Apparently he was a regular smoker until he quit eight years ago. Bummer. LOS ANGELES (AP) - Singer-songwriter Warren Zevon, best known for quirky hits like "Werewolves in London," has been diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer, a spokeswoman said Thursday. "I'm OK with it," Zevon, 55, said in a statement. "But it'll be a drag if I don't make it until the next James Bond movie comes out." Zevon's more than three-decades long career began with "Wanted Dead or Alive" in 1969. His 1976 album, "Warren Zevon," produced by Jackson Browne, won critical praise, and his career soared with 1978's "Excitable Boy," featuring the single "Werewolves of London," which became his signature song. He ended a five-year recording absence in 2000 with "Life'll Kill Ya." Spokeswoman Diana Baron said Zevon, who was told of the diagnosis by doctors last month, is spending time with his grown children, as well as writing and recording. He'll be in the recording studio next week, she said. Rhino Records will release "Genius: The Best of Warren Zevon" on Oct. 15. Zevon's most recent album, "My Ride's Here," released this year, features contributions from Irish poet Paul Muldoon, journalist Hunter S. Thompson and author Carl Hiaasen, as well as a cameo from talk-show host David Letterman.
I read this in the Chronicle this morning. Gonna listen to "A Quiet Normal Life" when I get home today (on vinyl, of course). So sad...what a tremendous songwriter. CARMELITA (by Warren Zevon) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I hear Mariachi static on my radio And the tubes they glow in the dark And I'm there with her in Ensenada And I'm here in Echo Park Carmelita hold me tighter I think I'm sinking down And I'm all strung out on heroin On the outskirts of town Well, I'm sittin' here playing solitaire With my pearl-handled deck The county won't give me no more methadone And they cut off your welfare check Carmelita hold me tighter I think I'm sinking down And I'm all strung out on heroin On the outskirts of town Well, I pawned my Smith Corona And I went to meet my man He hangs out down on Alvarado Street By the Pioneer chicken stand Carmelita hold me tighter I think I'm sinking down And I'm all strung out on heroin On the outskirts of town Carmelita hold me tighter I think I'm sinking down And I'm all strung out on heroin On the outskirts of town -------------------------------------------------------------------- God, I love those lyrics...RMT
