Zevon Song of the Week #37
haro...@yahoo.ca
Category: Satire
Earlier today, I watched a recording of an HBO fight from a couple of
weeks ago, Hatton vs. Durango. Ricky "The Hitman" Hatton is an
undefeated welterweight from Manchester, England, beloved in his
hometown as much for his regular-guy unpretentiousness as for his
undefeated record (42-0).
I didn't watch the whole fight, since I already knew he had won it and
was just curious to see some highlights. At one point, Larry Merchant
had this to say about the charismatic but focused Hatton, referring to
his personality inside and outside the ring: "He's a cross between a
Rottweiler and a Golden Retriever."
I wasn't even planning to cover a song this week, but Larry's
Rottweiler reference inspired me.
I've always regarded Rottweiler Blues as a rather nasty sequel to
Splendid Isolation, with Carl Hiaasen adding his uniquely twisted
slant to the lyrics. In this one, Michael Jackson is as likely to get
maimed as he is to be cavorting with Mickey and Donald.
Of course, anyone who would buy a dog only for self-protection isn't
satisfied with just teeth and claws. The song's narrator also has
"halogen lights in the driveway", "Guardian Angels living next door",
"a Glock in the bedside table, a machine gun leaning by the bedroom
door, and a Kevlar vest in the closet" which he wears to the store. No
stone unturned, as it were. Like most good satire, there's more than
enough truth in there to make us nervous, especially these days.
I've only known a single Rottweiler. Some friends of ours down the
street had one. Rather than "one hundred pounds of unfriendly
persuasion", this puppy was a veritable pussycat. Very amiable, and
slept a lot. He's now in dog heaven. I burned a copy of Rottweiler
Blues for John, the owner. He laughed, mostly because his pet was so
unlike the one in the song.
I guess if I had to pick just one of the Zevon-Hiaasen collaborations
on Mutineer, it would be Seminole Bingo. That said, I like Rottweiler
Blues just fine. It's got some muscular guitar playing by Warren, and
the song's straight-faced delivery makes me laugh, even the silly
stuff ("Skinheads on the golf course, hunting for their balls").
On his own, Warren wrote about putting tinfoil on the windows in order
to isolate himself from unpleasant interactions with other people.
With Hiaasen on board, we get "the promise of burglar blood" and the
tantalizing prospect of "the proverbial sickening thud" of an
intruder. No wonder these two got along so well.
Meanwhile, I have always paid close attention to "Beware of dog"
signs. Got bit once delivering newspapers as a kid. Fortunately, the
dog was a poodle. I did not know its name. After he bit me, and my
mother forced the owner to prove he (the dog) had been immunized, I
didn't want to.
Categories to date
---------------------
Addiction and Recovery: 3
Cover: 5
Family: 2
Geopolitical: 1
History: 1
Law and Order: 1
Love-Gone-Wrong: 6
Mortality: 3
Party: 1
Satire: 4
Social Commentary: 8
Sports: 1
Unreleased: 1