Splendid Isolation
Warren Zevon
© 1989 Zevon Music (BMI)
I want to live all alone in the desert
I want to be like Georgia O’Keeffe
I want to live on the Upper East Side
And never go down in the street
Splendid Isolation
I don't need no one
Splendid Isolation
Michael Jackson in Disneyland
Don't have to share it with nobody else
Lock the gates, Goofy, take my hand
And lead me through the World of Self
Splendid Isolation
I don't need no one
Splendid Isolation
Don't want to wake up with no one beside me
Don't want to take up with nobody new
Don't want nobody coming by without calling first
Don't want nothing to do with you
I'm putting tinfoil up on the windows
Lying down in the dark to dream
I don't want to see their faces
I don't want to hear them scream
Splendid Isolation
I don't need no one
Splendid Isolation
Splendid Isolation
I don't need no one
Splendid Isolation
Lawyers, Guns And Money
Warren Zevon
© 1978 Zevon Music (BMI)
Well, I went home with the waitress
The way I always do
How was I to know
She was with the Russians, too
I was gambling in Havana
I took a little risk
Send lawyers, guns and money
Dad, get me out of this
I'm the innocent bystander
Somehow I got stuck
Between the rock and the hard place
And I'm down on my luck
Yes, I'm down on my luck
I'm down on my luck
Now I'm hiding in Honduras
I'm a desperate man
Send lawyers, guns and money
The shit has hit the fan
Send lawyers, guns and money
Send lawyers, guns and money
Send lawyers, guns and money
Send lawyers, guns and money
Mr. Bad Example
Warren Zevon & Jorge Calderón
© 1991 Zevon Music administered by Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp./Googolplex Music (BMI)
I started as an altar boy, working at the church
Learning all my holy moves, doing some research
Which led me to a cash box, labeled "Children's Fund"
I left the change, and tucked the bills inside my cummerbund
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
I'm very well aquainted 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
I'm Mr. Bad Example, intruder in the dirt
I like to have a good time, and I don't care who gets hurt
I'm Mr. Bad Example, take a look at me
I'll live to be a hundred, and go down in infamy
Of course I went to law school; 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
Then on to Monte Carlo to play chemin de fer
I threw away the fortune I made transplanting hair
I put my last few francs down on a prostitute
Who took me up to her room to perform the flag salute
Whereupon I stole her passport and her wig
And headed for the airport and the midnight flight, you dig?
And fourteen hours later I was down in Adelaide
Looking through the want ads sipping Fosters in the shade
I opened up an agency somewhere down the line
To hire aboriginals to work the opal mines
But I attached their wages and took a whopping cut
And whisked away their workman's comp and pauperized the lot
I'm Mr. Bad Example, intruder in the dirt
I like to have a good time, and I don't care who gets hurt
I'm Mr. Bad Example, take a look at me
I'll live to be a hundred and go down in infamy
I bought a first class ticket on Malaysian Air
And landed in Sri Lanka none the worse for wear
I'm thinking of retiring from all my dirty deals
And I'll see you in the next life, wake me up for meals
Excitable Boy
Warren Zevon & LeRoy P. Marinell
© 1976 Zevon Music (BMI) and Polite Music (ASCAP)
Well, he went down to dinner in his Sunday best
Excitable boy, they all said
And he rubbed the pot roast all over his chest
Excitable boy, they all said
Well, he's just an excitable boy
He took in the four a.m. show at the Clark
Excitable boy, they all said
And he bit the usherette's leg in the dark
Excitable boy, they all said
Well, he's just an excitable boy
He took little Suzie to the Junior Prom
Excitable boy, they all said
And he raped her and killed her, then he took her home
Excitable boy, they all said
Well, he's just an excitable boy
After ten long years they let him out of the home
Excitable boy, they all said
And he dug up her grave and built a cage with her bones
Excitable boy, they all said
Well, he's just an excitable boy
Hasten Down The Wind
Warren Zevon
© 1973 Warner-Tamerlane/Darkroom Music (BMI)
She tells him she thinks she needs to be free
He tells her he doesn't understand
She takes his hand
She tells him nothing's working out the way they planned
She's so many women
He can't find the one who was his friend
So he's hanging on to half her heart
He can't have the restless part
So he tells her to hasten down the wind
Then he agrees he thinks she needs to be free
Then she says she'd rather be with him
But it's just a whim
By which she hopes to keep him on the limb
She's so many women
He can't find the one who was his friend
So he's hanging on to half her heart
He can't have the restless part
So he tells her to hasten down the wind
She's so many women
He can't find the one who was his friend
So he's hanging on to half her heart
He can't have the restless part
So he tells her to hasten down the wind
He tells her to hasten down the wind
The French Inhaler
Warren Zevon
© 1973 Warner-Tamerlane/Darkroom Music (BMI)
How're you going to make your way in the world
When you weren't cut out for working,
When your fingers are slender and frail?
How're you going to get around
In this sleazy bedroom town
If you don't put yourself up for sale?
Where will you go with your scarves and your miracles?
Who's gonna know who you are?
Drugs and wine and flattering light
You must try it again ‘til you get it right
Maybe you'll end up with someone different every night
All these people with no home to go home to
They'd all like to spend the night with you
Maybe I would, too
But tell me
How're you going to make your way in the world
When you weren't cut out for working
And you just can't concentrate
And you always show up late?
You said you were an actress
Yes, I believe you are
I thought you'd be a star
So I drank up all the money,
Yes, I drank up all the money,
With these phonies in this Hollywood bar,
These friends of mine in this Hollywood bar
Loneliness and frustration
We both came down with an acute case
And when the lights came up at two
I caught a glimpse of you
And your face looked like something
Death brought with him in his suitcase
Your pretty face
It looked so wasted
Another pretty face
Devastated
The French Inhaler
He stamped and mailed her
"So long, Norman"
She said, "So long, Norman"
Worrier King
Warren Zevon
© 1993 Zevon Music (BMI)
I've got a bird that whistles
I've got a bird that sings
I've got a bird that . . . I've got a bird . . .
I'm worried about that bird
And I worry about everything
And I worry when I see my subjects
Bow down to the Worrier King
Well, I'm hiding from the mailman
And I hate to hear the telephone ring
I'm hiding from the mailman
And I hate to hear the telephone
Worried about the women
And I worry about everything
And I worry when I see my subjects
Bow down to the Worrier King
Worrier King
I've been up all night
Wondering what the morning's gonna bring
I've been up all night
Wondering what November's gonna bring
Worried about my country
And I worry about everything
And I worry when I see my subjects
Bow down to the Worrier King
Worried about my bird
And I worry about everything
And I worry when I see my subjects
Bow down to the Worrier King
Worrier King
Roland Chorale/Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner
Warren Zevon & David Lindell
© 1976 Zevon Music (BMI)
Roland was a warrior from the Land of the Midnight Sun
With a Thompson gun for hire and fighting to be done
The deal was made in Denmark on a dark and stormy day
So he set out for Biafra to join the bloody fray
Through sixty-six and seven they fought the Congo war
With their fingers on their triggers, knee-deep in gore
For days and nights they battled the Bantu to their knees
They killed to earn their living and to help out the Congolese
Roland the Thompson gunner...
Roland the Thompson gunner...
His comrades fought beside him - Van Owen and the rest
But of all the Thompson gunners, Roland was the best
So the CIA decided they wanted Roland dead
And that son-of-a-bitch Van Owen blew off Roland's head
Roland the headless Thompson gunner
Norway's bravest son
They can still see his headless body stalking through the night
In the muzzle flash of Roland's Thompson gun
In the muzzle flash of Roland's Thompson gun
Roland searched the continent for the man who'd done him in
He found him in Mombasa in a barroom drinking gin
Roland aimed his Thompson gun - he didn't say a word
But he blew Van Owen's body from there to Johannesburg
Roland the headless Thompson gunner...
Roland the headless Thompson gunner...
Roland the headless Thompson gunner...
I’m talkin’ about the man
Roland the headless Thompson gunner...
The eternal Thompson gunner
Still wandering through the night
Now it's ten years later but he still keeps up the fight
In Ireland, in Lebanon, in Palestine and Berkeley
Patty Hearst heard the burst of Roland's Thompson gun and bought it
Searching For A Heart
Warren Zevon
© 1991 Zevon Music, administered by Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp. (BMI)
Darkness in the morning
Shadows on the land
Certain individuals
Aren't sticking to the plan
And I'm searching for a heart
Searching everyone
They say love conquers all
You can't start it like a car
You can't stop it with a gun
Leaving in the evening
Traveling at night
Staying inconspicuous
I'm staying out of sight
And I'm searching for a heart
Searching everyone
They say love conquers all
You can't start it like a car
You can't stop it with a gun
They tell me love requires a little standing in line
And I've been waiting for you, lover, for a long, long time
I've been pacing the floor
I've been watching the door
Meanwhile I'll keep searching for a heart
Searching high and low for you
Trying to track you down
Certain individuals
Have finally come around
And I'm searching for a heart
Searching everyone
They say love conquers all
You can't start it like a car
You can't stop it with a gun
They tell me love requires a little standing in line
And I've been waiting for you, lover, for a long, long time
I've been pacing the floor
I've been watching the door
Meanwhile I'll keep searching for a heart
Searching everyone
They say love conquers all
You can't start it like a car
You can't stop it with a gun
Searching for a heart...
Searching for a heart...
Boom Boom Mancini
Warren Zevon
© 1987 Zevon Music (BMI)
Hurry home early - hurry on home
Boom Boom Mancini's fighting Bobby Chacon
Hurry home early - hurry on home
Boom Boom Mancini's fighting Bobby Chacon
From Youngstown, Ohio, Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini
A lightweight contender, like father like son
He fought for the title with Frias in Vegas
And he put him away in round number one
Hurry home early - hurry on home
Boom Boom Mancini's fighting Bobby Chacon
Hurry home early - hurry on home
Boom Boom Mancini's fighting Bobby Chacon
When Alexis Arguello gave Boom Boom a beating
Seven weeks later he was back in the ring
Some have the speed and the right combinations
If you can't take the punches it don't mean a thing
Hurry home early - hurry on home
Boom Boom Mancini's fighting Bobby Chacon
Hurry home early - hurry on home
Boom Boom Mancini's fighting Bobby Chacon
When they asked him who was responsible
For the death of Du Koo Kim
He said, "Someone should have stopped the fight and told me it was him."
They made hypocrite judgments after the fact
But the name of the game is be hit and hit back
Hurry home early - hurry on home
Boom Boom Mancini's fighting Bobby Chacon
Hurry home early - hurry on home
Boom Boom Mancini's fighting Bobby Chacon
Jungle Work
Jorge Calderón & Warren Zevon
© 1980 Zevon Music (BMI)
Lear jet S.W.A.T team
On a midnight run
With the M16
And the Ingram gun
We parachute in
We parachute out
"Death from above"
We're screaming now
Where the pay is good
And the risk is high
It's understood
We'll do or die
Sten gun in hand
Where the gun is law
From Ovamboland
To Nicaragua
Strength and muscle and jungle work
Strength and muscle and jungle work
Strength and muscle and jungle work
Strength and muscle and jungle work
Three young men
In a Russian truck
With a little MAC-10
Sent 'em running to the huts
These few young men
The few who dare
To battle in hell
Le Mercenaire!
Strength and muscle and jungle work
Strength and muscle and jungle work
Strength and muscle and jungle work
Strength and muscle and jungle work
Strength and muscle and jungle work
Strength and muscle and jungle work
Piano Fighter
Warren Zevon
© 1993 Zevon Music (BMI)
Mom and Papa bought a Chickering
Every day I'd sit and play that thing
I practiced hard; it was more than a whim
I played with grim determination, Jim
Someone called Piano Fighter
I'm a holy roller, I'm a real lowrider
Hold me tight, honey, hold me tighter
Then let me go, Piano Fighter
Let me go, Piano Fighter
I worked in sessions and I played in bands
A thousand casuals and one-night stands
Here on Thursday, gone on Friday
Heading down the Dixie highway
Someone called Piano Fighter
I'm a holy roller, I'm a real lowrider
Hold me tight, honey, hold me tighter
Then let me go, Piano Fighter
Let me go, Piano Fighter
Maybe I'll go to Reno
Nobody knows my name
I'll play Claire de Lune in a quiet saloon
Steady work for a change
Ain't going down that long, lonesome road
Ain't going down that long, lonesome road
I cut a single and it made the charts
I took the money and I played my part
Got in trouble down in New Orleans
I must admit that I was strung out, painted in the corner of a limousine
Someone called Piano Fighter
I'm a thin ice walker, I'm a freelance writer
Hold me tight, honey, hold me tighter
Then let me go, Piano Fighter
Let me go, Piano Fighter
Someone called Piano Fighter
I'm a holy roller, I'm a real lowrider
Hold me tight, honey, hold me tighter
Then let me go, Piano Fighter
Let me go, Piano Fighter
Werewolves Of London
LeRoy P. Marinell, Waddy Wachtel & Warren Zevon
© 1975 Zevon Music (BMI) and Polite Music (ASCAP)
I saw a werewolf with a Chinese menu in his hand
Walking through the streets of Soho in the rain
He was looking for the place called Lee Ho Fook's
Going to get a big dish of beef chow mein
Ahh-hooooooo
Werewolves of London
Ahh-hooooooo
Werewolves of London
If you hear him howling around your kitchen door
Better not let him in
Little old lady got mutilated late last night
Werewolves of London again
Ahh-hooooooo
Werewolves of London
Ahh-hooooooo
Werewolves of London
He's the hairy handed gent who ran amok in Kent
Lately he's been overheard in Mayfair
You better stay away from him
He'll rip your lungs out, Jim
Hah! I'd like to meet his tailor
Ahh-hooooooo
Werewolves of London
Ahh-hooooooo
Werewolves of London
Well, I saw Lon Chaney walking with the Queen
Doing the Werewolves of London
I saw Lon Chaney, Jr. walking with the Queen
Doing the Werewolves of London
I saw a werewolf drinking a piña colada at Trader Vic's
His hair was perfect
Ahh-hooooooo
Werewolves of London
Ahh-hooooooo
Ahh-hooooooo
Werewolves of London
Ahh-hooooooo
Ahh-hooooooo
Werewolves of London
Ahh-hooooooo
Werewolves of London
The Indifference Of Heaven
Warren Zevon
© 1993 Zevon Music (BMI)
Time marches on
Time stands still
Time on my hands
Time to kill
Blood on my hands
And my hands in the till
Down at the 7-11
Gentle rain
Falls on me
All life folds back
Into the sea
We contemplate eternity
Beneath the vast indifference of heaven
The past seems realer than the present to me now
I've got memories to last me
When the sky is gray
The way it is today
I remember the times when I was happy
Same old sun
Same old moon
It's the same old story
Same old tune
They all say
Someday soon
My sins will all be forgiven
Gentle rain
Falls on me
All life folds back
Into the sea
We contemplate eternity
Beneath the vast indifference of heaven
They say "Everything's all right"
They say "Better days are near"
They tell us "These are the good times"
But they don't live around here
Billy and Christie don't--
Bruce and Patti don't-- They don't live around here
I had a girl
Now she's gone
She left town
The town burned down
Nothing left
But the sound
Of the front door closing forever
Gentle rain
Falls on me
All life folds back
Into the sea
We contemplate eternity
Beneath the vast indifference of heaven
The vast indifference of heaven
Poor Poor Pitiful Me
Warren Zevon
© 1973 Warner-Tamerlane/Darkroom Music (BMI)
“Rose Of Alabama” by S.S. Steele/
arrangement by Warren Zevon
© 1993 Zevon Music (BMI)
I'd lay my head on the railroad tracks
And wait for the Double "E"
But the railroad don't run no more
Poor, poor pitiful me
Poor, poor pitiful me
Poor, poor pitiful me
These young girls won't let me be
Lord have mercy on me
Woe is me
Well, I met this gal in West Hollywood
I ain't naming names
She really worked me over good
She was just like Jesse James
She really worked me over good
She was a credit to her gender
She put me through some changes, Lord
Sort of like a Waring blender
Poor, poor pitiful me
Poor, poor pitiful me
These young girls won't let me be
Lord have mercy on me
Woe is me
Oh, brown Rosie
The Rose of Alabama
Sweet tobacco posey
Is my Rose of Alabama
Oh, brown Rosie
The Rose of Alabama
Sweet tobacco posey
Is my Rose of Alabama
Well, I met this gal from the Vieux Carré
Down in Yokohama
She picked me up and she threw me down
I said, “Please don’t hurt me, mama.”
Poor, poor pitiful me
Poor, poor pitiful me
These young girls won't let me be
Lord have mercy on me
Woe is me
Play It All Night Long
Warren Zevon
© 1980 Zevon Music (BMI)
Grandpa pissed his pants again
He don't give a damn
Brother Billy has both guns drawn
He ain't been right since Vietnam
"Sweet home Alabama"
Play that dead band's song
Turn those speakers up full blast
Play it all night long
Daddy's doing Sister Sally
Grandma's dying of cancer now
The cattle all have brucellosis
We'll get through somehow
"Sweet home Alabama"
Play that dead band's song
Turn those speakers up full blast
Play it all night long
I'm going down to the Dew Drop Inn
See if I can drink enough
There ain't much to country living
Sweat, piss, jizz and blood
"Sweet home Alabama"
Play that dead band's song
Turn those speakers up full blast
Play it all night long
"Sweet home Alabama"
Play that dead band's song
Turn those speakers up full blast
Play it all night long
All instruments played by Warren Zevon
RECORDED BY DUNCAN ALDRICH, LIVE TO DAT
PRODUCED BY WARREN ZEVON AND DUNCAN ALDRICH