Warren Zevon faced his mortality with the raw reflections of this emotional epitaph. His twelfth and final album was begun as soon as he found out that he had terminal lung cancer. Zevon revealed in his last interview: "I've always been a little doctor-phobic and never have gotten checkups. I had this shortness of breath for a while. One of my best friends is my dentist, Dr. Stan. I used to say, 'If Dr. Stan can't fix it, call 911. I'm done.' I mentioned to him that I had shortness of breath. He said, 'Is it worse when you sleep?' 'Yes.' 'Well, we're going to a cardiologist.' I was lucky; I got all the shocking news in the course of one day. Now I feel like I'm irritating people because I`ve exceeded predictions that I only had a few months... I decided to start recording almost immediately, because it's the only thing I know how to do. It's so engrossing and engaging that it takes your mind off whatever minor business your life is going through...One of the reasons I can't complain about my present circumstances is that I've always written about death. Hemingway said all good stories ended in death, and I write songs about death and violence for some reason. Some of them are based on my upbringing and some are based on my reading habits. We live in a culture where violence is all around us and I found myself writing more songs about violence than romantic subjects. I like to think I have some goodhearted romantic impulses now and then, but for the most part I write a different kind of song...I'm more interested in communicating what meager ideas I think I have about living. I'm interested in saying goodbye to a few people, too...About 25 years ago, Jackson [Browne] said to me, you get by with a little help from your friends. This album I'm doing almost exclusively with my oldest friend Jorge Calderón. We're also working with people I've always wanted to work with like Ry Cooder. Dwight Yoakam is one of my favorite people to sing with because I'm so enraptured with his voice. Billy Bob Thornton has a voice that really blends well with mine, too. Sometimes you can get an emotional resonance from an actor-singer that you might not get from a musician...Everybody thinks the album is called 'Dirty Life and Times', after the first track and the oldest song. But even I am not cavalier enough to leave this world with that sentiment. The album's called 'The Wind', because it figures into one of the important songs of the album that I wrote for my girlfriend Kristen, and because the first song of significance that I wrote was "Hasten Down The Wind" that Linda Ronstadt recorded. The wind's always been my friend...It's gradually getting worse, naturally. There's certain medication that masks the symptoms. But I have no complaints. I expected it to be worse. I asked a friend of mine who's a cancer survivor if she thought I had a good chance of dying with my boots on, and she said yeah. So that's a hope...I have never liked the word "fans" because it seems very self-aggrandizing. I prefer to call them the customers, although that sounds callous. But I don't have anything to say to them that I haven't already said. Writing songs is an act of love. You write songs 'cause you love the subject and want to pass that feeling on. I've always said that songwriting was designed for the inarticulate. [Laughs.] Some songwriters might not agree or comply with that idea, but that's how I feel about it. So I don't have any big farewell speech."
'The Wind' was produced by Jorge Calderón, Noah Scot Snyder, and Warren Zevon. The all-star sessions featured Warren Zevon on vocals, piano, keyboard, acoustic guitar, and electric guitar; Jorge Calderón on acoustic guitar, bass guitar, maracas, tres, Spanish-language vocals, and backing vocals; Don Henley, Jim Keltner, and Steve Gorman on drums; Ry Cooder on guitar and slide guitar; Bruce Springsteen and Brad Davis on electric guitar and backing vocals; Randy Mitchell on slide guitar and backing vocals; Tommy Shaw on 12-string acoustic guitar and backing vocals; David Lindley on lap steel guitar; Joe Walsh on slide guitar; Reggie Hamilton on upright bass; David Lindley on electric saz and backing vocals; Luis Conte on bongos, drums, and percussion; James Raymond on piano; Mike Campbell on electric guitar; Gil Bernal on saxophone; and Billy Bob Thornton, Dwight Yoakam, John Waite, Jackson Browne, T-Bone Burnett, Jordan Zevon, Tom Petty, and Emmylou Harris on backing vocals.
'The Wind' was released just two weeks before Warren succumbed to his illness on September 7, 2003. The album went to number fifty-seven in the UK and number twelve in the US. It won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album.
http://www.warrenzevon.com/
"Disorder in the House" was performed with Bruce Springsteen. It won a Grammy for Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Group or Duo.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACSeVC6umzg
"Numb as a Statue"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oi_lgSJB5jQ
"Keep Me in Your Heart"
"I don't think anybody knows quite what to do when they get the diagnosis. I picked up the guitar and found myself writing this kind of farewell. Instantly I realized I'd found what to do with myself. On reflection it might be a little bit of a "woe is me" song, but it made me realize what I was going to do with the rest of the time. It may be the last song on the album, but it was the first song I wrote."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMTKb-pgxGI
'(Inside) Out' documentary
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIaOHkeQNMk
'The Wind' full album:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCD07591D7B4F6359
1. "Dirty Life and Times" (Zevon) 3:15
2. "Disorder in the House" (Jorge Calderón, Zevon) 4:36
3. "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" (Bob Dylan) 4:05
4. "Numb as a Statue" (Calderón, Zevon) 4:08
5. "She's Too Good for Me" (Zevon) 3:12
6. "Prison Grove" (Calderón, Zevon) 4:51
7. "El Amor de Mi Vida" (Calderón, Zevon) 3:34
8. "The Rest of the Night" (Calderón, Zevon) 4:41
9. "Please Stay" (Zevon) 3:34
10. "Rub Me Raw" (Calderón, Zevon) 5:44
11. "Keep Me in Your Heart" (Calderón, Zevon) 3:28
