![]() Another seven years would pass before he recorded "Leave My Monkey Alone", a single off 1987's Sentimental Hygiene, recorded with Parliament/Funkadelic's impressario George Clinton. Monkeys returned with a vengeance in 1980's Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School and the track "Gorilla, You're A Desperado", a song inspired by a bored gorilla at the city zoo. That album contained a song called, simply, "Gorilla". First, the monkeys.Īlthough our modern humorists like to imagine they were the first to discover the innate humor of the primate family, Zevon has been at the forefront of monkey satire since his debut album, Wanted Dead or Alive dated 1969. In addition to the general themes of misery and disappointment, he was specifically focused on boxing, the lingering brutality of African Colonialism, and monkeys. They made hypocritic judgements, after the fact,īut the name of the game, is get hit and hit back.īy any stretch of the imagination, Warren Zevon had an odd assortment of interests. When Zevon finally shuffles off this mortal coil, victim to inoperable lung cancer, he will leave a prickled legacy to his inheritors - a catalog of death and dissipation, a lifelong ode to disappointment and corruption, as seen through the eyes of a hopeless romantic. It's only a little bit ironic that the same music journals which ignored him during his life have wasted no time in singing his praises in the pages of premature postmortems. The recent announcement of Zevon's impending demise has impacted the music press like a smoldering meteor. ![]() Waits found an unlikely second career in the cinema. Rundgren is one of the most well-regarded producers of his generation, and, despite the ethereal nature of a great deal of his solo material, his pop instincts remains undimmed, as evidenced by his work with artists ranging from David Bowie to Bette Midler. Newman found great success scoring movies, manufacturing the kind of sickly-sweet Disney anthems that seem to exist in another universe altogether from his nasty solo material. ![]() Whereas most obscure but talented musicians tend to find other channels for their creative instincts, Zevon has remained faithful to his muse, surly and ungrateful as she may have seemed. Their preoccupations are peripatetic, ranging the gamut from tin-pan alley to psychedelic blues.īut Zevon stands as an enigma even among his peers. They all have ardent followers but few casual fans. They may have odd-sounding voices, misanthropic inclinations, or intellectual preoccupations above and beyond the boundaries of standard rock. ![]() There's always been something about these musicians that prevented them from gaining the widespread acclaim that their talents indicated they deserved. There are four that are usually always mentioned in this conversation - Tom Waits, Randy Newman, Todd Rundgren, and Warren Zevon. They remain the most respected musicians among their peers, but their movements are almost unknown to the general public. These musicians have been at it as long as anyone else - probably longer - and yet long-term commercial success consistently eludes them. ![]() (Mike owns the comic shop where I buy my books and just coincidentally happens to be one of the most knowledgeable music fans I've ever met.) It seems we can�' have a conversation about music without trying to wrap our brains around a particular and anomalous class of musician - for lack of a better term, I'll call them the Perennial Critical Favorites. There's a conversation that seems to re-occur with startling frequency between my friend Mike and myself. They say Jesus will find you wherever you go,īut when He'll come looking for you, they don't know, ![]()
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