"Relieve me of the bondage of self"

I should have expected what would happen if I started reading a biography as a way to alleviate, or perhaps illuminate, a rotten mood, especially if that biography is I'll Sleep When I'm Dead: The Dirty Life and Times of Warren Zevon by Crystal Zevon. It is a sad, hilarious, and ultimately harrowing story that left me in tears (but I guess I'm a weepy sod, at that).

At first I thought this was just another one of those lazy biographies, which is made up of snippets of quotations from the subject's friends, and not thoroughly composed and written by one central, controlling, selective intelligence. But in the end this method works, not only because of the connective narrative tissue that Crystal Zevon provides at appropriate times, but also the large amount of text from Warren Zevon's journals. Along the way I learned a lot of facts I might be the only person interested in: that the Turtles recorded "Outside Chance" (as I noted before) since they knew Warren's music from being on the same record label, White Whale, at the time. The title "Werewolves of London" is related to the 1935 Universal horror film, via one of the Everley Brothers. Oh, and Zevon was himself unsure of David Sanborn and his band when he appeared on Nightmusic (a clip which I commented on earlier). And so on.

Zevon's life mirrors my own on so many important levels--booze, books, OCD--that I can't even begin to talk about it. Mon semblable--mon frere, indeed. The end of the book reinforces an important lesson I might have to face someday.

The biggest difference between us is his talent, and I was just happy to learn about songs that do, and will help with these moods.

Don't let us get sick
Don't let us get old
Don't let us get stupid, all right?
Just make us be brave
Make us play nice
And let us be together tonight.