Are there any recording artists you just can’t listen too?

@lordmelton “his humour is very dark”

Zevon and Monty

l was drawing a line with both these two sharing similar ironic common ground.

In the UK the two most requested songs played during off beat funeral ceremonies are :-

Warren Zevon’s…….. I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead.

Monty Pyhon’s….Look on the Bright Side of Life.

I call the latter “dark and macabre” as it is sung by crucified characters in “Monty Python’s Life Of Brian”. Both songs were written quite close together 1976 & 1979

I recall quite some time ago (before I owned a PC) hearing a somewhat cryptic story about a package that Hunter Thompson gave to Warren Zevon to deliver to Jessie (The Body) Ventura at his (Ventura’s) gubernatorial inauguration (Reform Party, Mn).  With my interest somewhat recently reinvigorated, I just did a cursory search on that topic, but came up with zilch. 

However, I was not surprised at all to learn that Hunter Thompson and Warren Zevon were friends.

It appears that Warren Zevon (two years older than Bruce) did not enlist nor was he drafted into the military.  The author of one article on the internet surmises that:

"Given his constant involvement in the music industry from a young age, combined with his personal struggles with addiction and mental health, it is highly improbable that Zevon would have been able to successfully navigate the rigorous demands of military service. He was more occupied with writing songs, touring, and battling his demons than with any potential military career."

@immatthewj 

”battling his demons” “personal struggles with addiction and mental health”

It was for the best he did not enter the military. One less nutter trained to use a gun.

Far better to have channeled his thoughts into words and music. That possibly was a stabilising influence and have helped to keep him on the rails. Just saying…..

Could he have been borderline bi-polar? That may explain the extreme weirdness within some of the material he wrote. I had a bi-polar stepson who, when off his medication could act completely out of character. He would change into a Mr. Hyde for weeks, writing strange poems and drawings until he was stablised, and then returned back into the real world again.

@mylogic , I am simply making an observation and not being at all judgmental.  

@immatthewj 

@lordmelton 

Thank to you both for introducing me to Warren Zevon. A recording artist l had no knowledge about previously.

l specialise in film soundtracks as l had a cinema background in the 70s and 80s. I discovered today that a song he wrote appeared in “Midnight Cowboy”. “She Quit Me” went through a gender change and became “He Quit Me” (“He Quit Me Man” on the record, a misprint l believe) and was sung by Leslie Miller.

The original soundtrack album by John Barry was the first of a kind, mixing orchestral music with original songs by other artists. It set a new trend in film music and a new title of “music supervision”. This covered the film score and the contempory music chosen by the “dramatic score” composer. The songs were intended to set a time frame within the film. John Barry was newly credited on the LP for a first time as “Music Supervision by John Barry”

l mention this as Warren Zevon kind of made a another piece of history contributing to a new film soundtrack concept. And also to put the information out there about “He Quit Me”