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Another early composition ("She Quit Me") was included in the soundtrack for the film Midnight Cowboy (1969). He wrote several songs for his White Whale label-mates the Turtles ("Like the Seasons" and "Outside Chance"), though his participation in their recording is unknown. He spent time as a session musician and jingle composer. Zevon turned to a musical career early, including a stretch with high school friend Violet Santangelo as a musical duo called lyme & cybelle (the band name eschewed capitalization). Zevon's parents divorced when he was 16 years old and he soon quit high school and moved from Los Angeles to New York to become a folk singer. By the age of 13, Zevon was an occasional visitor to the home of Igor Stravinsky where he, alongside Robert Craft, briefly studied modern classical music. Warren's mother was from a Mormon family and was of English descent. William worked for years in Cohen's Combination, where he was known as Stumpy Zevon, and was best man at Cohen's first marriage. William was a bookie who handled volume bets and dice games for notorious Los Angeles mobster Mickey Cohen. His father was a Jewish immigrant from Russia, and his original surname was Zivotovsky. Zevon was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Beverly Cope (née Simmons) and William Zevon. 7 Posthumous releases and biographical works.8 Posthumous releases and biographical works.Letterman later performed guest vocals on "Hit Somebody! (The Hockey Song)" with Paul Shaffer and members of the CBS Orchestra on Warren Zevon's My Ride's Here album.
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He was a frequent guest on Late Night with David Letterman and the Late Show with David Letterman. Other well-known songs written by Zevon have been recorded by other artists, including " Poor Poor Pitiful Me" (a huge hit for Linda Ronstadt), "Accidentally Like a Martyr", "Mohammed's Radio", " Carmelita", and "Hasten Down the Wind".Īlong with his own compositions, Zevon recorded or performed occasional covers, including Allen Toussaint's "A Certain Girl", Bob Dylan's " Knockin' on Heaven's Door" and Leonard Cohen's " First We Take Manhattan". His best-known compositions include " Werewolves of London", " Lawyers, Guns and Money", " Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner" and "Johnny Strikes Up the Band", all of which are featured on his third album, Excitable Boy (1978). Zevon's work has often been praised by well-known musicians, including Jackson Browne, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, and Neil Young. He was known for the dark and somewhat outlandish sense of humor in his lyrics. He named the big-game hunter in The Lost World: Jurassic Park "Roland Tembo" as a reference to the song, and then "thought it would be fun to make his nemesis' last name Van Owen, like in the song.Warren William Zevon ( / ˈ z iː v ɒ n / Janu– September 7, 2003) was an American rock singer-songwriter and musician. The song is a favorite of screenwriter David Koepp. Other violent conflicts of the succeeding decade are said to be haunted by Roland, including Ireland, Lebanon, Palestine, and Berkeley, California, and the song concludes with the suggestion that the Patty Hearst controversy was inspired by Roland as well. Afterward, he continues "wandering through the night". Roland becomes the phantom "headless Thompson gunner" and eventually has his revenge, when he catches Van Owen in a Mombasa bar and guns him down. Roland is betrayed and murdered by a fellow mercenary, Van Owen, who blows off his head. He earns a reputation as the greatest Thompson gunner, a reputation that attracts the attention of the CIA. The fictional character Roland is a Norwegian who becomes embroiled in the aftermath of the Nigerian Civil War and Congo Crisis of the 1960s-the lyrics mention a "Congo war" and the years 19, which correspond to the mercenary-led Kisangani Mutinies after the Congo Crisis. Always interested in the darker side of life, Zevon decided to collaborate with Lindell on a song about a mercenary. Zevon met co-writer Lindell in 1973 in Sitges, Spain, where the latter was running a bar, the Dubliner, after a stint working as a mercenary in Africa.