I'll Sleep When I'm Dead: The Life and Times of Warren Zevon [Paperback]

If you are not a fan (or, as he preferred, a 'customer') already, then this book is probably not the place to start. For those of us who followed his 'career' and stuck with him through the years, then this extraordinary book tells us just about all we need to know about he dirty life and times of Mr Warren Zevon, who was simply the most consistantly fascinating and talented songwriter of the rock era. Quite why he didn't become the star that, say, Bruce Springteen became is, in part, answered by this book.

He wanted to have the whole truth about his life (including 'the ugly stuff') to be published after his death, and his estranged wife, albeit lifelong friend, Crystal Zevon has done the man proud in meeting his wishes. She set about interviewing over 80 friends, collaborators, managers, lovers and relatives and has assembled the book from those direct quotations to present the story in a linear fashion, but from differing viewpoints. Not much is spared the reader; WZ was a man with a ferociously addictive personality, firstly to alcohol and drugs, and then, after giving up drink, to sex, all of which he consumed in Olympian quantities. As he says himself, 'I got to be Jim Morrison a lot longer than he did'.

His problems with relationships are also examined in forensic detail, most poignantly in comments from his children, who had to put up with a father who often ignored them. Thankfully, most of those rifts were healed by the time he died and the story ends with him cradling his twin grandsons a short time before he passed away.

If you don't know the man's work, then I urge you to discover it; almost uniquely, there are no poor albums in his discography, so dive in with confidence. Then this book will tell you all the rest you need to know.

This is a frequently uncomfortable read, but those of us familiar with his work and the rumours of his lifestyle will not be surprised by that. I doubt there has been any other rock biography quite like this, or any other subject who could have inspired it.

I was really looking forward to this book but it has turned out to be quite a let down.

Sorry this is a long review but I wanted to justify my view to other Zevon fans. If you don't have time to read all of my thoughts just cut to my closing remarks at the end.

The book has lots of details for sure and numerous contributors. However the details are often not of the sort of things you want to hear and the contributors are all too frequently folks you have never heard of (granted there are some big names making brief contributions too - Carl Hiaasen, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty etc).

Overall the book makes for a wearing read with very few uplifting or amususing moments. The bulk of the book covers Warren's drinking - or rather lists times when he was drunk and (very) badly behaved. Sadly while him being a drunk may be an unavoidable fact, it seems a shame that this should be the only real focus of a book like this.

There seems no doubt that his former wife was very badly treated (both phsically and mentally) by Warren and as such she has a slanted view of the man for good reason. However It becomes wearing to have page after page of tales about him 'drinking several bottles of vodka' and then behaving awfully (allegedly beating up his wife etc) without any light at the end of the tunnel. You have to assume that he might have sometimes done amusing things when he was drunk (as hinted at with a tale of him playing with a loaded gun), but all too often the details of what he did when drunk are not there other than in a general sense to make us feel he was not nice guy.

The book hints that when not drinking he was quiet, polite, intelligent and likable. However examples of THAT bevaviour are thin on the ground.
Details of what inspired many of his songs, how, why and when (considering he seems to have been drunk day and night for much of his early adult years ... if you believe the book) he wrote them are simply not in the book.

Indeed that brings me to another gripe - the book is actually rather poorly put together. It feels a lot of the time like a rant by the author his (understandably upset) ex wife, rather than a rounded life story.
There is no discography (great shame) and no Index and very few quotes from the man himself (there are extracts from his diary - you wonder how he found the time to write it, or ANY songs bearing in mind how often he was allegedly drunk - but such quotes as there are are all too often short or meaningless). Extracts from magazine interviews would have been helpful - but are not here. There IS a list explaining who some of the contributors are (the book is in essence constructed from a series of anecdotes). Such a list of contributors is vital as you won't know who half the folks being quoted are. Indeed various folks mentioned are NOT detailed in the list. Also there are various referencs to a 'lady DJ' who he seemingly had an affair with, but we don't find out who she was.

There are photos in the book but they mostly appear out of context and so add little to the text on the page that they are on.

Over all the book leaves you finding it hard to like Warren. This is a shame as it is obvious that most of those contributing DID like him very much. The trouble is that no one is given much time (despite it being a lengthy book) to talk about the positive and fun side of Warren. Where did the ideas for all those amazing songs come from? You are told about the thinking behind only a handful of them.

Roughly half way through the book we come to when Warren went 'on the wagon' for several years. It means a slight change of narrative for a while but does not really save a book which by then is already doomed as many of Warren's best musical moments have been and gone but have not been covered.

If you are new to Zevon and want to know more about him this might not be the place to start as it may put you off someone who was to music what say Carl Hiaasen is to the crime thriller (clever, amusing, different). You might do better to start with the DVD 'Keep Me In Your Heart' where you start at the end of his life and see somthing of the man behind the bottle. Or read the notes with the CD 'Preludes' (to be fair these notes are actually partly extracted from 'I'll sleep when I'm dead...' but also see Warren through the eyes of his son).

In summary - This book is a wasted opportunity in my view ... and a depressing one at that. The story is one sided and paints Zevon simply as a drunken, wife beating, sex addict, OCD sufferer. All of that may well be true but Warren deserves to be celebrated too - more than this book allows him to be. RIP Warren.

If he hadn't have been who he was, Warren Zevon would have had very few friends at all.

This is a compelling book for all fans of Zevon music - it just makes you want to listen to all the songs again and try to understand them a little more.

Lots of lows and just a few highs in the life of a man who was insecure and very unstable - but loved (pitied?) by most whom came into contact with him.

Crystal Zevon has put together a wonderful collection of words and photographs - it's compulsive reading and difficult to put down.

How does Warren come across? A complete bastard who uses and abuses people and substances - a loyal friend a some - a person of weird habits and tastes.....but then anyone who knows his music wouldn't have it any other way.

He's the kind of guy you wish you could have known - in a dangerous sort of way - a bit like playing with fire....you know you'll get burned - but the temptation is too much.

All the greats die young - and usually sell more of their music post mortem than when alive. Warren will be jamming with the best of them now - he was an absolute genius above all else. Bob Hewitt 2nd July 2007. North Wales UK.