Library Rock's Backpages

Warren Zevon: Life In The Mental Combat Zone

Toby Goldstein, Creem, August 1980

"THIS IS A .44 magnum revolver...do I have five or six bullets left...Are you feelin' lucky tonight, PUNK?" And then the hapless caller to Warren Zevon's residence is supposed to leave his name, number and a brief message. Well, it's certainly an effective deterrent to encyclopedia salesmen, I gamely smile at Zevon's first lieutenant, hulking George Gruel, who has described the Dirty Harry dialogue on Warren's phone machine. It will be only the first of many reminders that Warren Zevon, dark-humored singer-songwriter-showman, lives his music in technicolor, like some Travis Bickle of rock 'n' roll.

Total word count of piece: 1928

Subscribe

Becoming a member is easy. Membership gives you access to all the thousands of articles in the library.

Click here to go to Subscribe page.

Click here for academic and other group subscriptions.