Chapter One
Wild Age
You’ve seen him leaning on the streetlight
Listening to some song inside
You’ve seen him standing by the highway
Trying to hitch a ride
Well, they tried so hard to hold him
Heaven knows how hard they tried
But he’s made up his mind
He’s the restless kind
He’s the wild age
Warren’s father, William Rubin Zivotofsky, was born in
Kiev, Ukraine, in 1903. His father, Rubin, left for New
York in 1905, and the Zivotofskys of Ukraine became the
Zevons of Brooklyn.
Of his childhood, there was only one story Willie Zevon
told when asked:
William “Stumpy” Zevon: Life was shit. We were poor, and
it was either too hot or too cold. There was never
enough room to move around in, and never enough food to
eat. My best memory is one birthday. I was around ten,
and my father came home with a cucumber. We never tasted
a cucumber, and he took out his knife and divided it up.
We each got a slice. It was cool and it tasted like
candy to us. What did we know? We never had candy. That
was the best birthday I remember. What I knew was I had
to get out of that shithole. And, I did.
Sandy Zevon, Warren’s first cousin: Willie and the
youngest brother, Hymie, left New York and headed West.
Willie was in his mid-teens. Their first stop was
Chicago. They got into some gambling business. Sam
Giancana, the famous mobster, put him into some shady
business … It was like a Damon Runyon story.
In 1946, when Willie was forty-two, he met an innocent
twenty-one-year-old beauty, Beverly Simmons, in Fresno,
California. Although she had been born with a congenital
heart condition and had always lived under the
protective wing of her overbearing Mormon mother,
Beverly believed she had found a “diamond in the rough.”
Warren Zevon was born on January 24, 1947, in Chicago.
His parents had a rocky marriage from the start. Beverly
was after a family life that would prove impossible for
Stumpy to handle. Throughout his childhood, Warren was
passed back and forth between his parents as they fought
bitterly, separated, got back together, then split
again.
When Warren was nine years old, his father made a rare
visit to Fresno, where Warren and his mother were living
next door to Beverly’s parents. On Christmas Eve, Stumpy
disappeared for a night of gambling. He returned on
Christmas morning, with a Chickering piano he had won in
a poker game. Beverly was furious and ordered his
“headache machine” removed from her house.
Warren wanted that piano. He silently cheered on Stumpy
as he grabbed a carving knife meant for the turkey that
wasn’t even in the oven yet. It was the chilling image
of Stumpy’s poker face as he hurled the knife at
Beverly’s head that made a lasting impression on Warren.
Time stood still as he watched the lethal blade miss his
mother’s head by no more than an inch. Without a word,
Beverly stalked out the door and went to her parents’
house down the block.
After his mother left, Warren’s father sat him down on
the piano bench, and they had their first ever
father-to-son talk. He said, “Son, you know I gotta go.
She’s your mother, so I guess you gotta stay. But,
there’s something you better know. Your mother and your
grandmother have been telling you you’re the pope of
Rome, right? Well, you ain’t never going to be no pope,
you know why? Because you’re a Jew. You hear me, son?
You’re a Jew. Don’t ever forget that.”
By the time Warren was ready to enter junior high
school, his father had charmed his mother into leaving
Fresno to try living together again-this time in a
lavish home with an ocean view in San Pedro, California.
Crystal Zevon: Warren began studying music with the Dana
Junior High School band teacher, who also worked as a
classical session player-a trumpet player. His teacher
believed that Warren had a quality that set him apart,
so he took Warren to a Robert Craft/Igor Stravinsky
recording session-a day that left an indelible stamp on
Warren’s life and music.
From Warren’s notes: I went [to Stravinsky’s home]
several times. Five or six times. So, I met Stravinsky,
and talked to him, and sat on the couch with him. We
read scores and he and Robert Craft inspired me to study
conductors and conducting. But in no way was I an
intimate friend of his. I was thirteen years old. In the
latest definitive biography about Stravinsky, written by
Robert Craft, there is a reference to me and my visits.
Craft’s description is pretty accurate. He, in fact,
commends me for not claiming to have had a close
relationship with Stravinsky. Although, I must admit, I
haven’t always dissuaded the press if they chose to make
a little more of it than there actually was. He was very
gracious to me, and the experience is one of my most
treasured and inspirational memories.
Robert Craft, excerpted from his original typescript
entitled “My Recollections of Warren Zevon”: … I
remember him [Warren Zevon] very clearly as he arrived
late one afternoon at the Stravinsky Hollywood home,
1260 North Wetherly Drive. Though he seemed much younger
than I had anticipated, he was self-possessed and
articulate far beyond his years. After some
conversation, I played recordings of contemporary
pieces, not available commercially and unknown to him.
He was keenly attentive and his responses were
unambiguous; very young people are always judgmental, of
course, but he supported his judgments with acute
arguments. We followed scores of Stockhausen’s Gruppen
and Carree as we listened to air-checks of German radio
performances.
After an hour or so, Stravinsky came into the room-his
living room-and I made introductions. As always,
Stravinsky was warm and hospitable, and Mr. Zevon,
whatever he felt and thought, was in perfect control.
Part of Stravinsky’s late-afternoon …
(Continues…)
Excerpted from I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead
by Crystal Zevon
Copyright © 2007 by Crystal Zevon .
Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Ecco
Copyright © 2007
Crystal Zevon
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-06-076345-9
