I'm writing this for two audiences at once, and both groups will find material herein that will be familiar to them.  The words you are reading are being posted to the Generations in Music thread in the Discussion Forum at the Fourth Turning website www.fourthturning.com on April 15th, 2000, more or less the same time that they're being submitted by e-mail as a Guest Column for the Warren Zevon fan page. 

Warren Zevon is a rock musician; a singer, songwriter, pianist and guitarist.  He is best known for his 1978 hit, "Werewolves of London", which went to #21 and was later featured prominently in the film, "The Color Of Money".  While popular success has largely eluded him otherwise, he has nonetheless accumulated a devoted following.  His intelligence, black humour, and surprising sensitivity have led people to compare him to Bob Dylan, Dorothy Parker, Raymond Chandler, Sam Peckinpah, and Martin Scorsese.  

The title of this monograph mentions the words 'generational analysis'.  By this I mean that I will be looking at Zevon's lyrics in the context of the theory of generational cycles put forth by history writers William Strauss and Neil Howe in their books "Generations", "13th GEN: Abort, Retry, Ignore, Fail?" and "The Fourth Turning".  

Zevon was born in January, 1947, to a Russian Jewish family.  He spent his childhood in Arizona and California, and became a professional musician at an early age.  Before the 1960s were over, he had released several singles as one half of a duo called 'Lyme and Cybele', written a couple of songs for the Turtles (including the energetic "Outside Chance") and one called "She Quit Me Man" that appeared on the "Midnight Cowboy" soundtrack as well as his own 1969 album, "Wanted - Dead Or Alive".  The album failed commercially and critically, and he spent the next few years as bandleader for the Everly Brothers and writing commercial jingles before settling in Spain.  

He returned from Spain in 1976, encouraged by the support of fellow musicians Jackson Browne and Linda Ronstadt, and recorded the album "Warren Zevon", which went over well.  Zevon released several more albums over the next few years as part of the Southern California singer-songwriter group of rockers which also included Browne, Ronstadt, the Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, and Steely Dan.  Since then, his career has been interrupted by battles with substance abuse, but as of early 2000 we have seen a total of 10 studio albums, 2 live albums, 2 greatest-hits collections, and a collaborative cover album with three members of R.E.M.  

Zevon is a member of the Boom generation (birthyears 1943-1960).  The Boom generation is an example of the Prophet archetype.  History has shown that the composite life story of a Prophet generation looks something like this:  young Prophets grow up as indulged children in an institutionally strong but culturally bland High era; challenge the secular order as young adults with a spiritual revolution during an Awakening era; retreat into perceived narcissism in midlife while they consolidate the new spiritual order during an Unraveling era; and finally emerge as visionary elders as they lead society through a Crisis era.

Zevon, so far, doesn't seem to fit this pattern particularly neatly.  First of all, if his own lyrics are any kind of a guide, his childhood didn't have a lot in common with 'Leave It To Beaver':

"Gambler ambled down a country lane 
Looking for a game of chance
She was twenty-one or two 
And she knew what she wanted
And she wanted that gamblin' man

Her parents warned her 
Tried to reason with her 
She was determined that she wanted Bill 
They'd all be offended at the mention still
If they heard this song, which I doubt they will

And my mama couldn't be persuaded 
When they pleaded with her
"Daughter, don't marry that gamblin' man"
Mama couldn't be persuaded 
When they pleaded with her
"Daughter, don't marry that gamblin' man"
Mama couldn't be persuaded 
When they pleaded with her
No, no nevertheless
I said my mama couldn't be persuaded
When they pleaded with her,
"Daughter, don't marry that gamblin' man."

Gambler tried to be a family man
Though it didn't suit his style 
He thought he had him a winning combination 
So he took us where the stakes were high 
Her parents warned her 
Tried to reason with her 
Never kept their disappointment hid 
They all went to pieces when the bad luck hit
Stuck in the middle, I was the kid..."

- from 'Mama Couldn't Be Persuaded' (1976)

He was, however, devoted to music:  

"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..."

- from 'Piano Fighter' (1993)  

The most recent Awakening era, the Consciousness Revolution, ran from 1964 to 1984.  On the one hand it can be characterized by sex, drugs, rock and roll, and campus revolution, but at its best it was an attempt to exchange the blankness of the High era (1946-1963) with a new age of freedom, expression, openness, spirituality and liberation.  

Zevon's musical output during the '60s reflects little of either the psychedelic revolutionary hippie movement or the innocent pastorality that we associate with the era.  Mostly, they're pop songs, some with the themes of pandemonium and gunplay that he would become better known for once his career started for real in the mid-'70s.  Zevon had several kinds of subjects that he returned to again and again.  These included: mercenaries, ne'er-do-wells, killers, international politics and financial malfeasance ("Lawyers, Guns, and Money", "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner", "Jungle Work", "The Envoy", "Werewolves of London", "Excitable Boy")  love gone bad ("Hasten Down The Wind", "The Hula Hula Boys", "Poor Poor Pitiful Me")  the 1970s Southern California lifestyle ("The French Inhaler", "Gorilla, You're A Desperado", "Carmelita", "Desperadoes Under The Eaves")

If we look closer, though, we can see that Zevon, although he didn't participate musically in the Awakening to any great extent, was now nevertheless trying to deal with the consequences of, and end of, that era in his lyrics.  And he isn't having an easy time of it.  

The sexual revolution isn't working out for him:  

"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"

- "Hasten Down the Wind" (1973)  

"Well, I met a girl 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"

- from "Poor Poor Pitiful Me" (1973)   

He isn't enjoying the drugs:  

"Well, I'm sittin' here playing solitaire
With my pearl-handled deck 
The county won't give me no more methadone 
And they cut off your welfare check

Carmelita
Hold me tighter 
I think I'm sinking down 
And I'm all strung out on heroin 
On the outskirts of town"

- from "Carmelita" (1972)
 

The lifestyle in general is having its effects on his personality:  

"Big gorilla at the L.A. Zoo
Snatched the glasses right off my face 
Took the keys to my BMW 
Left me here to take his place

I wish the ape a lot of success 
I'm sorry my apartment's a mess 
Most of all I'm sorry if I made you blue 
I'm betting the gorilla will, too"

- from "Gorilla, You're a Desperado" (1980)  

In general he's just tired of everything:  

"I was sitting in the Hollywood Hawaiian Hotel 
I was staring in my empty coffee cup 
I was thinking that the gypsy wasn't lyin'
All the salty margaritas in Los Angeles 
I'm gonna drink 'em up

And if California slides into the ocean 
Like the mystics and statistics say it will
I predict this motel will be standing until I pay my bill

Don't the sun look angry through the trees
Don't the trees look like crucified thieves 
Don't you feel like desperadoes 
Under the eaves 
Heaven help the one who leaves

Still waking up in the mornings with shaking hands 
And I'm trying to find a girl who understands me 
But except in dreams you're never really free 

Don't the sun look angry at me

I was sitting in the Hollywood Hawaiian Hotel
I was listening to the air conditioner hum..."

- "Desperadoes Under the Eaves" (1976)  

In 1982 Zevon came out with his album "The Envoy", which proclaimed the end of the Awakening.  It was over and now it's time to move on.  For example, the sexual revolution had become kind of ridiculous:  

"Yesterday she went to see 
The Polynesian band 
But she came home with her hair all wet 
And her clothes all filled with sand 
I didn't have to come to Maui 
To be treated like a jerk 
How do you think I feel 
When I see the bellboys smirk? "

- from "The Hula Hula Boys" (1982)  

So he's getting out of it:  

"Got the license--got the ring 
Got back the blood tests and everything 
Putting on my boutonniere--It's her favorite flower
Then I'm walking down the altar and I'm gonna take the vow"

- from "Let Nothing Come Between You" (1982)  

The drug culture has gone bad and it's time to face up to it:  

"Charlie dealt in pharmaceuticals 
Charlie used to sell me pills 
Yesterday his sister called to tell me
He'd been killed

Some respectable doctor from Beverly Hills 
Shot him through the heart 
Charlie didn't feel a thing 
Neither of them did
Poor kid

Charlie dealt in pharmaceuticals 
He sold those expensive drugs 
I gave Charlie all my money 
What the hell was I thinking of?

Charlie had to take his medicine 
Charlie got his prescription filled
I came to say goodbye 
I'm sorry Charlie died 
I came to finish paying my bill 
I came to finish paying my bill 
I came to finish paying my bill 
I came to finish paying my bill"

- from "Charlie's Medicine" (1982)  

One of my favourite Zevon songs is one that he wrote after witnessing the bizarre behaviour of a concertgoer.  I don't know how old this concertgoer was, but it's a fact that as the eighties developed, the Boom generation slowly became aware that there was a new, younger generation coming up behind them who seemed to their eyes to be unfeeling savages (the 13th Generation, also known as Generation X, born 1961-1981; a Nomad archetype):  

"It ain't that pretty at all 
So I'm going to hurl myself against the wall 
'Cause I'd rather feel bad than not feel anything at all

Gonna get a good running start and throw myself at the wall as hard as I can, man

I've been to Paris 
And it ain't that pretty at all 
I've been to Rome 
Guess what? 
I'd like to go back to Paris someday and visit the Louvre Museum 
Get a good running start and hurl myself at the wall 
Going to hurl myself against the wall 
'Cause I'd rather feel bad than feel nothing at all 
And it ain't that pretty at all 
Ain't that pretty at all"

- from "Ain't That Pretty At All" (1982)  

Zevon sums up the end of the Awakening, once and for all, this way:  

"I worked hard, but not for the money
Did my best to please 
I used to think it was funny 
'Til I realized it was just a tease

Don Quixote had his windmills 
Ponce de Leon took his cruise
Took Sinbad seven voyages 
To see that it was all a ruse

(That's why I'm) Looking for the next best thing 
Looking for the next best thing 
I appreciate the best 
But I'm settling for less 
'Cause I'm looking for the next best thing

Looking for the next best thing

All alone on the road to perfection 
At the inspection booth they tried to discourage me 
You can believe what you want--that'll never change it 
You'll have to come around eventually

(And you'll be) Looking for the next best thing 
Looking for the next best thing 
I appreciate the best 
But I'm settling for less
'Cause I'm looking for the next best thing

Looking for the next best thing 
I'm looking for the next best thing."

- "Looking For The Next Best Thing" (1982)  

With the end of the Awakening we entered an Unraveling era (1984-20??), a time when the strong secular institutions built in the High and attacked in the Awakening have been almost completely dismantled and/or discredited.  Individuality is strong, but civic life is almost nonexistent.  People are confident about their inner lives but tend to think that the world is falling apart around them.  In an Unraveling, Prophet generations enter midlife and gradually bring their spiritual values regime into a position of leadership.  They are often criticized, though, for the difference between their current stances when compared to those they had during the Awakening.  The stereotypes of Boomers, for example, changed from hedonism (in the Awakening) to (hypocritical?) austerity (in the Unraveling).  

Zevon, intelligent man that he is, is aware of the contrast, and can connect it with the fragmented and media-driven nature of this era:  

"Everybody's at war these days 
Let's have a mini-surrender
I need some
Sentimental hygiene

Everybody's had to hurt about it
No one wants to live without it 
It's so hard to find it 
Sentimental hygiene

Every night I come home exhausted 
From trying to get along 
I need some 
Sentimental hygiene
Everybody's joining up to fight
For the right to be wrong
I need some
Sentimental hygiene"

- from "Sentimental Hygiene" (1987)  

"Well, I'm gone to Detox Mansion 
Way down on Last Breath Farm 
I've been rakin' leaves with Liza 
Me and Liz clean up the yard

Left my home in Music City 
In the back of a limousine 
Now I'm doin' my own laundry 
And I'm getting those clothes clean

Growin' fond of Detox Mansion 
And this quiet life I lead 
But I'm dying to tell my story 
For all my friends to read

Well, it's tough to be somebody 
And it's hard not to fall apart 
Up here on Rehab Mountain 
We gonna learn these things by heart"

- from "Detox Mansion" (1987)  

Having inaugurated the Unraveling with his "Sentimental Hygiene" album, he then proceeded to describe it in excruciating detail in "Transverse City", a cyberpunk concept album derived from the science-fiction writings of such authors as William Gibson and Thomas Pynchon.  In my opinion, it's his best work, although very different from any of his other albums, and neither fans nor critics seemed particularly impressed.  On the album, he explores such aspects of the Unraveling as consumerism:  

"There's a brand new shopping center seven storys high
There's bound to be a sale or two--something we can buy
There's four floors of parking and we're sure to find a space
We'll spend all the money that the government doesn't take

Down in the mall
I'll be your man
We'll go shopping, babe
It's something we can stand
Down in the mall
We will abide
Up on the escalator
Darling, we will ride

Shopping for a pair of shoes, shopping for a hat
We're buying some of this and we're buying some of that
We'll shop up a storm 'til we can't shop no more
Then we're stopping off at the video store

Down in the mall
I'll be your man
We'll go shopping, babe
It's something we can stand
Down in the mall
We'll be all right
Monday through Saturday
'Til nine o'clock at night

We're buying CDs and we're buying lingerie
We'll put it on a charge account we're never gonna pay
Department store, camera store, tobacco store, appliance store
(Sporting goods, oriental imports)
You buy everything you want and then you want more

Down in the mall
I'll be your man
We'll go shopping, babe
It's something we can stand
Down in the mall
We will abide
Up on the escalator
Darling, we will ride
Down in the mall"

- "Down In The Mall" (1989)  

Or the encroachment of technology:  

"Networking, I'm user friendly 
Networking, I install with ease
Data processed, truly Basic 
I will upload you, you can download me"

- from "Networking" (1989)  

Or the failure of societal infrastructure:  

"It's 5:00 P.M. on a weekday, friend 
There's one of me and two million of them 
The whistle blows and the factories close 
There's a million more commuters on the access roads
The brake lights flash--there's an RV crashed 
I'm in the passing lane going nowhere fast 
The traffic crawls and the engine stalls
I'm stuck on the edge of the urban sprawl

Gridlock 
Up ahead 
There's a line of cars as far as I can see 
Gridlock 
Goin' nowhere
Roll down the window, let me scream

Oh yeah, ain't it a shame 
We're all jammed up at the interchange
The paramedics and the CHP 
Wait impatiently for catastrophes 
I'm spending half my days like this
I might as well be working on the midnight shift
The radio's tuned to the traffic news
And everybody's choking on monoxide fumes"

- from "Gridlock" (1989)  

Or alienation:  

"I want to live alone in the desert 
I want to be like Georgia O'Keefe 
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" (1989)  

"We keep walking away for no reason at all 
For the sake of being free
No one's invested enough of themselves 
To yield to maturity

And the rate of attrition for lovers like us 
Is steadily on the rise
Nobody's in love this year
Nobody wants to try 
Nobody's in love this year
Not even you and I"

- from "Nobody's In Love This Year" (1989)  

Or the feeling that the world is falling apart and there's nothing to rely on:  

"They moved the moon 
While I looked down 
When I looked away 
They changed the stars around

They moved the moon 
I feel so strange 
While I looked down
Everything I depended on
When I looked away 
Has been rearranged
They changed the stars around"

- from "They Moved The Moon" (1989)  

But the centerpiece of the album is the title track, combined Sgt. Pepper-like with the second track.  These two songs sum up everything: 

"Told my little Pollyanna 
There's a place for you and me 
We'll go down to Transverse City 
Life is cheap and death is free 
Past the condensation silos 
Past the all-night trauma stand 
We'll be there before tomorrow 
Pollyanna take my hand

Show us endless neon vistas
Castles made of laser lights 
Take us to the shopping sector 
In the vortex of the night 
Past the shiny mylar towers
Past the ravaged tenements
To a place we can't remember 
For a time we won't forget

Here's the hum of desperation 
Here's the test tube mating call 
Here's the latest carbon cycle 
Here's the clergy of the mall 
Here's the song of shear and torsion 
Here's the bloodbath magazine 
Here's the harvest of contusions 
Here's the narcoleptic dream

Told my little Pollyanna
Here's a place where we can stay 
We have come to see tomorrow 
We have given up today
Down among the dancing quanta 
Everything exists at once 
Up above in Transverse City
Every weekend lasts for months

Here's the hum of desperation 
Here's the test tube mating call 
Here's the latest carbon cycle 
Here's the clergy of the mall
Here's the witness and the victim 
Here's the relatives' remains 
Here's the well-known double helix 
Here's the poisoned waves of grain 
Here's the song of shear and torsion
Here's the bloodbath magazine 
Here's the harvest of contusions 
Here's the narcoleptic dream 
Here's the hum of desperation

(4-Aminobiphenyl, hexachlorobenzene 
Dimethyl sulfate, chloromethyl methylether 
2, 3, 7, 8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-
para-dioxin, carbon disulfide
Dibromochloropane, chlorinated 
benzenes, 2-Nitropropane, pentachlorophenol, 
Benzotrichloride, strontium chromate 
1, 2-Dibromo-3-chloropropane) [note: all these chemical names are chanted over and over again in the background from this point]

I went walking in the wasted city
Started thinking about entropy 
Smelled the wind from the ruined river 
Went home to watch TV

And it's worse when I try to remember
When I think about then and now 
I'd rather see it on the news at eleven
Sit back, and watch it run straight down

Run straight down
Run straight down 
I can see it with my eyes closed 
Run straight down

We've been living in the shadows all our lives 
Where it's stand in line and don't look back and don't look left and don't look right
So we hide our eyes and wonder who'll survive 
Waiting for the night...

Fluorocarbons in the ozone layer 
First the water and the wildlife go 
Pretty soon there's not a creature stirring 
'Cept the robots at the dynamo

And it's worse when I try to remember 
When I think about then and now
I'd rather see it on the news at eleven 
Sit back, and watch it run straight down

Run straight down 
Run straight down 
I can see it with my eyes closed 
Run straight down"

- "Transverse City", "Run Straight Down" (1989)  

Zevon's output after the "Transverse City" album was somewhat mixed - some good songs, some not so good, but nothing particularly of interest generationally.  That changed this year, with the release of his tenth studio album, "Life'll Kill Ya".

Prophet generations are most often known for their spirituality.  Yet Zevon has long been uncomfortable with this topic, and in some ways I'm not sure what to make of it.  Though he's of Jewish ancestry, religion has been most often addressed in his songs in the context of Christianity (usually negatively, or with trepidation):  

"They say Jesus will find you wherever you go
But when he'll come looking for you they don't know
In the meantime keep your profile low..."

- from "Gorilla, You're A Desperado" (1980)  

"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"

- from "The Indifference Of Heaven" (1993)  

"One time I trusted a stranger
'Cause I heard his sweet song 
It was gently enticing me 
But there was something wrong 
And when I turned 
He was gone 
Blinding me 
His song remains reminding me 
He's a bandit and a heartbreaker 
My Jesus was a cross maker

Sweet silver angels over the sea 
Please come down flying low for me

He wages war with the devil 
With a pistol by His side 
He's always chasing him out of windows 
And He won't give him a place to hide 
But he keeps His door 
Open wide
Fighting him
He lights a lamp inviting him 
He's a bandit and a heartbreaker 
My Jesus was a cross maker 
Yeah, Jesus was a cross maker"

- from "Jesus Was A Cross Maker" (written by Judee Sill, 1972)  

When he presents religion positively, it might be some kind of Hindu/pagan mishmash:  

"Hell is only half full 
Room for you and me 
Looking for a new fool 
Who's it gonna be?
It's the Dance of Shiva 
It's the Debutantes ball 
And everyone will be there 
Who's anyone at all

Monkey wash donkey rinse
Going to a party in the center of the earth 
Monkey wash donkey rinse 
Honey, don't you want to go?"

- from "Monkey Wash, Donkey Rinse" (1995)  

Or, of all things, Islam:  

"Everybody's restless and they've got no place to go 
Someone's always trying to tell them 
Something they already know 
So their anger and resentment flow

But don't it make you want to rock and roll 
All night long?
Mohammed's Radio 
I heard somebody singing sweet and soulful 
On the radio
Mohammed's Radio

You know, the Sheriff's got his problems too 
He will surely take them out on you 
In walked the village idiot and his face was all aglow 
He's been up all night listening to Mohammed's Radio

Don't it make you want to rock and roll 
All night long?
Mohammed's Radio 
I heard somebody singing sweet and soulful 
On the radio
Mohammed's Radio

Everybody's desperate; trying to make ends meet 
Work all day, still can't pay the price of gasoline and meat 
Alas, their lives are incomplete

Don't it make you want to rock and roll 
All night long?
Mohammed's Radio
I heard somebody singing sweet and soulful
On the radio
Mohammed's Radio

You've been up all night listening for his drum 
Hoping that the righteous might just, might just, might just come 
I heard the General whisper to his aide-de-camp
"Be watchful for Mohammed's lamp"

Don't it make you want to rock and roll 
All night long?
Mohammed's Radio"

- "Mohammed's Radio" (1976)  

Or even technology:  

"There's a prayer each night that I always pray 
Let the data guide me through every day
And every pulse and every code
Deliver me from the bypass mode"

- from "Networking" (1989)  

But just because it's not Christian doesn't mean Zevon's happy with it:  

"Was it something I did 
In another life? 
I try and try 
But nothing comes out right 
Bad Karma 
Killing me by degrees

I took a wrong turn
On the astral plane 
Now I keep on thinkin' 
My luck is gonna change 
Someday 
Bad Karma 
It's uphill all the way

I can't run
Can't hide
Can't get away
It must be my destiny 
The same thing happens to me every day

Bad Karma 
Coming after me
Bad Karma
Killing me by degrees 
Bad Karma 
Bad Karma"

- from "Bad Karma" (1987)
 

With "Life'll Kill Ya", Zevon is doing two things.  First, he seems to finally have come to terms with spirituality, Christianity in particular:  

"I was in the house when the house burned down 
I met the man with the thorny crown 
I helped Him carry his cross through town 
I was in the house when the house burned down"

- "I Was In The House When The House Burned Down" (1999)
 

He still feels free, though, to approach the subject with Boom-style irreverence, recognizing that the roots of his generation's spiritual aspirations are in the free-love Awakening:  

"I like to think I've earned my reputation 
For rushing in where angels fear to tread 
I'll take you home to meet the congregation 
We'll all get together in my tent 

I make a dirty little religion out of lovin' 
I'll make a dirty little convert out of you 
I make a dirty little religion out of lovin' 
I'll make a dirty little convert out of you 

They treat you like a red-headed stepchild 
And try to keep you nailed to the floor 
Join us for the countdown to the Rapture 
We never turned a sinner from our door 

I make a dirty little religion out of lovin' 
I'll make a dirty little convert out of you 
I make a dirty little religion out of lovin' 
It's a dirty little religion, hallelujah 

Dirty little acolyte 
Dirty little one 
Learn the fundamentals of desire 
Can I get a witness 
To my testament? 
Can I get an amen from the choir? 

I like to think I've earned my reputation 
For trying to take the bull by the horns 
I'll show you where I get my inspiration 
Where we plow and where we plant the corn"

- "Dirty Little Religion" (1999)  

When a Prophet generation tries to institute its new spiritual regime, to replace the old secular order, one of the things they have to do is resacralize all aspects of life, paying attention to them in a new way and including them in their own personal voyages of discovery.  Other generations often criticize them for this, thinking that this practice stems from narcissism or a subconscious belief that nobody's experience is valid except that of the Prophet.  But that's not it:  

"We left Constantinople in a thousand ninety-nine 
To restore the one True Cross was in this heart of mine 
To bring it to Jerusalem and then sail home to Rhodes 
We took that holy ride ourselves to know 
We took that holy ride ourselves to know 

Everyone got famous, everyone got rich 
Everyone went off the rails and ended in the ditch 
But we had to take that long, hard road to see where it would go 
We took that holy ride ourselves to know 
We took that holy ride ourselves to know 

Now if you make a pilgrimage I hope you find your grail 
Be loyal to the ones you leave with even if you fail 
Be chivalrous to strangers you meet along the road 
As you take that holy ride yourselves to know 
You take that holy ride yourselves to know"

- "Ourselves To Know" (1999)  

The other thing Zevon does in this album (although it's clearly buoyed by his new spiritual confidence) is to come to terms, as many others of his generation are currently doing, with the facts of aging and death:  

"You've got an invalid haircut 
It hurts when you smile 
You'd better get out of town 
Before your nickname expires 
It's the kingdom of the spiders 
It's the empire of the ants 
You need a permit to walk around downtown 
You need a license to dance 

Life'll kill ya 
That's what I said 
Life'll kill ya 
Then you'll be dead 
Life'll find ya 
Wherever you go 
Requiescat in pace 
That's all she wrote 

From the President of the United States 
To the lowliest rock and roll star 
The doctor is in and he'll see you now 
He don't care who you are 
Some get the awful, awful diseases 
Some get the knife, some get the gun 
Some get to die in their sleep 
At the age of a hundred and one 

Life'll kill ya 
That's what I said 
Life'll kill ya 
Then you'll be dead 
Life'll find ya 
Wherever you go 
Requiescat in pace 
That's all she wrote 

Maybe you'll go to heaven 
See Uncle Al and Uncle Lou 
Maybe you'll be reincarnated 
Maybe that stuff's true 
If you were good 
Maybe you'll come back as someone nice 
And if you were bad 
Maybe you'll have to pay the price 

Life'll kill ya 
That's what I said 
Life'll kill ya 
Then you'll be dead 
Life'll find ya 
Wherever you go 
Requiescat in pace 
That's all she wrote"

- "Life'll Kill Ya" (1999)  

"Well, I went to the doctor 
I said, "I'm feeling kind of rough" 
He said, "Let me break it to you, son 
Your shit's fucked up." 
I said, "My shit's fucked up? 
Well, I don't see how--" 
He said, "The shit that used to work-- 
Won't work now." 

I had a dream 
Ah shucks, oh well 
Now it's all fucked up 
It's shot to hell 

Yeah, yeah, my shit's fucked up 
It has to happen to the best of us 
The rich folks suffer like the rest of us 
It'll happen to you 

That amazing grace 
Sort of passed you by 
You wake up every day 
And you start to cry 
Yeah, you want to die 
But you just can't quit 
Let me break it on down: 
It's the fucked up shit."

- "My Shit's Fucked Up" (1999)  

"Don't let us get sick 
Don't let us get old 
Don't let us get stupid, all right? 
Just make us be brave 
And make us play nice 
And let us be together tonight 

The sky was on fire 
When I walked to the mill 
To take up the slack in the line 
I thought of my friends 
And the troubles they've had 
To keep me from thinking of mine 

Don't let us get sick 
Don't let us get old 
Don't let us get stupid, all right? 
Just make us be brave 
And make us play nice 
And let us be together tonight 

The moon has a face 
And it smiles on the lake 
And causes the ripples in Time 
I'm lucky to be here 
With someone I like 
Who maketh my spirit to shine 

Don't let us get sick 
Don't let us get old 
Don't let us get stupid, all right? 
Just make us be brave 
And make us play nice 
And let us be together tonight."

- "Don't Let Us Get Sick" (1998)
 

Zevon has written several songs about prominent members of other generations - the G.I. diplomat Philip Habib ("The Envoy"), the Silent musicians Elvis Presley ("Jesus Mentioned", "Porcelain Monkey") and the Everly Brothers ("Frank And Jesse James"), and a nameless 13er labourer ("The Factory").  His portrayals of Boomers, though, have been mostly limited to athletes ("Boom Boom Mancini", "Bill Lee"). 

He's only ever summed up his generation as a whole once, though, as he helped lead them out of the rubble of the Awakening:  

"You've seen him leaning on the streetlight
Listening to some song inside
You've seen him standing by the highway 
Trying to hitch a ride 
Well, they tried so hard to hold him 
Heaven knows how hard they tried 
But he's made up his mind 
He's the restless kind

He's the wild age 
He's the wild age 
He's the wild age

Wild age 
It's the wild age 
And the law can't stop 'em 
No one can stop 'em 
At the wild age

Mostly when the reckless years end 
Something's left to save 
Some of them keep running 
'Til they run straight in their graves

To stay the wild age 
Stay the wild age 
Stay the wild age

Wild age"

- "Wild Age" (1980)
 

And Zevon himself?  

"Someone called Piano Fighter 
I'm a holy roller, I'm a real low rider
Hold me tight, honey, hold me tighter
Then let me go Piano Fighter"

- from "Piano Fighter" (1993)