![]() ![]() "He's a very sensitive guy, a very loving guy. Zevon's soft side has been part of his music ever since such "Excitable Boy"-era songs as "Tenderness on the Block" and "Accidentally Like a Martyr," but it's been obscured by the outlaws, soldiers, madmen and bruisers that populate many of his other tales. "Coming out of, he had this deep soul in his voice that came from the suffering he'd been through." It's as much a promise to remain a part of the ones he loves as a plea to be remembered by them, and in the VH1 documentary they're with Zevon as he sings, with Calderon sitting alongside him on the couch while Ariel and a moist-eyed Barr watch nearby. That tenderness reaches an extraordinary peak on the record's finale, "Keep Me in Your Heart," the first song Zevon began writing after receiving his diagnosis and the last song he sang for the record. Instead of his past outlandishness, though, Zevon sets the tone for "The Wind" by wryly reflecting on his past and present circumstances on the record's opening song, "Dirty Life and Times." He also bares his soul with aching vulnerability on ballads such as "Please Stay," as he sings "we'll never know until we try to find the other side of goodbye," while Emmylou Harris provides gorgeous harmony. There are still chills to be found on "The Wind," as Zevon repeatedly sings "open up" over the chorus of Bob Dylan's "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" and urges on an all-star chorus chanting like a parade of ghouls on "Prison Grove." "This one was a truer-to-life look at all this stuff, without being tongue-in-cheek or sarcastic." "He actually delved into it with a more serious take on it," Calderon reflects. With "The Wind," ironic fascination with death as an abstract concept gave way to grappling with it as an impending certainty. "It's a fascinating topic that he chose because he likes getting emotion out of people, he didn't want to just write some placid love song." ![]() ![]() "Dad's never been one to dwell in the banal," Jordan Zevon says. That gallows humor continued through much of his work, including "Life'll Kill Ya," and "My Ride's Here," on which Zevon imagined himself watching the apocalypse while sitting in a hotel lobby with Jesus Christ and John Wayne. His devilish perspective first drew widespread attention with "Excitable Boy," the record that won him critical praise and an enduring cult following for such twisted tales as "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner" (about a mercenary soldier turned vengeful ghost), and his novelty hit "Werewolves of London." Until now, Zevon's musical approach had taken the form of wildly hilarious, pulp fiction-indebted songs. 1978's "Excitable Boy" went platinum, but 2000's "Life'll Kill Ya' sold just 60,000 copies and 2002's "My Ride's Here" sold just 33,000 copies. While Zevon has always been highly regarded among critics and fellow musicians (Bob Dylan performed several of Zevon's songs during his tour last fall), he was more of a cult figure than a commercial success. ![]()
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