Zevon Song of the Week #21
haro...@yahoo.ca
Category: Love-Gone-Wrong
I'm not sure why, but this song called out to me this week. And
nobody quit me, either.
Warren's first album, Wanted Dead Or Alive, issued in 1969 for
Imperial, is a very mixed bag. A few songs there make my favourites
list, while there are several I don't think I've ever listened to
straight through. For example, I've never been to Calcutta, and
Gorilla, you ain't no desperado. I'm a completist, but I doubt
I'll ever cover that latter group of songs here.
That's part of the charm. This Zevon is young, just into his
twenties, and many of the songs were probably written by him as a
teenager. WDOA as an album has a raw feel about it, but there are
glimpses of the much more mature Zevon whose work would come together
so gloriously in 1976 with the eponymous album.
As usual, the album is split between the themes of tough guy and guy
wounded by love, with a couple of unclassifiable songs thrown in for
good measure. The Warren of, say, Roland and Boom Boom, is noticeable
in the title track and A Bullet For Ramona. The guy from Hasten Down
The Wind is clearly visible in Tule's Blues and She Quit Me.
Of those two, She Quit Me hits me harder, because of its universal
theme. At the purely technical level, it's just Warren with his
guitar and harmonica, no other instruments to leaven the pain. And boy,
is he in pain. It's a very specific male agony, the kind that leads
to women being stalked by jilted lovers after they've inexplicably
(at least to the jiltees) ended the relationship. I know it well,
although for me it's about 30 years old now. But, like riding a
bicycle, you never forget it.
Some of the lyrics are bang on to the mindset: "It wasn't because I
didn't treat her right" and "I wonder who put leaving on her
mind" and "Where'd she get the nerve to say goodbye?" The pain
comes from the utter mystery of it all-how could she leave? What did
I do to deserve this? Why is God against me?
She quit me, man. I just can't believe it.
Warren captures it beautifully. His voice quavers and wails and cries,
and so does his harmonica, and that's why I love the song.
(I'm playing the song now. I just asked Ellen if she liked it. She
said, "It's a bit whiny." Women just don't get it.)
But, to show he's not totally down, Warren belts out a bluesy "So
long, baby!" right at the end. He'll try again another day.
The same year as WDOA came out, the producers of the hit movie Midnight
Cowboy decided to include a song by the completely unknown "W.W.
Zevon". For some reason I've never figured out, they changed the
gender and gave it to a female singer. She Quit Me became He Quit Me
and was sung by Leslie Miller.
Whatever. I like to imagine the young Zevon, doubtlessly already an
inveterate filmgoer, heading into the local movie theatre to see
Midnight Cowboy, which featured the very-hot-from-The Graduate Dustin
Hoffman and newcomer Jon Voight, as well as a memorable theme by Harry
Nilsson.
It must have been quite a rush for a 22-year-old to hear his song,
however briefly, in the soundtrack, as well as to see his name in the
closing credits. It's quite probable that he left the theatre without
anyone there knowing he was part of the movie, unless he was with one
or more friends.
One thing we do know, though. We know he left the film behind and went
on to have numerous more forlorn adventures such as the one documented
in She Quit Me. We know it from Hasten Down The Wind and Accidentally
Like A Martyr and Empty-Handed Heart and Finishing Touches and
Poisonous Lookalike and on and on.
Comedy is easy. It's love that's hard.
Categories to date
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Addiction and Recovery: 2
Cover: 2
Family: 1
Geopolitical: 1
Law and Order: 1
Love-Gone-Wrong: 4
Mortality: 2
Satire: 2
Social Commentary: 5
Sports: 1
Jim R
<haro...@yahoo.ca> wrote in message
news:1158523510.8...@d34g2000cwd.googlegroups.com...
About 5 years ago or so on Ebay there was an RIAA Gold Record for sale that
was awarded to Warren Zevon for the soundtrack to Midnight Cowboy. Its
starting price was either 200 or 300 dollars so I did no bidding but I would
be curious to know who sold it and how Warren ever came to lose it.
Assuming that it wasn't he that was peddling it anyway.
Jim