Warren Zevon’s acclaimed album, Excitable Boy, was released on January 18, 1978, just six days before his 31st birthday. Zevon would have turned 76 today, but the idiosyncratic singer-songwriter sadly died on September 7, 2003, at age 56 from mesothelioma cancer.
Zevon’s career in music was at times as colorful and adventurous as the characters that appeared in his songs. Born in Chicago on January 24, 1947, Zevon was raised in Fresno, California and by age 16 he had a minor hit song, “Follow Me,” that he recorded with Violet Santangelo, as the duo lyme and cybelle.
Original Beach Boys member Davis Marks heard the song and it led to meeting Zevon in Los Angeles, and by 1967 they were sharing an apartment together. However, it was Marks’ mother who ended up playing a significant role in Zevon’s career. Jo Ann Marks worked at Liberty Records and helped get Zevon’s first album, the unfortunately underwhelming Wanted Dead or Alive, released by the label in 1970.
A few years later, Jo Ann Marks helped connect Zevon with Phil Everly of The Everly Brothers. David Marks recounted how Zevon wound up in Everly’s orbit in the book, I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead: The Dirty Life and Times of Warren Zevon, compiled by Zevon’s ex-wife Crystal Zevon. David Marks recalled:
When [Warren and Crystal’s son] Jordan was about 2, I had gotten them a place in this apartment building on Franklin Avenue that I bought with Beach Boy royalties. My parents managed it. As it happens, that’s also the period when Phil Everly was hanging out with my mom. He liked her because she pretended to be psychic, and Phil was into all that stuff. Plus Phil and my father liked old cars and they refurbished them together. So, my mom introduced Phil to Warren.
During his stint performing with The Everly Brothers, Zevon encountered several musicians that would have a significant influence on his career over the subsequent decade. Primary among those cohorts was guitarist Waddy Wachtel, who after a bit of a rocky start, became a frequent Zevon collaborator and co-produced Excitable Boy, earning several songwriting credits as well.
Zevon’s Everly Era also saw him tour separately with Phil Everly and Don Everly on their respective solo tours. One of the fellow members of Don Everly’s touring band in the early-1970s was a pre-Fleetwood Mac Lindsay Buckingham who by 1975 would begin his stint in the legendary band. Around that time, Zevon was rooming with Buckingham and fellow Fleetwood Mac newcomer, Stevie Nicks in Los Angeles.
Zevon’s stature in the L.A. singer-songwriter scene continued to grow with the release of his self-titled 1976 album that was produced by Jackson Browne. A who’s who of players in the scene contributed to the album with credits going to Buckingham, Nicks, Wachtel and Phil Everly, as well as Bonnie Raitt, Bobby Keys, J.D. Souther, Eagles’ Don Henley and Glenn Frey, The Beach Boys’ Carl Wilson and others.
A similar roster of impressive talent appeared on Zevon’s next album, 1978’s Excitable Boy. Back again were Browne, Wachtel and Souther, along with Linda Rondstadt, Jennifer Barnes and a consortium of outstanding session players like Leland Sklar, Jeff Porcaro, Gary Mallaber, Bob Glaub, Rick Marotta, Danny Kortchmar, Russ Kunkel and Zevon’s longtime collaborator Jorge Calderón.
The Excitable Boy lead single “Werewolves Of London” features a somewhat unexpected rhythm section accompanying Zevon’s piano and Wachtel’s guitars. Fleetwood Mac’s rhythm section – drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie – are the other musicians heard on Zevon’s signature song.
According to Zevon’s website, “Werewolves Of London” originated from a suggestion from Phil Everly:
Phil Everly said, “I’m making another solo album. Why don’t you guys write a song for me – a dance song. Call it, ‘Werewolves Of London.’” I was at LeRoy’s house a few days later, and he was playing that little V-IV-I figure when Waddy walked in. “What are you doing?” he asked, and we answered, “We’re doing the Werewolves of London.” Waddy said, “you mean, Ahhooo – those Werewolves of London?”
“LeRoy” mentioned by Zevon is LeRoy Marinell who with Wachtel is credited with co-writing “Werewolves” with Zevon. The three are said to have volleyed various impromptu verses back and forth that were recorded on a notepad by Crystal Zevon.
In a 2008 interview with Nina Correa, Wachtel explained how Fleetwood and McVie came into the Excitable Boy fold:
We were doing a lot of the record with Russ Kunkel and Bob Glaub, but when we got to “Werewolves,” we tried it with them, and it just didn’t sound right. We got a decent track, but there was something lacking in it. It didn’t sound stupid enough; it sounded cute. Jackson was saying, “It’s really good!” and Warren and I were saying, “No, man, it’s too cute. It’s got to be…heavy.” So we proceeded to try five or six bands after that – Russ and Lee Sklar, Jeff Porcaro and Bob Glaub, Jeff Porcaro and Lee Sklar, Michael Botts on drums, Gary Mallaber on drums, both with different bass players – and it just wasn’t working. It was getting depressing.
Then, and I can’t remember whose idea it was, someone mentioned Mick Fleetwood and John McVie, and I flashed, “That’s it! That’s who can play this fuckin’ song!”
So I called them, because I’d been working with Stevie and Lindsey. They came down, we set ’em up, and we did a take, and then we did a second take. After the second take, I looked at Jackson and said, “That was pretty good, wasn’t it?” “Yeah, that was pretty good, but Mick doesn’t quite have it yet.” Mick says, “Yeah, we don’t have it yet; let’s keep going.”
Well, we kept going until six in the morning! I remember at about five in the morning saying to Mick, “I think we’re done!” and Mick looks at me with that crazy look he gets in his eyes and sort of whispers, “We’re never done, Waddy!” I thought, “Shit, we’ve got a wild one here!”
So we put in another hour, and at about seven in the morning, we were up to about take 59, and I looked at Jackson and said, “Hey Jackson, take two was pretty good, wasn’t it?” He said, “Yeah, let’s hear take two.” We listened to take two, and I said, “Gentlemen, thank you very much!”
I sent everyone away, ’cause I really wanted to work up a great [guitar] solo. I got my sound set up, got a nice bottle of vodka. I said to Dennis Kirk [who helped engineer], “Okay, run the tape!” The solo came up; I played it. I looked at Dennis, I played it back and said, “That’s it!” I didn’t even get to open the vodka! Then I put a harmony on it, and it was finished. The solo took as long as it takes to hear it.
The official “Werewolves Of London” music video features Zevon, Wachtel, guitarist David Landau, bassist Stanley Sheldon and as a last-minute fill-in for the video shoot, Santana drummer Michael Shrieve.
Enjoy every sandwich, and watch the “Werewolves Of London” video below:
