Reviews
[A] new, riveting oral history... unflinching interviews with his friends, admirers and fellow hell-raisers., Few books have captured so well the L.A. rock and roll scene in all its mindlessness and eloquence., In one of the most unflinching examinations of the rock & roll life ever, Warren Zevon's ex-wife Crystal paints a harrowing picture of a brilliant mind ravaged by alcohol - using excerpts from the late singer-songwriter's journals and interviews with friends including Jackson Browne and Bruce Springsteen., “In one of the most unflinching examinations of the rock & roll life ever, Warren Zevon’s ex-wife Crystal paints a harrowing picture of a brilliant mind ravaged by alcohol — using excerpts from the late singer-songwriter’s journals and interviews with friends including Jackson Browne and Bruce Springsteen.�, Warren Zevon...was one of the most interesting writers of the era, and certainly ahead of his time. , A moralist in cynic's clothing, Zevon nails a part of the American character rarely captured in pop music., This is an extraordinary book -- unflinchingly honest, scarily funny, relentlessly cynical and always immensely entertaining. Just like Warren Zevon., "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead turns out to be one of the most casually insightful rock bios ever." Grade: A-, Crystal Zevon succeeds in channeling Warren Zevon, giving us a complete, engrossing picture of a compelling artist., The book reveals a smartass satirist . . . as bankrupt as the characters he documented in his songs., .I'll Sleep When I'm Dead definitely piles up enough horrendous behavior to back the title's claim.
Synopsis
Told in the words of his musical accomplices, fellow-travelers, friends, and lovers, "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead" is an intimate and unusual biography of fabled singer-songwriter Warren Zevon, the musical force behind such dark, witty rock-and-roll classics as "Werewolves of London" and "Roland, the Headless Thompson Gunner." Narrated by Crystal Zevon, Zevon's former (and only) wife, it draws on interviews with Jackson Browne, Tom Petty, Emmylou Harris, Linda Rondstadt, Stevie Nicks, Lindsay Buckingham, the Everly Brothers, and a host of other denizens of Southern California's influential rock scene to tell the story of the original "Excitable Boy": literary hoodlum, OCD sufferer, brilliant songwriter, and rock-and-roll icon., When Warren Zevon died in 2003, he left behind both a fanatical cult following and a rich catalog of dark, witty rock-n-roll classics that includes "Lawyers, Guns, and Money," "Excitable Boy," and the immortal "Werewolves of London." He also left a trove of misadventures and anecdotes, a veritable rock opera of drugs, women, celebrity, high times, and hard ways. As Warren once said, "I got to be Jim Morrison a lot longer than he did." I'll Sleep When I'm Dead is an intimate and unusual oral history of one of our most original and distinctive rock-and-roll antiheroes. Narrated by his former wife and longtime co-conspirator, Crystal Zevon, the book draws on over eighty interviews with the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Stephen King, Billy Bob Thornton, Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt, and countless others who came under his mischievous spell. The result is a raucous and moving tale of love and obsession, creative genius and epic bad behavior. Told in the words and images of the friends, lovers, and legends who knew him best, I'll Sleep When I'm Dead captures Warren Zevon in all his turbulent glory., An extraordinary oral biography of fabled singer-songwriter Warren Zevon is told by his famous and notorious friends and accomplices.
