William's Song a Day Blog - est. September 2007

From: Excitable Boy ; Year: 1978; Genre: Rock/Funk Had Warren Zevon on my mind today and, as I normally do when I have an artist on my mind, I'm picking one from him; I love the rhythm and the beat of this one especially.   Hear Nighttime in the Switching Yard on YouTube.       My song pick 1 year ago today: April Wine - Silver Dollar   My song pick 2 years ago today: Smokehouse - Polar Funk My song pick 3 years ago today: Bob Dylan - A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall My song pick 4 years ago today: Audioslave - Like a Stone My song pick 5 years ago today: Rage Against the Machine - Darkness of Greed My song pick 6 years ago today: Martin Barre - Spanish Tears My song pick 7 years ago today: Béla Fleck and the Flecktones - Communication My song pick 8 years ago today: "Weird Al" Yankovic - Livin' in the Fridge My song pick 9 years ago today: Duran Duran - (Reach Up for the) Sunrise My song pick 10 years ago today: The Offspring - Gone Away My so...

From: My Ride's Here ; Year: 2002; Genre: Rock I was fully intending on picking another song today, however, when I saw the song I picked nine years ago I started binging on Warren Zevon, and thus, I am now picking another one of his. Amazingly though, I haven't picked one of his songs for quite some time, so it's long overdue anyway. This is one that anyone from northern climates should probably thematically identify with somewhat. Plus it's fun hearing David Letterman yelling "Hit Somebody" through the choruses. Hear Hit Somebody! (The Hockey Song) on YouTube. My song pick one year ago today: Danzig - Twist of Cain My song pick two years ago today: Humble Pie - Black Coffee My song pick three years ago today: Pallas - The Cross & the Crucible My song pick four years ago today: Nirvana - Come As You Are My song pick five years ago today: Hawkwind - Space Chase My song pick six years ago today: Bachman-Turner Overdrive (BTO) - Four Wh...

800 ( Warren Zevon - Lawyers, Guns and Money ) I was planning to pick a more appropriate song for my "odometer rollover pick," but instead, for some reason, I just felt like choosing this one today. I have always been a big fan of Warren Zevon's work and especially the Excitable Boy album. This one is about a man who dates a waitress who ends up being a Russian agent and gets caught up in the middle of the ensuing situation. He begs his father to send Lawyers, Guns and Money to get him out. This song has been covered many times; some are pretty good, but in my opinion Warren Zevon's original version is the best by far. Here is a live performance on YouTube. Here is an acoustic performance on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: #428 Jackson Browne - Doctor My Eyes My song pick two years ago today: #60 Johann Sebastian Bach - BWV 565 - Toccata and Fugue in D-Minor +

There is just something about Warren Zevon's Jazz/Blues piano playing mixed with the macabre lyrics that makes his music quite enjoyable and unique. I love how he could sing sensational and disturbing lyrics in a matter-of-fact way. The rhythm section from Fleetwood Mac rounds out this song quite well along with the excellent guitar work. Here is the studio version on YouTube. +

I decided on picking Roland, the Headless Thompson Gunner by the late, great Warren Zevon today. This is another song with a story in the lyrics: Roland, is a mercenary fighting in the Congolese Conflict in the late 60's. He ends up getting his head blown off by one of his compatriots who was paid to kill him, however he does not die. He searches and finds the man who killed him and evens the score, he doesn't find peace and wanders the world and is present in every conflict since. From what I can understand this story was co-written between Zevon and a man named David Lindell. This Lindell fought in some African conflicts and was running a bar in Spain where he told Warren Zevon of his travels, which inspired this song they wrote together. I find a lot of Zevon's work to be a bit macabre and dark, this song is no different. What is really neat is that the song changes with every step of the story. It starts with the lyrics "Roland the Thompson Gunner," and then ...