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Rating: Attentive music enthusiasts and readers of music magazines will not have missed, over the past year, the tragic story of Warren Zevon and his “The Wind,” released by Artemis Record in 2003. Warren, the renowned singer-songwriter from Chicago, where he was born in '47, began working on the album in the summer of 2002. A few weeks later, he was diagnosed with lung cancer and given only a few months to live. He could have abandoned everything, fallen into despair, or recorded a compassionate musical testament; I would have understood and sympathized. But he didn't. “He chose the harder path, and that made all the difference.” He decided, together with his lifelong friend and producer Jorge Calderon (whose interview is featured in major music magazines for the release of a making-of), to continue with his original idea.
A strong and powerful album of rock, folk, and country, full of pride and dignity. This strength and determination, bequeathed to the album, compelled me to review and recommend this album to you. I confess I'm not an early fan of Zevon, perhaps a late one, and I have to thank a good review and my trusted record store for this sweet discovery at the end of 2003. Moreover, I haven't listened to his old albums yet (so it's hard to make comparisons with previous works), but I've done my research and love “The Wind” viscerally. I hope this suffices to speak with authority and share at least some of my enthusiasm with you.
The first thing that strikes about the album is the rich list of friends who rushed to assist him, with the most notable being Springsteen (his solo in “Disorder in the House” is amazing), Jackson Browne, and Bob Thornton (though the list could go on). I adore the musical vitality of the album, even though country isn't exactly my genre, and the same space is allocated to rock tracks and more folk romantic ballads. Similarly, I'm struck by Warren's words, never tragic, never yielding, filled with the desire to spend the final weeks normally, doing what he always loved: good music.
“Normal” under such circumstances is perhaps the hardest state of existence to live in, and maybe that's the point of the powerful and engaging rock track number 8: “…Why leave now? Let’s party the rest of the night!...”. Among the most beautiful songs are the Dylan cover “Knockin' on Heaven’s Door” and the concluding ballad “Keep Me in Your Heart.” The latter hosts Warren's only poignant request:
“Sometimes when you’re doing simple things around the house
Maybe you’ll think of me and smile…
keep me in your heart for a while…”.
I've been told that despite the two Grammys, it's not the best album of his career; still, it deserves that glory he never sought from history, and at the very least (however small that may be) my 5 stars.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
03 Knockin' on Heaven's Door (04:05)
Mama take this badge off of me, I can't use it anymore
It's getting dark, too dark to see
And I feel I'm knockin on heaven's door
Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door
Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door
Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door
Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door
Mama put my guns in the ground, I can't shoot them anymore
A long black cloud is coming down
And I feel I'm knockin' on heaven's door, hey
Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door
Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door
Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door
Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door
Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door
Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door
Open up, open up, open up, open up, open up
Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door
(open up for me)
Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door
Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door
Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door
It's gettin' dark, to dark to see
(open up, open up, open up, open up...for me)
04 Numb as a Statue (04:08)
I'm numb as a statue
I may have beg, borrow or steal
Some feelings from you
So I can have some feelings too
I'm pale as a ghost
You know what I love about you
That's what I need the most
I'm gonna beg, borrow or steal
So I can have some feelings too
I don't care if it's superficial
You don't have to dig down deep
Just bring enough for the ritual
Get here before I fall asleep
Ain't nothing special
When the present meets the past
I've always taken care of buisness
I've paid my first and last
I'm pale as a ghost
You know what I love about you
That's what I need the most
I'm gonna beg, borrow or steal
So I can have some feelings too
05 She's Too Good for Me (03:12)
I could hold my head up
I could say that I left first
Or I can hang my head and cry
Tell me which is worse
If you go and ask her why
She might say she's not sure
Trust me when I tell you why,
I'm not good enough for her
I want her to be happy
I want her to be free
I want her to be everything
She couldn't be with me
I'd wait here for a thousand years,
If she'd come back to me
I have every thing she wants,
And nothing that she needs
I want her to be happy
I want her to be free
I want her to be everything
She couldn't be with me
I could hold my head up
I could say that I left first
Or I can hang my head and cry
Tell me which is worse
If you go and ask her why
She might say she's not sure
Trust me when I tell you why,
I'm not good enough for her
06 Prison Grove (04:51)
An icy wind burns and scars
Rushes in like a fallen star
Through the narrow space
Between these bars
Looking down on Prison Grove
Dug in, hunkered down
Hours race without a sound
Gonna carry me to where I'm bound
Looking down on Prison Grove
Iron will hard as rock
Hold my up for the fateful knock
When they walk me down in a mortal lock
Out on Prison Grove
Shine on all these broken lives
Shine on
Shine the light on me
Knick Knack Paddy Wack
They say you'll hear your own bones crack
When they bend you back to bible black
Then you'll find your love
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Other reviews
By llawyer
If I leave you it doesn’t mean I love you any less.
It’s a beautiful album. It has moments of intimate sweetness but not only those. It is beautiful and simple. Like wearing a man’s white shirt.
