Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Synchronicity

A productive afternoon writing the book – will finish another chapter tonight or tomorrow morning, and three more are nearly there. I had Warren Zevon’s album I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead on loud. Usually it’s classical music, pianissimo, but I needed something to drown out the industrial-strength lawnmower at the high school over the fence. About three o’clock I took a break and went to Facebook, as one does. Francis Wheen in England had posted less than a minute earlier and I’m sure he won’t mind me quoting this:
Yes it’s four in the mornin’ and once more the dawnin’ just woke up the wanting in me – the wanting of a first-class ticket on the Nodland Express. No chance of that while we have all the world’s starlings nesting in our eaves. Bloody desperadoes...
followed by a YouTube clip of Warren Zevon’s “Desperadoes Under the Eaves”, the song that was belting out in my office right at that moment. 

So here is Hank Snow with “Four in the Morning”:

2 comments:

Chad Taylor said...

The Eagles sing backing vocals on 'Desperados Under The Eaves.' When they came into the studio they asked Zevon if he wanted them to do it as a parody and he said, no, no, just do it like The Eagles...

Stephen Stratford said...

Listening to the song again, of course it's them. The Eagles did sterling work for Randy Newman on Little Criminals, probably about the same time.

I did like listening to the Zevon greatest hits again and thinking, that sounds like Neil Young on the solo of Sentimental Hygiene. It was. And that sounds like David Gilmour on Run Straight Down but it can't be. It was. He always had excellent collaborators. Where would LA rock be without David Lindley?