Warren Zevon was the king of sardonic sharp wit, one of those rare artists who was able to cover the obscene and macabre and yet leave you bobbing along with a smile on your face. The title track from Excitable Boy is a sterling example of this splendid artistry– the song details a young misanthrope whose youthful exuberance and disorderly conduct slowly (but ever so surely) transforms into a tale of brutal savagery as the song progresses. When combined with the beautiful piano, sultry saxophone solos, and soft-rock female backing vocalists singing out their “ooo’s” with carefree glee, you’re transported into a place where the only logical reaction is one of cognitive dissonance. You can’t tell whether you should be enjoying this upbeat song or appalled by the subject matter. That was Zevon’s everlasting gift– his ability to tell a compelling story filled with irredeemable characters that were repulsive and charming all at the same time. His unrelenting love for showing the darker underbelly of life is something that made him truly special, his perspective always filtered through his uniquely cynical world view and delivered with a wry smile. I absolutely love it.
Excitable Boy is a beautiful album in that way, filled with surprises every step of the way that catch you off guard and never land quite in the way you were expecting them to. That gift was brought on by a myriad of Zevon’s life experiences to be sure– he was raised by a father who was a professional gambler who had ties to the Cohen crime family (he was best man at Mickey Cohen’s wedding) and a stay-at-home mother who was a devout Mormon. It’s a childhood upbringing that reads like a movie script and helped develop his innate ability to capture the yin and yang of life all in one single song, his cheerful pessimism shining through in everything he put his hands on. He is certainly missed.
Standout Songs: “Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner”, “Excitable Boy”, “Werewolves of London”, “Lawyers, Guns and Money”
