Top 10 Warren Zevon Songs

Photo: By Klaus Hiltscher [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Our Top 10 Warren Zevon Songs list looks at a musician’s artist. Yes, most musicians and songwriters loved Warren Zevon’s wit, humor, and his gift for melody and lyrics. It was a sad day when Warren Zevon passed away in 2003. However, Warren Zevon’s songs have lived on and kept his spirit alive. Our Top 10 Warren Zevon songs list is a tribute to the man’s music. We hope it serves as an introduction to those who do not know his music. It should also serve as a reminder to his old fans as to just how great an artist Warren Zevon was.

Warren Zevon released his first album in 1969 entitled Wanted Dead Or Alive. The album was a commercial failure and quickly disappeared. Six years later, Warren Zevon released his second album entitled Warren Zevon. The album featured a fantastic cast of musicians, including Jackson Browne, Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, Phil Everly, Carl Wilson, Bonnie Raitt, and almost the entire Eagles band. The album was very successful and contained many of the songs that would also become big hits for Linda Ronstadt, such as “Poor Poor Pitiful Me,” “Carmelita,” and “Hasten Down The Wind.” From then on, every Warren Zevon album would feature a combination of the best studio musicians, world-class rock artists as guests, and a fantastic body of well-written, well-recorded rock and roll songs.

While the 1976 album brought Warren Zevon the largest audience he had ever had up to that point, the release of Excitable Boy in 1978 would prove to be the album that would make Warren Zevon a household name. “Werewolves of London” would become a song that went beyond pop chart success. “Werewolves of London” would forever become a song in popular culture.

Warren Zevon followed up the Excitable Boy album with the record Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School in 1980. Two years later, Zevon released The Envoy in 1982. It would be five years before Warren Zevon would release another album. In 1987, Warren released the album Sentimental Hygiene. The supporting cast of musicians that appeared on the album included some of the biggest rock stars of all time, such as Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Brian Setzer, and REM. Six out of the album’s ten tracks were released as singles.

In 1989, Warren Zevon released the album Transverse City, followed by Mr. Bad Example in 1991, Life’ll Kill Ya in 2000, My Ride’s Here in 2002, and his final album, The Wind, released in 2003. Two weeks after his final album, The Wind, was released, Warren Zevon passed away at the age of 56.

Let’s celebrate his work. Here are ten of our favorite Warren Zevon Songs. We would love to hear about yours.

TOP 10 WARREN ZEVON SONGS

# 10 – She Quit Me

“She Quit Me” may sound real raw, and he guitar is at times a bit out of time and out of tune. Nonetheless, when Warren slides into that verse, you can feel the pain of heartbreak 10 times more than you do from any other song. “She Quit Me” was released on Warren Zevon’s first album, Wanted Dead Or Alive. The album was released in 1969 and quickly sank into obscurity. However, anyone who truly listened to the record could see Warren Zevon’s genius. It would just take a few more years until the rest of the world would be turned on by Warren Zevon’s incredible talents as a songwriter and performer.

# 9 – Hasten Down The Wind

Linda Ronstadt was one of the classic rock era artists who benefited greatly from Warren Zevon’s songwriting talents. Not only did Linda Ronstadt record a few of Warren Zevon’s songs, but she also titled an album after one of his compositions. In 1976, Linda Ronstadt released the album Hasten Down The Wind, which was the title of a Warren Zevon composition Ronstadt also recorded. It was one of the most beautiful melodies Warren Zevon ever composed. Both versions of the song are incredible.

# 8 – Excitable Boy

While we are on the topic of album titles, Warren Zevon’s song “Excitable Boy” also served as the title for his most commercially successful album. The album Excitable Boy was released in 1978. Five singles were released from the Excitable Boy album. The title track was released as the record’s second single just before the release of “Werewolves of London.”

# 7 – Disorder In The House

The outstanding “Disorder in the House” was not the first to feature a duet between Warren Zevon and his friend Bruce Springsteen. The two had previously paired up on the song “Jeanie Needs A Shooter,” released on the 1980 Warren Zevon LP Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School. The song “Disorder In The House” appeared on Warren Zevon’s final album, The Wind. Warren Zevon’s and Bruce Springsteen’s voices blended so well on the recording that it’s almost difficult to tell them apart at times.

# 6 – Reconsider Me

As we continue our Top 10 Warren Zevon songs list, we turn to a track that was once given to Stevie Nicks to record. However, the album Stevie Nicks had been recording, titled Mirror Mirror, was never released. The Stevie Nicks version of “Reconsider Me” was not released until it was included as an unreleased track on her career retrospective box set entitled Enchanted. Warren Zevon’s version appeared on his 1987 album Sentimental Hygiene.

# 5 – Poor Poor Pitiful Me

While “Poor Poor Pitiful Me” has always been a song associated with Linda Ronstadt because of the huge commercial success she enjoyed with the song, we have always liked Warren Zevon’s version of this song better. The song was released on Warren Zevon’s second album entitled Warren Zevon. The album was released in 1976.

# 4 – Carmelita

The beautiful ballad “Carmelita” has always been a fan favorite. The song was released on Warren Zevon’s 1976 album Warren Zevon. The album featured a star-studded cast of well-known studio musicians and rock stars. Glenn Frey of The Eagles played rhythm guitar and sang backing vocals on the song “Carmelita.” The composition turned out to be one of Warren Zevon’s most covered songs.

# 3 – Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner

This one has always been a big time fan favorite. “Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner,” was composed by Warren Zevon and David Lindell. It was released on the 1978 album Excitable Boy. It holds the distinction of being Zevon’s final live performance, delivered on The Late Show with David Letterman, prior to his passing in 2003.

In 1973, Zevon encountered Lindell in Sitges, Spain. Lindell, who was managing a bar named the Dubliner after his time as a mercenary in Africa, piqued Zevon’s interest with his experiences. Together, they crafted a narrative song centered around a mercenary’s life.

The song spins the tale of Roland, a Norwegian mercenary entangled in the historical upheavals of the Nigerian Civil War and the Congo Crisis during the 1960s. Referencing the “Congo war” and the years 1966 and 1967, the song alludes to the mercenary-led Kisangani Mutinies following the Congo Crisis. Roland’s notoriety as the foremost Thompson gunner catches the CIA’s eye. However, his story takes a dark turn when he is betrayed and killed by Van Owen, another mercenary, who decapitates him. Roland’s spirit, known as the “headless Thompson gunner,” seeks vengeance, ultimately confronting and killing Van Owen in a Mombasa bar. His restless spirit roams, haunting various conflict zones around the world.

# 2 – Werewolves Of London

On almost any Top 10 Warren Zevon songs list, “Werewolves of London” always comes in at number one. No argument can be made that “Werewolves of London” was not his most famous song; it was Warren Zevon’s biggest hit, his most popular song, and one the most famous songs of the classic rock era. We have a sentiment for another Warren Zevon song that is a little more important than this one.

# 1 – Keep Me In Your Heart

The Warren Zevon song “Keep Me In Your Heart” was not only his swan song for his career but also his farewell to life itself. Over the years, it has always struck me that, as Warren Zevon knew he was dying, he still felt compelled to record one final album. Most people would have just tried to enjoy every minute left and paid no attention to work. Yet Warren Zevon’s work was his life, and his quest to compose a goodbye song says so much about the man he was and what he accomplished.

I bought this album when it first came out, and it wasn’t easy to listen to this song the first time. Warren Zevon was still alive when the record came out. We said goodbye to him on the David Letterman appearances. It wasn’t easy. Just staring at the album cover was difficult. However, those words Warren Zevon sang have been the most powerful lyrics he ever composed because so many years later, Warren Zevon is still in our hearts.

Updated January 1, 2026

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