World's Greatest Air Conditioner

Category: 50 Songs to Hear

Another one of the four songs that grabbed me and refused to let go the first time I heard it.

SONG: Desperados Under the Eaves
ARTIST: Warren Zevon
SONGWRITER: Warren Zevon
ALBUM: Warren Zevon
YEAR/LABEL: 1976, Asylum

Sometimes he came on like a cynic, but he wasn't. He was essentially very spiritual.
(Jon Landau, credited with "shadowboxing" on Warren Zevon)

Most people can tell you two things about Warren Zevon: he made a record right before he died (2003's The Wind, winner of two "sorry-you-died-here-have-a-sympathy-Grammy" awards) and he did "Werewolves of London." If you're lucky, someone might know he wrote Linda Ronstadt's 1978 hit "Poor Poor Pitiful Me." That is truly as pitiful as the character in the song Ronstadt covered, for there was so much more to Zevon's career than a howl-along and a farewell.

In fact, one of the greatest highlights of his career came early in his "well-known" career (he had released an album in 1969 that generated next to no publicity, although one song from the album, "She Quit Me," ended up on the soundtrack to Midnight Cowboy). In 1976 Zevon released his first album thanks to the production and intervention with the record label by his dear friend Jackson Browne. The album was hailed as a masterpiece for any album, let alone a debut. A number of snogs from the album were covered by Ronstadt (including "Hasten Down the Wind," the title track of one of her albums), and "Carmelita" has seen covers by artists as diverse as Flaco Jimenez and Dwight Yoakam to Willy DeVille.

The star of the album, however, is the last track, "Desperados Under the Eaves." The song stands as a testimony to Zevon's varying songwriting styles. The song is funny, sad, desperate, cynical, and philosophical -- all in one neat five-minute package. In the process, Zevon created a crowning moment not only of his career but for all of the 1970s.

The song begins with an orchestrated version of the opening music of the album's first song, "Frank and Jesse James" (a song as much about the Everly Brothers as the two outlaws). This time, however, Zevon is not "on a small Missouri farm" but in "the Hollywood Hawaiian Hotel." He begins with a threat and a promise: "all the salty margaritas in Los Angeles, I'm gonna drink 'em up."

Zevon's next line is one for the ages: "And if California slides into the ocean like the mystics and statistics say it will, I predict this hotel will be standing until I pay my bill." There are comedians who cannot write a line that funny, and there are philosophers who cannot utter something that profound. Zevon managed to do both without blinking.

The marvelous lines didn't end there, however, because in the next verse Zevon declared, "Except in dreams you're never really free," yet more words of wisdom from a man who, at the time, was just 28 years old. His search for "a girl who understands me" will go on, but as he continues he is back at the Hollywood Hawaiian Hotel where he began. This time, instead of "staring in my empty coffee cup" as he was at the song's beginning, it is the hum of the air conditioner that has him captivated.

The conclusion of the song transfers the sound the air conditioner is making out of Zevon's head and into our ears, and the results are stunning. "It went, mmm, mmm, mmm," Zevon sang, putting a lovely melody to the hum. As the song continues, the air conditioner's noise increases in beauty, complete with orchestration and backing vocals. Finally something in the machine is telling us to "look away down Gower Avenue" while the air conditioner continues to sing. It will make you laugh if you think about how overblown the hum of the air conditioner is presented. If not, just enjoy some of the most incredible music put on record. Zevon wanted to write a symphony, and this is an indication of what may have been.

The follow-up album, Excitable Boy, was Zevon's biggest selling album (eventually selling over a million copies). Unfortunately, despite a number of outstanding albums and glowing reviews, Zevon never had another successful album until his swan song, The Wind, released just twelve days before mesothelioma claimed his life at the age of 56. The music he left behind stands the test of time, with this gem ranking high on the list of his greatest accomplishments.

OTHER WARREN ZEVON MUSIC TO INVESTIGATE:

The entire Life'll Kill Ya album -- sounding almost prophetic in hindsight, this album that was released two years before Zevon's diagnosis of terminal cancer featured some of his greatest work.
The entire Mr. Bad Example album -- an album that ran the gamut from Zevon's stab at polka (the title track) to country ("Heartache Spoken Here," with background vocals by Dwight Yoakam), and featuring "Searching for a Heart," which contains David Letterman's favorite line: "they say love conquers all, you can't start it like a car, you can't stop it with a gun."
"Accidentally Like a Martyr" (from Excitable Boy) -- a song written about his estrangement from wife Crystal (author of the Zevon biography) that was the highlight of Zevon's best-selling album.
"Bed of Coals" (from Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School) -- a great ballad co-written with T-Bone Burnett (yes, the producer) that contains one of Zevon's best lines: "I'm too old to die young and too young to die now."
"Detox Mansion" (from Sentimental Hygiene) -- Zevon had the ability to laugh at the most serious things, including his own bouts with the bottle. Here he talks about "raking leaves with Liza" while he receives "therapy and lectures" while arranging for the afternoon golf outing.
"The Hula Hula Boys" (from The Envoy) -- infidelity in Maui that will leave you laughing.
"Charlie's Medicine" (from The Envoy) -- one of Zevon's most powerful songs about a drug dealer who meets his end at the hands of "some respectible doctor from Beverly Hills."

PREVIOUS SONGS:
(Country)
Down to the River to Pray
Don't Let the Stars Get in Your Eyeballs
A Death in the Family
Dark as a Dungeon
Bottomless Well

(Rock)
Crossing Muddy Waters
Cliffs of Dooneen
Bruised Orange (Chain of Sorrow)
Baby Mine