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* MundaneMadeAwesome: "The Envoy" sings about [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_C._Habib a diplomat]] in a way that makes him sound like the main character of an action movie.
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Long Title is a disambig, and Useful Notes can't be used as tropes.


* LongTitle:
** "Backs Turned, Looking Down the Path"
** "Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School"
** "For My Next Trick, I'll Need a Volunteer"
** "Looking for the Next Best Thing"
** "Even a Dog Can Shake Hands"
** "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner"
** "Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead"
** "Something Bad Happened to a Clown"
** "I Was in the House When the House Burned Down"
** "You're a Whole Different Person When You're Scared"
* UsefulNotes/LosAngeles: "Join Me in L.A." is just the start.
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** Of heroic proportions. In his final appearance on Letterman, having discussed the cancer diagnosis, the host said "To me, you look and seem remarkably healthy." Zevon's reply: "Well, don't be fooled."

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** Of heroic proportions. In his final appearance on Letterman, having discussed the cancer diagnosis, the host said "To me, you look and seem remarkably healthy." Zevon's reply: "Well, don't be fooled.fooled by cosmetics."
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* ArtisticLicenseHistory: A very mild case in "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner." The lyrics state, "through '66 and 7, they fought the Congo War" and describes Roland and his comrades battling the Bantu, but the Congolese Civil War was officially over by 1965. The fighting of the subsequent few years in Stanleyville was a mercenary-led uprising by the former Katangese Gendarmerie, which was made up primarily of the Bazela and Luba peoples.

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* ArtisticLicenseHistory: A very mild case in "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner." The lyrics state, "through '66 sixty-six and 7, seven, they fought the Congo War" and describes Roland and his comrades battling the Bantu, but the Congolese Civil War was officially over by 1965. The fighting of the subsequent few years in Stanleyville was a mercenary-led uprising by the former Katangese Gendarmerie, which was made up primarily of the Bazela and Luba peoples. Since the song is more about the general mercenary experience and the bloody results of early Western intervention in Central Africa the dates don't matter very much.
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** "My Ride's Here" is ''loaded'' with them. It namedrops UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}}, Creator/JohnWayne, Creator/PercyByssheShelley, Creator/JohnKeats, Creator/LordByron, Creator/JohnMilton, Creator/CharltonHeston, and the Mariott, Hilton, and Westin hotel chains, and references Film/ThreeTenToYuma1957, Film/TheTenCommandments1956, and [[Literature/TheBible the Book of Genesis]]. All in a song lasting less than four minutes.

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** "My Ride's Here" is ''loaded'' with them. It namedrops UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}}, Creator/JohnWayne, Creator/PercyByssheShelley, Creator/JohnKeats, Creator/LordByron, Creator/JohnMilton, Creator/CharltonHeston, and the Mariott, Hilton, and Westin hotel chains, and references Film/ThreeTenToYuma1957, Film/TheTenCommandments1956, and [[Literature/TheBible the Book of Genesis]].Literature/BookOfGenesis. All in a song lasting less than four minutes.
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-->''These young girls won't let me be\\
Lord have mercy on me\\
Woe is me''
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** "Excitable Boy" sounds like a peppy piece of semi-nostalgic 70's pop-rock, but features the subject of the sound engaging in somewhat unpredictable and socially unacceptable acts, which eventually escalates to him raping and killing his date after the junior prom, getting incarcerated in an psychiatric hospital for a decade, and -- upon his release -- proceeding to digging up his victim's grave and building a cage with her bones. All the while, Zevon never once drops his completely straight-faced, matter-of-factly narration despite the increasingly disturbing events being depicted in the song.

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** "Excitable Boy" sounds like a peppy piece of semi-nostalgic 70's pop-rock, but features the subject of the sound song engaging in somewhat unpredictable and socially unacceptable acts, which eventually escalates to him raping and killing his date after the junior prom, getting incarcerated in an psychiatric hospital for a decade, and -- upon his release -- proceeding to digging up his victim's grave and building a cage with her bones. All the while, Zevon never once drops his completely straight-faced, matter-of-factly narration despite the increasingly disturbing events being depicted in the song.
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** "Excitable Boy" sounds like a peppy piece of semi-nostalgic 70's pop-rock, but features the subject of the sound engaging in somewhat unpredictable and socially unacceptable acts, which eventually escalates to him raping and killing his date for the junior prom, getting incarcerated in an psychiatric hospital for a decade, and -- upon his release -- proceeding to digging up said said prom date's grave and building a cage with her bones. All the while, Zevon never once drops his completely straight-faced, matter-of-factly narration despite the increasingly disturbing events being depicted in the song.

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** "Excitable Boy" sounds like a peppy piece of semi-nostalgic 70's pop-rock, but features the subject of the sound engaging in somewhat unpredictable and socially unacceptable acts, which eventually escalates to him raping and killing his date for after the junior prom, getting incarcerated in an psychiatric hospital for a decade, and -- upon his release -- proceeding to digging up said said prom date's his victim's grave and building a cage with her bones. All the while, Zevon never once drops his completely straight-faced, matter-of-factly narration despite the increasingly disturbing events being depicted in the song.

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* LyricalDissonance: "Carmelita" is musically very zippy, even though it's written from the POV of a desperate junkie.

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* LyricalDissonance: Zevon frequently employed BlackComedy in his songs, and speciality was making happy, upbeat-sounding songs, but usually with a sarcastic undertone and/or quite macabre content.
** "Excitable Boy" sounds like a peppy piece of semi-nostalgic 70's pop-rock, but features the subject of the sound engaging in somewhat unpredictable and socially unacceptable acts, which eventually escalates to him raping and killing his date for the junior prom, getting incarcerated in an psychiatric hospital for a decade, and -- upon his release -- proceeding to digging up said said prom date's grave and building a cage with her bones. All the while, Zevon never once drops his completely straight-faced, matter-of-factly narration despite the increasingly disturbing events being depicted in the song.
**
"Carmelita" is musically very zippy, even though it's written from the POV of a desperate junkie.
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In 2002, just as he was in the middle of a commercial and critical comeback while touring for his album ''My Ride's Here'', he was diagnosed with mesothelioma and was given months to live. He recorded the critically acclaimed album ''The Wind'' in 2003, and died a month after its release.

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In 2002, just as he was in the middle of a commercial and critical comeback while touring for his album ''My Ride's Here'', he was diagnosed with mesothelioma and was given months to live. He recorded the critically acclaimed album ''The Wind'' in 2003, and died a month after its release.
release, at the age of 56. His body was cremated, and his ashes were scattered into the Pacific Ocean near Los Angeles.
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* LyricalDissonance: "Carmelita" is musically very zippy, even though it's written from the POV of a desperate junkie.
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** "Hit Somebody:"
--->''He was '''b'''orn in '''B'''ig '''B'''eaver '''b'''y the '''b'''order line . . .''
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** "My Ride's Here" is ''loaded'' with them. It namedrops UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}}, Creator/JohnWayne, Creator/PercyByssheShelley, Creator/JohnKeats, Creator/LordByron, Creator/JohnMilton, Creator/CharltonHeston, and the Mariott and Westin hotel chains, and references Film/ThreeTenToYuma1957, Film/TheTenCommandments1956, and [[Literature/TheBible the Book of Genesis]]. All in a song lasting less than four minutes.

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** "My Ride's Here" is ''loaded'' with them. It namedrops UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}}, Creator/JohnWayne, Creator/PercyByssheShelley, Creator/JohnKeats, Creator/LordByron, Creator/JohnMilton, Creator/CharltonHeston, and the Mariott Mariott, Hilton, and Westin hotel chains, and references Film/ThreeTenToYuma1957, Film/TheTenCommandments1956, and [[Literature/TheBible the Book of Genesis]]. All in a song lasting less than four minutes.
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-->''With [[Film/TheTenCommandments the Tablets of the Law]].''

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-->''With [[Film/TheTenCommandments [[Film/TheTenCommandments1956 the Tablets of the Law]].''



** "My Ride's Here" is ''loaded'' with them. It namedrops UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}}, Creator/JohnWayne, Creator/PercyByssheShelley, Creator/JohnKeats, Creator/LordByron, Creator/JohnMilton, Creator/CharltonHeston, and the Mariott and Westin hotel chains, and references Film/ThreeTenToYuma1957, Film/TheTenCommandments, and [[Literature/TheBible the Book of Genesis]]. All in a song lasting less than four minutes.

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** "My Ride's Here" is ''loaded'' with them. It namedrops UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}}, Creator/JohnWayne, Creator/PercyByssheShelley, Creator/JohnKeats, Creator/LordByron, Creator/JohnMilton, Creator/CharltonHeston, and the Mariott and Westin hotel chains, and references Film/ThreeTenToYuma1957, Film/TheTenCommandments, Film/TheTenCommandments1956, and [[Literature/TheBible the Book of Genesis]]. All in a song lasting less than four minutes.
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I don't even get it.


[[quoteright:350:[[FunnyAneurysmMoment https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Warren_Zevon_2590.jpg]]]]

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[[quoteright:350:[[FunnyAneurysmMoment https://static.[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Warren_Zevon_2590.jpg]]]]jpg]]
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Mailer and Monroe were never married, but he did write the text for a photobook biography of her in the early 70s.


** "The French Inhaler" is a long one to Creator/MarilynMonroe, and the "Norman" mentioned at the end is her ex-husband Creator/NormanMailer.

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** "The French Inhaler" is a long one to Creator/MarilynMonroe, and the "Norman" mentioned at the end is her ex-husband biographer Creator/NormanMailer.

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Dead Artists Are Better is for fictional examples, Posthumous Popularity Potential is for real-life examples. Moving to the YMMV page, along with moving some trivia entries to that page. Cut a reference to his real death under a NRLEP trope.


He's often described as a OneHitWonder, though this isn't actually true. Two of his songs ("Werewolves of London" and a cover of "A Certain Girl") made the Billboard Hot 100 (and "Leave My Monkey Alone" got up to #12 on the Dance/Club list), two of his albums (''A Quiet Normal Life'' and ''The Wind'') went gold, and another (''Excitable Boy'') went platinum. He also won two UsefulNotes/{{Grammy Award}}s [[DeadArtistsAreBetter posthumously]], and several of his songs were CoveredUp by other artists. These days, though, "Werewolves" [[NeverLiveItDown is all anybody remembers]]. He is a reliable feature on lists of 'most underrated artists' or 'artists who died too young'.

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He's often described as a OneHitWonder, though this isn't actually true. Two of his songs ("Werewolves of London" and a cover of "A Certain Girl") made the Billboard Hot 100 (and "Leave My Monkey Alone" got up to #12 on the Dance/Club list), two of his albums (''A Quiet Normal Life'' and ''The Wind'') went gold, and another (''Excitable Boy'') went platinum. He also won two UsefulNotes/{{Grammy Award}}s [[DeadArtistsAreBetter [[PosthumousPopularityPotential posthumously]], and several of his songs were CoveredUp by other artists. These days, though, "Werewolves" [[NeverLiveItDown is all anybody remembers]]. He is a reliable feature on lists of 'most underrated artists' or 'artists who died too young'.



* CreatorBreakdown[=/=]RealLifeWritesThePlot: Zevon was a very personal songwriter. Many of his songs reflect his romantic feelings ("Reconsider Me", "Searching for a Heart"), his issues with drugs and alcohol ("Desperados Under the Eaves", "Trouble Waiting To Happen"), his experiences with Los Angeles and California in general ("Carmelita", most of ''Transverse City'' possibly). Of course, the man had a sense of humor, so this is {{lampshade|hanging}}d frequently (see "Poor Poor Pitiful Me", "Bad Karma", "Mr. Bad Example", etc.).



* DeadArtistsAreBetter: His only Grammys were awarded after his death.



%%* DownerEnding: Many of his songs and his death at 56.

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%%* DownerEnding: Many of his songs and his death at 56.songs.



* NoExportForYou : For ''many'' years, many of Zevon's albums were unavalable in different parts of the world, particularly Europe, for different reasons. Thankfully, this was largely changed in the 2000s when previously rare albums were finally released... ''with bonus tracks''.



* ProductionPosse: They didn't all show up on every album, but you can reasonably expect the following names to show up in the credits: Music/JacksonBrowne, Waddy Wachtel, Jorge Calderón, David Lindley, J.D. Souther, at least one [[Music/{{Eagles}} Eagle]] (usually Glenn Frey, but sometimes almost the entire band), at least one member of Music/FleetwoodMac, and, in the later ones, his son Jordan Zevon.
** Also could apply to his friend David Letterman who always had him on to promote his albums and he was the usual fill in bandleader when Paul Shaffer was sick.
** Oddly enough, a few of the Beach Boys. Most famously his duet with Carl Wilson on "Desperados Under the Eaves", but David Marks and Bruce Johnston also played with him from time to time.



* TechnologyMarchesOn: From "Networking" on 1989's ''Transverse City'':
-->"Networking, I am user friendly\\
Networking, I install with ease\\
Data processed, truly Basic\\
I will upload you, you can download me"

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%%* DrugsAreBad: "Carmelita".

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%%* * DrugsAreBad: "Carmelita"."Carmelita," which deals very frankly with heroin addiction.



* HockeyFight: The focus of "Hit Somebody (The Hockey Song)," unsurprisingly.



** He later toured with the Rock Bottom Remainders, a group otherwise comprised of professional authors, as their token "real musician."

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** He later toured with the Rock Bottom Remainders, a group otherwise comprised of professional authors, as their token "real musician.""[[note]]The group's "official" members have included Creator/StephenKing, Creator/AmyTan, [[Literature/TuesdaysWithMorrie Mitch Albom]] (who also co-wrote Zevon's "Hit Somebody!"), and Creator/DaveBarry. [[BorrowedCatchphrase We are not making this up.]][[/note]]
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Everythings Better With Monkeys has been turned into a disambiguation. Zero Context Examples and examples that don’t fit existing tropes will be removed.


* EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys:
** "Gorilla, You're a Desperado."
** "Leave My Monkey Alone." [[InNameOnly Sorta]].
** "Monkey Wash Donkey Rinse." [[RunningGag Sorta]].
** "Porcelain Monkey." [[RuleOfThree Sorta]].
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* {{Cyberpunk}}: ''Transverse City'' is an acoustic guitar version of this genre, starting with the titular song.

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As usual, you can find the basics at [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Zevon The Other Wiki]].

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\nAs usual, you can find the basics at [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Zevon The Other Wiki]].\n----
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* ''Life'll Kill Ya'' (1999)
* ''My Ride's Here'' (2001)

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* ''Life'll Kill Ya'' (1999)
(2000)
* ''My Ride's Here'' (2001)(2002)

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* DyingMomentOfAwesome: At the end of "Hit Somebody (The Hockey Song)", [[spoiler:Buddy is checked so hard that he dies... but the last thing he sees is the light go off, signalling that he scored the goal he always wanted.]]



* {{Irony}}: "Hit Somebody (The Hockey Song)" is about a hockey player who's drafted to be a goon, but dreams of shooting just one goal. Finally, he gets the chance, and lines up a shot... [[spoiler:and is promptly checked so hard by ''another'' goon that he dies on the ice.]]

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* {{Irony}}: "Hit Somebody (The Hockey Song)" is about a hockey player who's drafted to be a goon, but dreams of shooting just one goal. Finally, he gets the chance, and lines up a shot... [[spoiler:and is promptly checked so hard by ''another'' goon that he dies on the ice. He makes the shot, though.]]
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* RunForTheBorder: "Lawyers, Guns, and Money" sees the protagonist flee from Havana into Honduras to escape the laundry list of problems that he's racked up... but now he's ''stuck'', and is begging his father for the titular legal aid, money, and weapons so he can go home.
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* {{Irony}}: "Hit Somebody (The Hockey Song)" is about a hockey player who's drafted to be a goon, but dreams of shooting just one goal. Finally, he gets the chance, and lines up a shot... [[spoiler:and is promptly checked so hard by ''another'' goon that he dies on the ice.]]
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*** Also, Lee Ho Fook's doesn't sell beef chow mein, so some think it is people after all.

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*** ** Also, Lee Ho Fook's doesn't sell beef chow mein, so some think it is people after all.
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* NoEnding: "Life'll Kill Ya" doesn't ''end'' so much as abruptly ''stop''.

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