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WARREN ZEVON
My Ride's Here
Arista
Warren Zevon is now fifty-five, and if you want to believe he's
playing out his string, no one can stop you. Nevertheless, My
Ride's Here makes two crucial improvements on Zevon's honorable
2000 Artemis debut, Life'll Kill Ya. First, it rocks harder
(and louder) without stinting on the musicianly colors that have
always redeemed his sessionman whomp. Second, it doesn't dwell much on
his love life, which, after decades of dysfunction, we have the right
to judge a not especially interesting permanent disaster area. And
even when it does--as in "Genius," where a honey in a halter top
dallies with Zevon's barber--My Ride's Here finds metaphors and
fictions that deliver it from being merely therapeutic. This reflects
the structural strategy of most of these lyrics, which boast input
from detective novelist Carl Hiaasen, poet Paul Muldoon, sportswriter
Mitch Albom and the right honorable Hunter S. Thompson: Start with a
recognizable narrative conceit, Lord Byron's luggage or Jesus at the
Marriott, and take it somewhere strange in word or incident. Note,
however, that the sure classic is completely literal. It's about a
hockey goon who finally scores a goal, and it's tweaked rhythmically
by David Letterman, who barks the title just when you need to hear it
again: "Hit Somebody."
Rolling Stone, June 6, 2002
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