Zevon Song of the Week #11
haro...@yahoo.ca
Category: Addiction and Recovery
"Everybody's at war these days, let's have a
mini-surrender"-very timely words, Mr. Zevon.
The Sentimental Hygiene album in 1987 marked Warren's successful
return to recording following a five-year hiatus. Much of the album
focuses on the principal reason for that absence, his alcohol and drug
addiction and subsequent efforts at recovery (I say efforts because
recovery for someone so seriously strung out that he requires an
intervention by friends and family is a lifelong, unending affair).
The phrase Sentimental Hygiene is probably a love-it-or-hate-it matter
for most people, similar to their reactions to earlier song titles such
as Hasten Down The Wind and Accidentally Like A Martyr. I personally
get hung up on a myriad of miscellaneous, mostly innocuous, things in
daily life, but Zevon song titles is not one of them, particularly when
listening to the song blasts away any hint of preciousness in its
title.
And does Sentimental Hygiene ever blast! Not one, not two, but three
great guitar players (the excitable boy wisely deferred to them and
stuck to keyboards). All but two of the songs on the album (Reconsider
Me and Leave My Monkey Alone) feature the musical backing of ¾ of
R.E.M. (Michael Stipe is absent except for a harmony vocal on Bad
Karma). On SH, Peter Buck is present on guitar and so is Bill Berry on
drums, but for unknown reasons Mike Mills' bass accompaniment is left
to Jorge (Mills is also absent on another song, The Heartache, replaced
there by Leland Sklar).
Sidekick Waddy is by Warren's side as well on the track, but it's
Neil Young's signature, piercing guitar solo that gives the music its
raging soul. The lyrics are simple, almost an afterthought, and boil
down to the unchanging truth that for most people life is difficult and
having someone there at the end of the day who will offer solace is one
of the greatest gifts there is. Warren being Warren, the topic of
addiction is never directly addressed but rather is implied in the
title phrase. The "hygiene" means getting "clean", as in clean
and sober, while the "sentimental" refers to ministrations by a
loved one (girlfriend) rather than a professional (presumably at Detox
Mansion). Sentimental hygiene-no one wants to go without it, but
it's so hard to find it.
The use of phrases such as "Every night I come home exhausted" and
"Some nights I drive my car up and down the boulevard" reflect the
massive challenge faced by those in recovery, namely how to get through
the day without giving in to the craving for the addictive substance.
The pounding, repetitive guitar chords that open the song and that are
repeated all the way through, used by Neil Young as a springboard for
his improvised keening solos, accurately capture the spiritual ennui
and confusion of the narrator. It's perhaps the best Zevon rocker of
all (a close competitor is the album's very next track, Boom Boom
Mancini, but we can argue that on another Sunday).
SH is a great song on an equally great album. Thank the gods that
Warren emerged from his addiction to make music like this.
Categories to date
--------------------------
Addiction and Recovery: 1
Family: 1
Geopolitical: 1
Love-Gone-Wrong: 2
Mortality: 1
Satire: 2
Social Commentary: 2
Sports: 1
Dan
I always thought this tune was about jadedness and numbness. Maybe
consequences of drug addiction but certainly more so modern society's
tendencies towards isolation in its many forms which WZ expanded on on
his next album.
Dan
Howard Roseman
I was thinking about that today. On its own, SH as a song can be interpreted
a number of ways, including your take which is right on. My classifying it
as an Addiction and Recovery song had to do with it being both the lead and
title track of an album that marked a return to recording after five years.
It shares space on the CD with songs such as Detox Mansion, Trouble Waiting
To Happen, Even A Dog Can Shake Hands, and Bad Karma, which I take as subtle
or not-so-subtle references to Warren's wild years.
Also, Jadedness and Numbness is kind of an awkward name for a category, no?
Dan
It is just that I relate to the tune from a different but related
perspective. I am not a drug addict or recovering but can definitely
see everyday what WZ is singing about. I need some...
Dan
cc
>Sentimental Hygiene
>
One of my very favorite zevon songs. neil young's guitar is amazing... it's
like he's not even picking the notes, just tuning in to some frequency of
its own. I didn't realize waddy was playing too...
Like "Ain't That Pretty At All," this song was never too successful live,
imo. The groove tended to get flattened out into a hard rock zone that
didn't have the same restless mood. (On the other side of this tendency
would be "Jungle Work," which crazy live versions I mostly prefer to the
original.) Also, the studio cut has a great balance between keyboard and
guitar, where live either the keyboard sometimes would sound crappier (the
1988 band) or the guitar would dominate (the Odds).
I think the lyrics are great and maybe start to move toward the profound
simplicity of Life'll kill Ya. I had never heard songs this tough before,
except maybe Lou Reed's early 80s work, which I'm not sure I had discovered
yet.
Howard Roseman
it's
> like he's not even picking the notes, just tuning in to some frequency of
> its own. I didn't realize waddy was playing too...
>
Well said about Neil. If you listen to SH, as I have a few times, and then
turn off your CD player, that guitar solo will be dancing in your head for
days.
I think Waddy and Peter Buck collaborate on the background refrain, powerful
in its own way and integral to the song as well.
Zevonista
THE WZ-song that did it for me...It has it all : the words, the music, the
swing, musicians (damn, i still love NY after all these years..!). It has
turned me into a devoted Zevonian/Zevonista for the rest of my days...
Don't we all need...from time to time...some SH ?
Mark
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Sentimental Hygiene
Category: Addiction and Recovery
"Everybody's at war these days, let's have a
mini-surrender"-very timely words, Mr. Zevon.
The Sentimental Hygiene album in 1987 marked Warren's successful
return to recording following a five-year hiatus. Much of the album
focuses on the principal reason for that absence, his alcohol and drug
addiction and subsequent efforts at recovery (I say efforts because
recovery for someone so seriously strung out that he requires an
intervention by friends and family is a lifelong, unending affair).
The phrase Sentimental Hygiene is probably a love-it-or-hate-it matter
for most people, similar to their reactions to earlier song titles such
as Hasten Down The Wind and Accidentally Like A Martyr. I personally
get hung up on a myriad of miscellaneous, mostly innocuous, things in
daily life, but Zevon song titles is not one of them, particularly when
listening to the song blasts away any hint of preciousness in its
title.
And does Sentimental Hygiene ever blast! Not one, not two, but three
great guitar players (the excitable boy wisely deferred to them and
stuck to keyboards). All but two of the songs on the album (Reconsider
Me and Leave My Monkey Alone) feature the musical backing of ž of