Before taking a break to read the last Harry Potter, I finally dug into this biography of the great Warren Zevon …
and, since finishing it, I've been playing a lot of Zevon CDs to remind me what I loved about the guy.
It's basically an oral history assembled from interviews by Zevon's ex-wife Crystal (along with excerpts from Warren's journal). And "I'll Sleep" is certainly an unvarnished look at Zevon — the drinking, the drugs, the fights, the guns, the chronic infidelity, the meanness and selfishness to many, the closeness and warmth with a few.
The book would have been better served by an index and some closer checking of names. (Boudleaux Bryant appears as "Boodle O'Bryant," for instance.) But it certainly covers all sides, in exhausting detail, naming a lot of names albeit it somewhat selectively. (Girlfriends like Kim Lankford and Eleanor Mondale are identified by name, but one semi-known GF is identified only as a Philadelphia DJ; judging from other accounts, that's Anita Gevinson, who a couple of years ago was reportedly working on her own book about her life and her famous beaux.)
Crystal Zevon also serves as one of the voices in the book, as do his son Jordan and daughter Ariel, and they don't hide from the pain Warren could cause. When he knew he was dying, Warren ended 17 years of sobriety with a deep fall back into boozing; on his last Christmas Eve, he was drunk — as well as smoking around his pregnant daughter.
Yet we've all done bad things in our life; I have a list of unforgivable acts I've committed. So, as with so many artists, there comes a point with Zevon where you have to separate the person from the art. Hence the playing of the CDs.
They don't excuse or forgive a single thing that Warren Zevon did, of course. But they include admirable work across the years, not only the great early songs but later things like "I Was in the House When the House Burned Down," "My (Bleep)'s (Bleep)ed Up," "Life'll Kill Ya" and one that always gets to me: "Keep Me in Your Heart." I could take my epitaph from that one.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I enjoyed the book a great deal, and I felt that the way it was laid out, with various opinions of those close to him and those working with him, gave the story much more depth, and also involved the reader to the point of comparing thoughts and takes on events from different perspectives and allowing us to judge them as far as their indiv. takes on Warren's antics–which were, after all just their reflections, opinions and memories, perhaps not gospel truth.
Your review failed to mention so many of the positive things that Warren's friends remembered about him..this book was not just littered with negative reflections…if anything it so accurately describes what alcoholism and addiction can do to anyone that is afflicted with it. If he slipped back into drinking at the end of his life…it just gives credit to the difficult struggle it was for him to remain sober for so many years, which was monumental for a guy like Zevon. His family and friends seemed to understand this, however, you did not.
You additionally failed to mention that Warren had achieved a most valuable and edifying thing–he gained the admiration of those that were in the entertainment business, his peers…stars…and many other high end musicians, songwriters and authors he admired and who often referred to him as a wonderful person and a very talented genius–this said in the world of Hollywood where backstabbing is the norm…in my opinion..the amazing roster of talented peers that admired him is worth more than world wide stardom and packing huge arenas, and for you…pointing out misspellings and the lack of names mentioned…to me says that you should stick to the Harry Potter series…with fiction and fantasy..Warren's life was a real life..ups and downs..regrets, mistakes and trying to make up for them….but above all…he was genius and often gave himself very little credit.
I listened, as you did, to many of his CD’s after reading this book, but not to remind myself of why I liked him in the first place, or to expel the thoughts that he was less than a desirable person..it was because the book made him a real person, and the songs took on even more meaning than they had previously.
Thanks for the comment. I love Zevon's work as a musician, but the book still disillusioned me about Zevon the person. As a fan, I suppose I expected better of him. But, as I also said in the post, we have to be able to separate the artist from the art, and Zevon's art holds up well. As for pointing out errors and omissions in the book, I have done that routinely with other books; there's a permanence to a book that should demand that it is as close to error-free as possible, and user-friendly.