I listened to this album with a very heavy heart. With knowing that it very well could be the last music that we ever hear from this great songwriter. Diagnosed with cancer last year, Warren has been living on borrowed time. His doctors had only given him months to live and he has been trying to get this album finished to provide us all with an epithet, we can only hope that this is not the final chapter. Last year he told us his rides here...well let’s hope he misses that bus a few more times. I know I will miss him and can only say thank you Warren for what you have given us all.

So how does one write his musical goodbye? Well, if you are Warren Zevon, you do it with style! You do it the way you started the whole thing, with great songwriting and suburb music. You do it with your own brand of wit and of course, a touch of irony that is your trademark. But most of all, you will give us the truth and an opportunity to mourn for you in our own way.

You can hear that the voice is not what it once was. There are times when it cracks and he seems out of breath as he sings. This is very, very understandable and only enhances that feeling that we are hearing from Warren’s heart.

”Some days I feel as my shadows casting me
Some days the sun don’t shine
Some days I wonder what tomorrow might bring
As I think about my dirty life and times.”

This is how Warren opens his album ”The Wind.” Yes he is letting us know that his time is just about up. But do you think he is going to let us dwell on the negative? Of course not, he is going to go out with a bang, literally!

”I need to find a woman with low self-esteem
As I wind down my dirty life and times!”

With Billy Bob Thorton and Dwight Yokum providing background vocals, Don Henley on drums and Ry Cooder on guitar, this almost pure county song is the perfect lament of a life that is going to end to soon. Zevon I am sure, sees the irony in such a good song being about such a sad subject. But I remember him saying on Letterman one night “Hemmingway always says that all good stories end in death!”

Bruce Springsteen was pulled off his last tour to help with the next song called ”Disorder In The House.” Applying his fiery brand of guitar and also some very cool sing a long harmonies, Bruce pays his tribute to the many talents of Zevon. The combo produces one of the most dynamic rockers that Zevon has done in years. This one is all about rock and roll. There is no talk of the impending event or anything to bring you down here. This is all about living and living life to the fullest and that is just the way they play it! You can just picture Warren with his acoustic and Bruce with his Stratocaster just having a ball with this one.

Well get prepared for this one. Hearing Warren do his version of Dylan’s ”Knocking on Heaven’s Door” turned me into a blathering idiot the first time I heard it. With the obvious inference to his current situation, this song will now forever be associated with one of the saddest events I can think of in rock and roll. If there was one song I would think of to play at Zevon’s funeral, it would be this one. I think he knows this and wanted to beat everybody to the punch! I just wonder how hard it was for the background singers, Jackson Browne, Tommy Shaw, Billy Bob and John Waite to get through this song.

Warren says “Let’s do another bad one, as I like it when the blood drains from David’s face,” at the start of ”Numb As A Statue.” I think this is a shot at David Lindley who lends his slide guitar to this dynamite rocker that reminds me a lot of the old Zevon classic Poor Poor Pitiful Me, with a dash of Jackson Browne thrown in. Warren shows his dynamic wit here as he sings:

.”I’m gonna beg, borrow or steal
Some feelings from you.
I’m gonna beg, borrow or steal,
So I can have some feelings too.”

I just love Warren’s twisted use of language. When he is on, there is none better.

One of Warren’s strong points is his ability to really make a truly touching ballad with his ironic lyrics. The acoustic ballad ”She’s Too Good For Me” is no exception.

”I could hold my head up high
And say that I left first
Or I can my head and cry
Tell me which is worst”

With Timothy B. Schmidt and Don Henley providing an Eagles type background vocals, this touching and powerful ballad is a masterful bit of songwriting. It is as heartfelt as any sad ballad that I have heard.

One of the darkest songs on this album is the almost tribal feeling ”Prison Groove.” Once again using an all-star backup band including Ry Cooder, T-Bone Burnett, Jackson Browne and others, Warren gives us the feel of beeing in a chain gang in the deep south. The murky slide guitar and the ominous sounding background chorus gives a chillingly accompaniment to Zevon’s husky vocals. This song will put you in right in the cell and you can feel that door slam shut behind you as this song takes you into the lonely depths of jail life.

Warren sits behind the keyboards for this terrific ballad ”El Amor De Mi Vida.” If you know Warren’s music, you know of his love of French language. Once again he uses it to provide dynamics to this song of lost love. I would have to say that I was never a great lover of his use of another language but it does sound very beautiful in this very stirring ballad. By the way, he does sing most of the lyrics in English, just the chorus is in French. But no matter what language in Zevon delivers a most enjoyable love song that I do think is one of his best.

So, let’s say your dying. What are you gonna do? Sit at home and think about it all the time? Well if you are Warren you are going to rock and party for ”The Rest of The Night!” It sounds like he is not going to give up that is for sure and he enlist Tom Petty to help in the fight. This is a great bit of mid tempo rock and roll with that southern feel that Zevon exploits so very well. It captures his attitude and lifestyle so very well. Almost like an anthem to having a good time. Warren doesn’t want us to forget what he stands for and also doesn’t want us to forget that any day could be your last.

Another touching love song is the rip you heart out….”Please Stay.” I guarantee that you will be touched when he sings ”Please stay with me to the end.” Backed by Emmylou Harris and some very terrific saxophone, you can almost hear the pleading in Warren’s voice. This one will grab you knowing the situation and make you wonder who could he be singing to. I hope no one could ever tear me up like that.

”Rub Me The Raw” is as grungy and low down dirty as anything you have heard. Digging deep into the blues Warren gives us his take on his current situation:

I don’t want your pity
Or your fifty dollar words.”

Don’t cry over his grave, just rejoice in the music that he was able to bring to us. This is the type of song that made me a lifelong Zevon fan. He is one of the few lyrists that can articulate his feelings into something that everyone can grasp. Then he is able to put those words to such a great piece of rock and roll music, it almost seems unfair that he has this much talent. It is even more unfair that we are about to lose this talent forever.

When you think about your final words, I would think that you would want them to have some meaning.
Well then take these final words from Warren’s song ”Keep Me In Your Heart.”
"Shadows are falling and I'm running out of breath
Keep me in your heart for awhile
If I leave you it doesn't mean I love you any less
Keep me in your heart for awhile."

That is Zevon’s goodbye but it is not a sad one. No, Warren is not going out on a downer, he is going to celebrate what he loves best. His music, his loved ones and the fact that he has been able to bring such pleasure to so many. I want to say thank you Warren, but somehow that just does not come close to being enough. You have given me many years of great music and I will forever be grateful.

If you remember, I trashed Warren’s album Life’ll Kill Ya. I took a lot of heat from that but I guess it was justified when Warren himself called that album self indulgent and lazy. But even the best has their bad moments. This album is one of Zevon’s finest hours. It is a masterful work that would stand by itself under any circumstances. It is a shame that it has to be under these ones.

But as Warren once said way back in 1983 "If you're lucky, people like something you do early and something you do just before you drop dead. That's as many pats on the back as you should expect."













Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Waking up