Accidentally like a martyr : the tortured art of Warren Zevon

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Title:

Accidentally like a martyr : the tortured art of Warren Zevon

Author:

Campion, James, 1962- author.

ISBN:

9781617136726

Physical Description:

xvii, 270 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Personal Subject:

Zevon, Warren.

Subject Term:

Rock musicians -- United States -- Biography.

Rock music -- United States -- History and criticism.

Summary:

(Book). Warren Zevon songs are like chapters in a great American novel. Its story lies in the heart of his and our psyche. The lines are blurred. We never seem to know if we are looking in a mirror or peering through a window; we only know that when we listen we see something . The music sets the scene his voice a striking baritone, its narrator our guide through a labyrinth of harrowing narratives. The plot unfolds without subtlety; each musical and lyrical arc awakens imagination. In Accidentally Like a Martyr: The Tortured Art of Warren Zevon , music journalist James Campion presents 13 essays on seminal Zevon songs and albums that provide context to the themes, inspirations, and influence of one of America's most literate songwriters. In-depth interviews with Zevon's friends and colleagues provide first-person accounts of how the music was lived, composed, recorded, and performed. Longtime fans of this most uniquely tortured artist, as well as those who want to discover his work for the first time, will get inside the mind, talent, and legacy of the wildly passionate Excitable Boy.

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Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... Stillwater Public Library	782.42166 CAM	Searching... Unknown

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Author Notes

James Campion is a contributing editor at the Aquarian Weekly and the author of six books, including two on music. He lives with his wife, Erin, their daughter, Scarlet, three cats, and a gaggle of wild turkey in the mountains of New Jersey.

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Drawing on interviews with singer-songwriter Warren Zevon's family, friends, and industry associates, as well as on secondary resources, journalist Campion explores 10 songs and three albums that he believes offer the best insight into Zevon's life and art. Campion observes Zevon's brilliance in the arrangement of songs on his 1976 album Warren Zevon, in which the sweet ballad "Hasten Down the Wind" leads directly into the bitter "Poor Poor Pitiful Me" (at that point, Campion writes, there's a "vulnerability completely absent in the ensuing songs"). Zevon's album Sentimental Hygiene (1987) came at the end of a period of the singer's reclusion and alcohol abuse; it was his first straight-ahead rock album and it delivered stinging indictments of what he believed was a corporate, greedy music business. Zevon's "Desperadoes Under the Eaves," meanwhile, is a satire of the Eagles' song "Desperado" and also an homage to Béla Bartók. Campion writes, quoting Zevon's daughter Ariel, "He was a musician through and through... [music] was his means of expressing his innermost, truest insights and feelings." Campion's adoring book will speak mostly to Zevon's fans, and will encourage them to listen to his music anew. (June) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Booklist Review

No one quite wrote songs like Warren Zevon. The deep, rich baritone was among his most striking features, along with his distinctive songwriting: dark and light, violent and gentle, sardonic and playful. As Campion notes, this is not a biography, nor is it a discussion of the entire Zevon songbook. Rather, Campion focuses on 10 songs and three albums that, in his opinion, best exemplify Zevon's life and art. A few of the songs are well known (Poor Poor Pitiful Me, Excitable Boy, Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School, Mohammed's Radio); others are the purview of Zevon diehards (Desperados under the Eaves, The Indifference of Heaven). Examining these songs and albums allows Campion to discuss aspects of Zevon's life (including his alcoholism), themes (his obsession with death, his fondness for handguns), his influences (Raymond Chandler, Martin Amis), and the influence he had on other musicians (especially the Eagles, but also Bruce Springsteen). Campion concludes with The Wind, Zevon's final album, released in August 2003, two weeks before his death, which features the poignant Keep Me in Your Heart. A must for Zevon fans.--June Sawyers Copyright 2018 Booklist

Introduction	p. xi
"Desperados under the Eaves"	p. 1
"Studebaker"	p. 19
"Poor Poor Pitiful Me"	p. 35
Excitable Boy	p. 51
"Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School" (interludes and symphony)	p. 77
"Mokammed's Radio" (live)	p. 97
"Ain't That Pretty at All"	p. 115
Sentimental Hygiene	p. 131
"Splendid Isolation"	p. 153
"Searching for a Heart"	p. 167
"The Indifference of Heaven"	p. 179
"Mu Rides Here"	p. 193
The Wind	p. 213
Backs Turned Looking Down the Path	p. 237
Acknowledgments	p. 243
Sources	p. 247
Index	p. 253
Permissions	p. 267

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Publisher's Weekly Review

Booklist Review

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