A Generational Analysis of the Lyrics of Warren Zevon 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
Her parents warned her
And my mama couldn't be persuaded
Gambler tried to be a family man
- from 'Mama Couldn't Be Persuaded' (1976) He was, however, devoted to music:
"Mom and Papa bought a Chickering
- from 'Piano Fighter' (1993)
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
She's so many women
Then he agrees he thinks she needs to be free
She's so many women
- "Hasten Down the Wind" (1973)
"Well, I met a girl in West Hollywood
Poor, poor pitiful me
- from "Poor Poor Pitiful Me" (1973) He isn't enjoying the drugs:
"Well, I'm sittin' here playing solitaire
Carmelita
- from "Carmelita" (1972)
The lifestyle in general is having its effects on his personality:
"Big gorilla at the L.A. Zoo
I wish the ape a lot of success
- from "Gorilla, You're a Desperado" (1980) In general he's just tired of everything:
"I was sitting in the Hollywood Hawaiian Hotel
And if California slides into the ocean
Don't the sun look angry through the trees
Still waking up in the mornings with shaking hands
Don't the sun look angry at me
I was sitting in the Hollywood Hawaiian Hotel
- "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
- from "The Hula Hula Boys" (1982) So he's getting out of it:
"Got the license--got the ring
- 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
Some respectable doctor from Beverly Hills
Charlie dealt in pharmaceuticals
Charlie had to take his medicine
- 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
Gonna get a good running start and throw myself at the wall as hard as I can, man
I've been to Paris
- 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
Don Quixote had his windmills
(That's why I'm) Looking for the next best thing
Looking for the next best thing
All alone on the road to perfection
(And you'll be) Looking for the next best thing
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
Everybody's had to hurt about it
Every night I come home exhausted
- from "Sentimental Hygiene" (1987)
"Well, I'm gone to Detox Mansion
Left my home in Music City
Growin' fond of Detox Mansion
Well, it's tough to be somebody
- 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
Down in the mall
Shopping for a pair of shoes, shopping for a hat
Down in the mall
We're buying CDs and we're buying lingerie
Down in the mall
- "Down In The Mall" (1989) Or the encroachment of technology:
"Networking, I'm user friendly
- from "Networking" (1989) Or the failure of societal infrastructure:
"It's 5:00 P.M. on a weekday, friend
Gridlock
Oh yeah, ain't it a shame
- from "Gridlock" (1989) Or alienation:
"I want to live alone in the desert
Splendid Isolation
Michael Jackson in Disneyland
Splendid Isolation
Don't want to wake up with no one beside me
I'm putting tinfoil up on the windows
- "Splendid Isolation" (1989)
"We keep walking away for no reason at all
And the rate of attrition for lovers like us
- 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
They moved the moon
- 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
Show us endless neon vistas
Here's the hum of desperation
Told my little Pollyanna
Here's the hum of desperation
(4-Aminobiphenyl, hexachlorobenzene
I went walking in the wasted city
And it's worse when I try to remember
Run straight down
We've been living in the shadows all our lives
Fluorocarbons in the ozone layer
And it's worse when I try to remember
Run straight down
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".
"They say Jesus will find you wherever you go
- from "Gorilla, You're A Desperado" (1980)
"Time marches on
- from "The Indifference Of Heaven" (1993)
"One time I trusted a stranger
Sweet silver angels over the sea
He wages war with the devil
- 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
Monkey wash donkey rinse
- from "Monkey Wash, Donkey Rinse" (1995) Or, of all things, Islam:
"Everybody's restless and they've got no place to go
But don't it make you want to rock and roll
You know, the Sheriff's got his problems too
Don't it make you want to rock and roll
Everybody's desperate; trying to make ends meet
Don't it make you want to rock and roll
You've been up all night listening for his drum
Don't it make you want to rock and roll
- "Mohammed's Radio" (1976) Or even technology:
"There's a prayer each night that I always pray
- from "Networking" (1989) But just because it's not Christian doesn't mean Zevon's happy with it:
"Was it something I did
I took a wrong turn
I can't run
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 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
I make a dirty little religion out of lovin'
They treat you like a red-headed stepchild
I make a dirty little religion out of lovin'
Dirty little acolyte
I like to think I've earned my reputation
- "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
Everyone got famous, everyone got rich
Now if you make a pilgrimage I hope you find your grail
- "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
Life'll kill ya
From the President of the United States
Life'll kill ya
Maybe you'll go to heaven
Life'll kill ya
- "Life'll Kill Ya" (1999)
"Well, I went to the doctor
I had a dream
Yeah, yeah, my shit's fucked up
That amazing grace
- "My Shit's Fucked Up" (1999)
"Don't let us get sick
The sky was on fire
Don't let us get sick
The moon has a face
Don't let us get sick
- "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
He's the wild age
Wild age
Mostly when the reckless years end
To stay the wild age
Wild age"
- "Wild Age" (1980)
And Zevon himself?
"Someone called Piano Fighter
- from "Piano Fighter" (1993)
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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.
- "Transverse City", "Run Straight Down" (1989)
