Mix Tape Friday: Excitable Boy

When you love music as much as I do, when much of your life revolves around that passion, you tend to fall in love with a musician or two, someone with whom you feel a connection because of his music and performances.

One of the great loves of my musical life is Warren Zevon. Warren died four years ago today. And so today’s mix tape (actually, two mix tapes) is all Zevon. The first tape includes favorites from Zevon’s catalog; the second tape has covers of his songs and covers he performed.

Interesting mix of folks who covered Warren: The Pixies and The Pretenders, Hank Williams Jr. and Van Dyke Parks, the father/son duo of Bob Dylan and The Wallflowers — even Adam Sandler. Impressive mix of folks who recorded with
Zevon: Neil Young and Bob Dylan, my R.E.M boys, that Eagles crowd, even Emmylou Harris.

Don’t shrug off this mix tape as filler by a one-hit wonder from the mid-1970s; give Warren’s songs a listen. I have cried and laughed and lived a life during the fortysomething minutes of a Zevon album. He was one of the most literate songwriters to spin on my turntable, my CD player, my iPod, one of the best performers I’ve seen on stage. Take the time to listen to the lyrics — some of the best rhymes and lines put to music you’ll ever hear — as well as the intricate piano and guitar.

God, I miss him.




Side A: The Ballads

Warren Zevon: Bill Lee
Warren Zevon: Mohammed’s Radio
Warren Zevon: Genius
Warren Zevon: Desperados Under the Eaves
Warren Zevon: Suzie Lightning
Warren Zevon: Carmelita
Warren Zevon: Please Stay
Warren Zevon: Reconsider Me
Warren Zevon: Accidentally Like a Martyr
Warren Zevon: You Don’t Know What Love Is
Warren Zevon: Searching for a Heart
Warren Zevon: Don’t Let Us Get Sick
Warren Zevon: Keep Me in Your Heart

Side B: The Brawlers

Warren Zevon: I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead
Warren Zevon feat. Neil Young + Peter Buck, Mike Mills, and Bill Berry: Sentimental Hygiene
Warren Zevon feat. Bruce Springsteen: Disorder in the House
Warren Zevon: Ain’t That Pretty at All
Warren Zevon: Lawyers, Guns, and Money
Warren Zevon feat. Peter Buck, Mike Mills, and Bill Berry: Detox Mansion
Warren Zevon: Frank and Jesse James
Warren Zevon: Excitable Boy
Warren Zevon feat. Michael Stipe, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, and Bill Berry: Bad Karma
Warren Zevon: Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner
Warren Zevon: Renegade
Warren Zevon: Play It All Night Long
Warren Zevon feat. David Letterman + The World’s Most Dangerous Band: Hit Somebody (The Hockey Song)
Warren Zevon: My Shit’s Fucked Up
Warren Zevon: Poor Poor Pitiful Me
Warren Zevon: Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead

Side A: He Covers

Warren Zevon: A Certain Girl
Hindu Love Gods: Battleship Chains
Warren Zevon: Back in the High Life Again
Warren Zevon: Cadillac Ranch
Warren Zevon + David Lindley: Casey Jones
Hindu Love Gods: Mannish Boy
Warren Zevon + Jill Sobule: Jackson
Hindu Love Gods: Raspberry Beret
Warren Zevon: Bo Diddley’s a Gunslinger/Bo Diddley
Warren Zevon + R.E.M.: Up on the Floor
Hindu Love Gods: Wang Dang Doodle
Warren Zevon feat. Ariel Zevon: Laissez Moi Tranquille
Warren Zevon: Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door

Hindu Love Gods, in this instance, is Warren Zevon, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, and Bill Berry. It was a band name R.E.M. used a lot in their earlier days when they played surprise shows around Athens.

Side B: They Cover

Grateful Dead: Werewolves of London
Bruce Springsteen: My Ride’s Here
The Pixies: Ain’t That Pretty at All
Hank Williams Jr.: Lawyers, Guns, and Money
Jackson Browne feat. Bonnie Raitt: Poor Poor Pitiful Me
Bob Dylan: Mutineer
Pete Yorn: Splendid Isolation
The Pretenders: Reconsider Me (monitor mix)
Linda Ronstadt: Poor Poor Pitiful Me
Magnolia Electric Co.: Werewolves of London
David Lindley + Ry Cooder: Monkey Wash, Donkey Rinse
Billy Bob Thornton: The Wind
Jill Sobule: Don’t Let Us Get Sick
Jorge Calderon + Jennifer Warnes: Keep Me in Your Heart
Don Henley: Searching for a Heart
The Wallflowers: Lawyers, Guns, and Money
Linda Ronstadt: Hasten Down the Wind
Steve Earle + Reckless Kelly: Reconsider Me
Bob Dylan: Lawyers, Guns, and Money
Adam Sandler: Werewolves of London
Van Dyke Parks: Keep Me in Your Heart

I hope I turned a couple of you into fans.

I published a post about Excitable Boy about a year ago, in case you haven’t had enough of my Zevon gushings.

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