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As “Play It All Night Long” begins, the music is all gloom and dread. An image of Robert Mitchum chasing down those kids in Night of the Hunter comes to mind. The scenes described in this song are not comforting either.  A surly grandfather who cannot control his bladder; a violent brother crazed by his experiences in Vietnam.  There’s the grandmother with cancer, cases of incest, diseased cows, drunkenness and a general disregard for life. The down-home family Warren Zevon has created makes the Joads seem like the Waltons. But as Zevon begins to sing of the sad, chaotic lives, the beat picks up. The music is tailor-made for a square dance, Southern Gothic style.

The song has a rousing chorus: “Sweet Home Alabama, play that dead band’s song. Turn those speakers up full blast. Play it all night long.” It’s easy to visualize Zevon leading several rounds of the chorus with the guys at the Dew Drop Inn.  It sounds like fun. However, one may not wish to linger too late at that watering hole.

According to a Rolling Stone review, “Play It All Night Long” was intended in part as a tribute to Lynyrd Skynyrd. Included on 1980′s Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School, Zevon’s fourth album. “Play It All Night Long” was not your typical tribute. The song’s description of country living, “sweat, piss, jizz and blood” was different from the living in Alabama where the skies are so blue. But Zevon’s logic and sense of humor were delightfully twisted. That much was clear on his two previous albums, Warren Zevon, released in early 1976 and Excitable Boy, released two years later.

Warren Zevon proved a critics’ favorite but peaked at only number 189 on the Billboard album charts. Excitable Boy also pleased the critics but, thankfully, the record-buying public discovered this one. The inclusion of the hit single, “Werewolves of London,” took the album to number 8. While “Werewolves … ” was not a personal favorite of Zevon’s, it did introduce millions to his wide ranging world view.

Zevon’s songs on those two albums featured stories of Woodrow Wilson’s invasion of Mexico, Frank and Jesse James, a heroin addict who has to pawn his Smith Corona, a warrior in Biafra and a desperate man hiding in Honduras. There were some disturbing and unhappy images, but Zevon, a lover of classical music, paired his words with great melodies.

A driving melody charged by Zevon’s piano adds quite a shine to Excitable Boy, a song about a young man guilty of violent behavior. The song begins with Zevon relating how the young man rubbed a pot roast all over his chest. Zevon did not conjure up that incident. After all, he did go to a friend’s house for dinner and rub a pot roast all over his chest.

Sadly, Zevon, like Lynyrd Skynyrd’s observant Ronnie Van Zant, is no longer with us. He died of cancer in 2003 at the age of 56. Considering Zevon’s battles with alcoholism and episodic behavior, some marveled he made it that long. But like Van Zant, he also exhibited a thoughtful and perceptive demeanor. Many of his songs were gentle and delivered with a tender spirit. Perhaps it would be a fine idea to visit the Dew Drop Inn and have one, maybe two, in honor of both Van Zant and Zevon. The excitable boys would surely approve.

Note: This article continues the Southern Song of the Day series.

About Jeff Cochran

Jeff Cochran worked in advertising at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution for 27 years before accepting a buy-out in the Summer of 2008. In the seventies/early eighties, he handled advertising for Peaches Records and Tapes' Southeastern and Midwestern stores. He also wrote record reviews for The Great Speckled Bird, a ground-breaking underground newspaper based in Atlanta.

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