History Music / WarrenZevon

** The "Norman" mentioned at the end of "The French Inhaler" is Creator/NormanMailer.

-->''"You better stay away from him,''
-->''He'll rip your lungs out, Jim."''

-->''"Looking for a needle in a haystack,''
-->''[[CaptainObvious It's pretty hard to find]].''
-->''Every dog has his day, Jack;''
-->''I'm still waiting on mine."''

-->''"You said 'I believe the Seraphim will gather up my Pinto,''
-->''And carry me away, Jim, across the San Jacinto.'"''

* EvilVirtues: The protagonist of "Mr. Bad Example" laments that he can't commit ''all'' the deadly sins, because his actions ([[AmoralAttorney going to law school]], founding crooked businesses, etc.) keep him too busy for sloth.

* TheAlledgedCar: "Studebaker" is about a road trip in a car that keeps breaking down.

-->"You better stay away from him,
-->He'll rip your lungs out, Jim."

-->"Looking for a needle in a haystack,
-->[[CaptainObvious It's pretty hard to find]].
-->Every dog has his day, Jack;
-->I'm still waiting on mine."

-->"You said 'I believe the Seraphim will gather up my Pinto,
-->And carry me away, Jim, across the San Jacinto.'"

* EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys: "Gorilla, You're a Desperado".
** Also, "Leave My Monkey Alone" and "Monkey Wash Donkey Rinse". [[InNameOnly Sorta.]]

* [[EvenTheDogIsAshamed Even the Lhasa Apso Seems To Be Ashamed]]
-->[[StudioChatter "I'm gonna let Warren handle that one by himself."]]

* SoloSideProject: Inverted with the Hindu Love Gods - the normally-solo Zevon fronting Music/{{REM}} (who also backed him on his own ''Sentimental Hygeine'' album) on an album of blues standards.

* NoExportForYou : For ''many'' years, many of Zevon's albums were unavaliable 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''.

* DeathSong: "Something Bad Happened to a Clown," among others.
* DeepSouth: "Renegade".
* DownerEnding: Many of his songs and his death at 56.
* DrugsAreBad: "Carmelita".

* HeavyMeta: "Mohammed's Radio", "Johnny Strikes Up the Band", "Piano Fighter".
* TheHermit: The goal in "Splendid Isolation."
* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: "She's Too Good For Me".
* UsefulNotes/IceHockey: "Hit Somebody (The Hockey Song)".

** The ''Stand in the Fire'' live version of "Werewolves of London" has a couple, if only in passing. Some of these are quotable in Zevon fan communities.
--> "You'd better stay from him, he'll rip your lungs out Jim, [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome AND HE'S LOOKING FOR]] [[Music/JamesTaylor JAMES TAYLOR]]."

-->"Sweet home Alabama\\

* DeepSouth: "Renegade"

* DrugsAreBad: "Carmelita"

--->''Some have the speed and the right combinations;''
--->''If you can't take the punches, it don't mean a thing.''
* TheGambler: The title character in "Mama Couldn't Be Persuaded" is discouraged from marrying one, but does anyway. It doesn't turn out well.
** Also, "Seminole Bingo" and "Lawyers, Guns, and Money"
* HeavyMeta: "Mohammed's Radio", "Johnny Strikes Up the Band", "Piano Fighter"

* UsefulNotes/IceHockey: "Hit Somebody (The Hockey Song)"
* LaserGuidedKarma: "Bad Karma"

* LiveAlbum: ''Stand in the Fire'' and ''Learning to Flinch''

* OdeToSobriety: "Detox Mansion"

* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent: In "Werewolves of London" they satisfy their meat cravings at Chinese restaurants.
** Not exclusively. They still [[spoiler:mutilate little old ladies]] and will [[spoiler:rip your lungs out]] if they get the chance. More a matter of a somewhat broader diet than a human-friendly one.
*** Also, [[spoiler:Lee Ho Fook's]] doesn't sell beef chow mein [[spoiler:, so some think it is people after all]]
* {{Outlaw}}: "Frank and Jesse James"

* PullARabbitOutOfMyHat: Mentioned in "For My Next Trick, I'll Need a Volunteer"
* RevenantZombie: The titular character of "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner" returns from the grave to take revenge on "that son-of-a-bitch Van Owen" who took his head, and continues to wander through war-torn places for years after.
* SanitySlippage: "Basket Case"

* SelfTitledAlbum: His 1976 major label debut.
* ShoutOut: "Johnny Strikes Up the Band" is reportedly a tribute to Music/EltonJohn.

** "Excitable Boy" has a disturbing one. The name of the eponymous boy's victim is "Little Susie." Zevon had previously been in the Everly Brothers' road band.

* TheSnarkKnight: 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."

* SomethingBlues: "Tule's Blues", "Rottweiler Blues"

* TakeThat: Zevon may have had a grudge against Music/TalkingHeads. Not only did he title a song "I Was in the House When the House Burned Down", but in his song "The Overdraft" (mocking the Talking Heads's gloomy "The Overload"), the singer is paranoid and on the run much like in the Heads' "Life During Wartime" -- except in Zevon's song, the guy is on the lam [[spoiler:because of a bounced check]].
** The entirety of "Porcelain Monkey" is one against [[Music/ElvisPresley Elvis]] .

* {{Theremin}}: Plays one on "Porcelain Monkey"

* VillainSong: "Mr. Bad Example"
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: "Model Citizen"

!"Dirty Life and Tropes":

* AutoTune: Used on "Genius." Since he was a decent singer on his own, it seems to have been an artistic choice. It works surprisingly well, showing once again that TropesAreNotBad.

* [[MeanCharacterNiceActor Writer of Mean Characters, Nice Songwriter]]: He was very polite to fans.

** "Excitable Boy", perhaps, but "Roland" is hardly comedic, despite the ironic nature of how he settles his score. [[spoiler: Roland's supernaturally reanimated corpse stalks all of Africa for the man who blew his head off. When he finds him, he blows the man's entire BODY away.]]