Warren Zevon is one of the true great American songwriters. David Letterman was fond of pointing out that he was able to find a rhyme for brucellosis in the song "Play It All Night Long" but this song is my favorite. Not because I want to necessarily be the subject of the song but that I want to be able to figure out how Zevon wrote this brilliant item. I mean, what was going on in his head and how can I get there?
Before you respond "Easy. Live at the bottom of a Gin Bottle for several years. Rinse and repeat" it is not that easy. Zevon was a true poet, and this song is he at the top of his art. There are three lyrics in this song that prove this for me:
I got a part-time job at my father's carpet store
Laying tackless stripping, and housewives by the score
I loaded up their furniture, and took it to Spokane
And auctioned off every last naugahyde divan
Warren Zevon is the only man who has ever lived who can get the phrases "tackles stripping" and "Naugahayde divan" into one verse and make them work. Not to mention the inspired rhyme of Spokane and Divan. Good Lord, this song includes housewives, carpet samples, French Prostitutes, pauperized miners, Altar Boys and Foster's.
I'm very well acquainted with the seven deadly sins
I keep a busy schedule trying to fit them in
I'm proud to be a glutton, and I don't have time for sloth
I'm greedy, and I'm angry, and I don't care who I cross
This is also a nice bit of writing, even if you need to Geek out on the English to get there. The rhyme scheme being AABB is easy, as is the alliteration on glutton and greedy. This is brilliant for the phrase "trying to fit them in" which is an awesome double entendre. Someone who is angry is also "wroth", which rhymes nicely with "sloth". So this verse covers all of the deadly sins at once, something difficult to do in four lines.
Of course I went to law school and took a law degree
And counseled all my clients to plead insanity
Then worked in hair replacement, swindling the bald
Where very few are chosen, and fewer still are called
Few men are bald and fewer still chose to be in Zevon's time. Now it is a trend. I LOVE being bald. It is so much easier than having long hair. Having had both I will never go back. Of course I can't have the long luxurious locks that once adorned my melon back in the 1990s for the simple fact that they will not grow without chemical interference that may make me impotent, give me cancer or make me think that I am Napoleon III. So what? I look better without 'em!
Keeping with the Biblical arrangement, you have a paraphrasing of Matthew 22:14 "For Many are called but few are chosen" which occurs at the end of a parable by Jesus about a King who has invited his subjects to a wedding. Several verses after is the famous "render unto Caesar's what is Caesar's" quote. In the world of the song, Mr. Bad Example is neither chosen nor called, pointing out his rapturous acceptance of the Seven Deadly Sins. That is just really informed writing. When I listen to this song it reminds me of what we all look for in our favorite authors: the reasons they are our favorites. This song is hysterical but it is also damn well constructed, and I would not expect anything else from Warren Zevon.
No comments:
Post a Comment