Hostage-O

All you have to do is ask, I'll be happy to say yes

 

I must confess, the song that came up on shuffle was not this one. The one that did come up is also included at the bottom of this post.

When it comes to Warren Zevon there is a good chance that you will hit one of his songs at least once every hour on my iPod. I'm a huge fan and the stories I can tell about my relationship with his music would take me hours to relate.

Let me try to be brief.

I've heard Warren play on several occasions. I've been a fan of his through his ups and downs. I bought cassettes in bargain bins, albums the day they came out when I'm pretty sure no one knew he even had new music, I've followed his career up until the day he passed away of mesothelioma. I believe he was a troubled genius who was destined not to be realized in his time. I was in the second row for his last live performance on the Late Show with David Letterman, one in which he was the only guest. If you slow the VH1 special down real slow, you'll see me at the backstage door standing in the rain with less than a dozen people waiting to shake his hand.

Why the change in song from what came up on shuffle?

As I was searching YouTube for videos I happened to come across this one which happens to be from the Theater of Living Arts in Philadelphia and I noticed the date was March 17, 2000 (St. Patty's Day) and I realized that I was at this show.

The TLA was an old movie theater that they had ripped the seats out of. It was not all that nice at the time (they have since renovated it and made it a little nicer). At the time there were no seats, tables, or waitress service. You just kinda stood around and waited for the act. My wife (at the time) and I met friends there and got there early enough to stand two feet from Warren. He has a long introduction to this song as it is his sequel to Poor Poor Pitiful Me.

I'm amazed at how quiet it was during the song.

I remember that night he did a great version of Hand of Fate from the Rolling Stones. The show was outstanding and I will never forget it.

Pretty cool to stumble onto this audio.

Here's the video of the song that actually came up on shuffle...which was written about David Crosby...


 
Here's Warren's wiki page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Zevon
 
and his official page where you can sign a petition to get him into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame:
http://www.warrenzevon.com/
 
When asked by Letterman what he had learned in his battle with terminal cancer, Warren replied "Enjoy every sandwich."
 
I agree.