Warren Zevon

Warren Zevon: In '93 I was hired as musical director of the horribly short-lived — and, I thought, rather charming — NBC TV series Route 66. The producers found neither my score too weird nor the title song too ironic. Doomed.

Warren Zevon: You have to understand I have a very short attention span.

Warren Zevon: I know my image is supposed to be violent, and lots of cussing and everything, but there's a certain kind of inelegance that gives me the creeps.

Warren Zevon: You have to be awfully sure of yourself to say you'd never do a Gap ad.

Warren Zevon: If I had enemies I might want them to think I was heavily armed and fortified. As opposed to readily available and cheerfully, good naturedly available as we know that I am.

Warren Zevon: I've tried contacts, but I look so much like Nick Nolte without glasses that my songs lose their ironic texture.

Warren Zevon:(regarding his cult status) I think about it in shameful secrecy. The meanings of various celebrity-hood should be thought about as little as possible. That's another advantage of a secondary status in show business. You spend a great deal of time in the real world

Warren Zevon: (In reference to his song Carmelita) One of my earliest songs, a cheerful number about heroin — a substance with which, happily, I had only a brief flirtation and not a tragic love affair. People always told me the Pioneer Chicken stand wasn't on Alvarado Street. Really.

Warren Zevon: (Warren's insight into his mortality) Enjoy every sandwich.

Warren Zevon: I may have made a tactical error in not going to the doctor for 20 years.

Warren Zevon: (When asked about Hanks Williams Jr's cover of Lawyers,Guns and Money) I thought that was great. Now, mind you, I've never heard a cover version [of a Warren Zevon song] I didn't like. I don't understand them folks that object to, or resent, cover versions. By its very nature, somebody singing your song, I think, is delightful. And in some cases, is musically [revelatory]. Ronstadt's version of "Poor Poor Pitiful Me" is vastly better than mine. It's much more like the song. And Hank's version of that song was really great. It was hard for me not to imitate him for a couple of years after that.

Warren Zevon: I think about it in shameful secrecy. The meanings of various celebrity-hood should be thought about as little as possible. That's another advantage of a secondary status in show business. You spend a great deal of time in the real world.

Warren Zevon: It's hard to get too pompous when your trademark is a skull wearing your glasses!

Warren Zevon: (In reference to singing Werewolves of London in concert) I suppose on some deep and profound level, the evening would seem incomplete to me without three minutes of howling.

Warren Zevon: (Regarding the song Mutineer) I intended this song as a gesture of appreciation and affection to my fans, none of whom bought the record.