A Little Light Music
The song dates to 1991; the author is deceased. Given the author’s history it’s most likely somewhat autobiographical.
Any resemblance to anyone living today is due solely to coincidence.
Category: Who knows
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Is “Warren Zevon” a nom de plume for “Bill Clinton”? My first hint was selling the furniture.
Um, no. “Warren Zevon” was Warren William Zevon (1947-2003).
He was one of the true raconteurs and “wild men” of mid-1970s to early 1980s popular music (he later fairly well cleaned up his act). That’s probably why he lived into his 50s vice dying early.
He remarked in one interview later in his life that he was probably much like Jim Morrison would have been had Jim Morrison lived past 27.
Cancer claimed him in his mid-50s. Ironically enough, based on the type of cancer (visceral mesothelioma) it probably wasn’t related to his past drug and alcohol abuse.
Helluva talented songwriter, singer, and musician. Others have referred to him as a “musician’s musician”.
Send lawyers, guns, and money, the shit has hit the fan.
That song DOES come to mind first here as well.
Still, I have yet to hear one of his works I didn’t care for.
Agree Zero. I’ve got my favorites, but like them all. I’ve also heard him called the Mercenary’s Bard and the Kipling of the modern soldier.
Damn Hondo it won’t play back it says it’s restricted
Odd. I don’t have any problem viewing it.
Give this one a try.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpvJrSVba8Y
Hopefully that one works for ya.
Thank you Hondo that works ?
Roland, the headless thompson gunner! Great tune.
Lear jet swat team, on a midnight run…
David Letterman & Paul Schaffer had a mad crush on Warren. He appeared on Letterman’s show numerous times at NBC & CBS. Yeah, Letterman lost me once he went to CBS & became more politicized lefty & a bitter old jerk. A great tribute to Warren though…his last performance ever.
A little bit of “backstory” about the above.
On Zevon’s last Letterman show (in Oct 2002), he performed three songs: “Mutineer”, “Genius”, and “Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner”. He’d planned to play “Mutineer” as his public finale – he knew these were likely his last public performances, as he wasn’t planning to tour afterwards. However, Letterman asked him to do “Roland” last. Zevon acquiesced.
The day Zevon passed, Letterman – knowing he’d kinda “screwed the pooch” by asking Zevon to modify his final playlist – played this as a tribute to Zevon.
In short: it wasn’t actually his last Letterman performance per se. But it was the last Zevon performance ever broadcast on the Letterman show – shortly after he’d died.
FWIW: IMO, “Mutineer” is one of the top 5 tunes the man ever wrote – and probably my personal favorite.
Thanks general H.
“General” H? Hardly. Just a huge Zevon fan.
In any case: de nada. However, in reading over my comment above, perhaps I wasn’t clear enough in what I was trying to say.
The clip played by Letterman on the day Zevon died was a repeat of the video of his last performance of “Mutineer” on the show. It was the one recorded during his last Letterman appearance nearly a year earlier.
So, in one sense it was Zevon’s final performance on Letterman – just a postmortem one. It just wasn’t his last live performance there.
The cancer that killed him is thought to be caused by the asbestos he was exposed to.
This song is said to be a part of his cancer story,