![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/WarrenZevon_ZevonB.jpg\" "\\"WarrenZevon_ZevonB\\"")
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We have been mired in Warren-World for over a month and unable to scrape Warren Zevon<\/strong>‘s stunning 1976 major label debut album off of our turntable.\u00a0 A large reason for our repeat listening is needing to hear The French Inhaler <\/strong><\/em>over and over and over (a particular shortcoming of vinyl and turntables if you don’t have the 45 rpm single stylee). We humbly opine that The French Inhaler<\/em> is one of the finest songs ever recorded.<\/p>\n Lyrically the song is primarily a kiss-off to “Tule” Livingston (Zevon’s ex-wife and mother of his son Jordan), but also about life and lust in the LA music scene.\u00a0 Evidently, after the breakup of Zevon and Tule, Warren found out that she was sleeping with another musician, and in the liner notes of the reissued album Jordan says that his mother confessed to him before she passed that the song was a “f*** you” to her for sleeping with this other musician.” At the conclusion of the song, Zevon also makes reference to the furor surrounding Norman Mailer’s exploitative Marilyn Monroe biography published in 1973.<\/p>\n Musically, the song is a marvel featuring piano, complex chord changes, strings, and the perfect harmonies of Don Henley<\/strong> and Glenn Frey<\/strong> (a zenith moment they never again approached).\u00a0 We first hear those harmonies at the 1:00 mark, but thankfully they recur throughout the song.\u00a0 The album was produced by Zevon’s pal, Jackson Browne<\/strong>, with support from the best of L.A.’s session players at the time.<\/p>\n One of our lasting musical memories is of catching Zevon at the Roxy in 1978 in support of his masterpiece, “Excitable Boy.” <\/strong>Zevon put on a manic show that night, but we all cringed when he repeatedly jumped up and collapsed to his knees (doing nothing in the process to undermine his mantra:\u00a0 I’ll sleep when I’m dead<\/strong><\/em>).\u00a0 It’s a wonder he survived another 25 years.<\/p>\n Warren Zevon went to sleep permanently on September 7, 2003, aged 56, leaving behind one of the great discographies of all-time and capped off by this great song.\u00a0 Put it on repeat and marvel.<\/p>\n “How’re you going to make your way in the world Where will you go with your scarves and your miracles All these people with no home to go home to But tell me You said you were an actress Loneliness and frustration Written by Warren Zevon 1973 Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp.\/Darkroom Music BMI<\/p>\n Check it out below.<\/p>\n
\nWhen you weren’t cut out for working
\nWhen your fingers are slender and frail
\nHow’re you going to get around
\nIn this sleazy bedroom town
\nIf you don’t put yourself up for sale<\/p>\n
\nWho’s gonna know who you are
\nDrugs and wine and flattering light
\nYou must try it again till you get it right
\nMaybe you’ll end up with someone different every night<\/p>\n
\nThey’d all like to spend the night with you
\nMaybe I would, too<\/p>\n
\nHow’re you going to make your way in the world, woman
\nWhen you weren’t cut out for working
\nAnd you just can’t concentrate
\nAnd you always show up late<\/p>\n
\nYes, I believe you are
\nI thought you’d be a star
\nSo I drank up all the money,
\nYes, I drank up all the money,
\nWith these phonies in this Hollywood bar,
\nThese friends of mine in this Hollywood bar<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nWe both came down with an acute case
\nAnd when the lights came up at two
\nI caught a glimpse of you
\nAnd your face looked like something
\nDeath brought with him in his suitcase
\n<\/strong>
\nYour pretty face
\nIt looked so wasted
\nAnother pretty face
\nDevastated
\nThe French Inhaler
\nHe stamped and mailed her
\n“So long, Norman”
\nShe said, “So long, Norman””<\/p>\n