Most people don't get the opportunity to attend their own wake. As Jeff Goldblum so famously noted in "The Big Chill," "they throw a great party for you on the one day they know you can't come." However, Warren Zevon's wake lasted for several months, and he was there for every day of it as he recorded his final album "The Wind."
When he was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer last October, he made the decision to record as much new material as possible before he died and to spend his time in the studio with his friends. So Bruce Springsteen, The Eagles, Ry Cooder, Emmylou Harris, Jackson Browne, Tom Petty, Dwight Yoakam and many others turned out not to pay their final respects to Zevon, but to help their very-much-alive friend put an exclamation point on the end of a long and great career.
As a result, "The Wind" is not nearly as somber an album as would expect from a dying man. But then, Warren Zevon has always had his own unique slant on death. This is an artist who has written songs about death at the hands of sharply dressed werewolves, decapitated mercenaries and hockey players among other odd characters. On this album, his sly attitude is still intact when writing about his own death.
On a rip-roaring duet with Springsteen called "Disorder in the House," he enthusiastically sings, "I just got my paycheck/I'm gonna paint the whole town grey/Whether it's a night in Paris/Or a Fresno matinee/It's the home of the brave/And the land of the free/Where the less you know, the better off you'll be." When those words are topped off with a scorching guitar solo from The Boss, it's clear that Zevon wasn't necessarily taking death lightly, but that he was going to have fun with it.
There are also songs with a dose of reality that are equally compelling. Though Bob Dylan's "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" has been covered many times over the years, Zevon finds a way to make the song his own. There is a poignant moment when Cooder is playing stunningly beautiful slide guitar, and The Eagles are singing pitch-perfect harmonies as Zevon ad-libs and begs for the door to "open up." In that moment, Zevon drops the "Excitable Boy" persona and lets the listener in on his personal trials.
The same can be said for "Prison Grove." Featuring a haunting, echo-laden guitar riff, it is the account of a prisoner being led to the gallows, perhaps as a metaphor for its author's own slow and ongoing death. When Zevon sings "Iron will, hard as rock/Hold me up for the fateful knock/When they walk me down in a mortal lock/Down on prison grove," there is a resolve in his voice that most have never heard before. The track builds to a powerful climax as an all-star chorus wails a dirge-like melody with Zevon defiantly shouting "Come on!" almost as if he's staring the grim reaper in the face and sneering, "You don't scare me." It shows just one more facet of Zevon's ordeal and it's one of the album's best cuts.
But not all of the songs deal with Zevon's health directly. "Numb as a Statue" is an amusing tune that sounds the most like his vintage material. With a trademark Zevon piano hook and more great guitar work from Cooder, it tells the story of someone who wants to "beg borrow or steal some feelings from you/So I can have some feelings, too."
"Rub Me Raw" is a tough, slow blues stomp featuring Joe Walsh playing his guitar like it's a melodic chainsaw, as he always has since his early days in The James Gang.
"Please Stay" is a plea to a loved one that's every bit as simple as its title but features beautiful harmony vocals from Emmylou Harris and a sparse yet soulful sax solo by Gil Bernal.
There are a few tracks that are a little bland in comparison to the rest of the album. Love songs have never been Zevon's strong suit and so "She's Too Good for Me" comes across as rather nondescript. "The Rest of the Night" could be a great party song in the hands of AC/DC, but Zevon's voice and arrangement can't back up its boisterous lyrics.
On the whole, this is a good collection of songs and a fitting epilogue to Zevon's already great catalogue. In many ways, "The Wind" truly is a wake. It's part celebration, part sobriety and all a testament to the best aspects of its subject.
When Zevon was diagnosed, he was in the middle of working on his previous album, which he eventually titled "My Ride's Here." I'm glad they held the car for him so he could make one final and eloquent farewell.
