empty-Handed Heart and Hasten Down The Wind. Now we have a
middle-aged man who's "sick and tired" and raging against his lover and
their failed affair.
As with the best Zevon compositions, the lyrics are spare but blazingly
effective. "I'm getting tired of you, you're getting tired of me" is
understatement in the extreme. "You can screw everybody I've ever
known" gets to the, uh, heart of the matter. There are two points of
view in every clash ("You say it's all my fault") but who's keeping
score. Not the narrator, who just wants out ("No use hanging around").
However, he's going to get his shots in on the way out ("You tried to
put the finishing touches on me").
My favourite phrase in Finishing Touches is this: "It's a hopeless
cause, there's no use crying, and I can die, you can die, we can die
trying." Savage and brilliant. Warren also manages to toss in both a
touch of erudition ("So don't feign indignation") and a soupcon of
French ("It's a fait accompli").
When Warren performed Finishing Touches on Letterman in late 1991 (the
only live version of the song on the DVD-R set), he simply stood at the
mic and sang the lyrics (Waddy was there to handle the lead guitar,
while Paul took over the keyboard duties). I believe that's the only
time he was instrument-free on Dave's show. He's in fine form, lean and
mean, and even throws in a couple of hand claps and fist pumps. (It's
track 4 on the first disc).
I don't know who the woman in the song is, and don't really care. But
at this point in his life, Warren was by no means done with
relationships. Some people like to be punished-they keep coming back
for more.
Categories to date
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Addiction and Recovery: 3
Cover: 2
Family: 1
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
> I don't know who the woman in the song is, and don't really care. But
> at this point in his life, Warren was by no means done with
> relationships. Some people like to be punished-they keep coming back
> for more.
I'm amused by how many women claim "Reconsider Me" was written for them,
but no one claims this one.
-- Lucy, claiming Rub Me Raw. LOL
Peter Huish
> -- Lucy, claiming Rub Me Raw. LOL
And living up to a reputation :-)