I'll Sleep When I'm Dead: The Dirty Life and Times of Warren Zevon, p. ^ 'The Rolling Thunder Revue - Werewolves Of London'.The Secret Inspiration Behind Warren Zevon’s ‘Werewolves of London’,, accessed 30 July 2018 ^ a b c d e f George Plasketes (June 15, 2016).Kid Rock sampled this song in 2008 (and Lynyrd Skynyrd's ' Sweet Home Alabama', which has a similar riff) on ' All Summer Long' and credits Zevon as a songwriter.American pop-rocker Masha covered the song for a Three Olives Vodka ad campaign in 2014.

Sandler also performed it on the Late Show on 15 December 2004. Adam Sandler provided a version for the tribute album, Enjoy Every Sandwich: The Songs of Warren Zevon (October 2004).David Lindley and El Rayo-X released the song on the 1988 album Very Greasy.The Flamin' Groovies included a cover of this song in their 1979 album Jumpin' in the Night.The group resurrected the song for Halloween night concerts in 1985, 1990, and 1991. The Grateful Dead covered the song in a number of live concerts in 1978, one of which was released on Red Rocks: 7/8/78.In a way it's the Victorian nightmare, the gigolo thing.' Chart history

The song had a resurgence in popularity in 1986 due to its use in a scene in The Color of Money, where Tom Cruise dances and lip-syncs to the song in a scene in which Cruise 'displayed the depths of his talents at the billiards game of 9-ball.' Īfter Zevon's death in 2003, Browne stated that he interpreted the song as describing an upper-class English womanizer: 'It's about a really well-dressed, ladies' man, a werewolf preying on little old ladies. I still think it's funny.' He also described 'Werewolves of London' as a novelty song, ' not a novelty the way, say, Steve Martin's ' King Tut' is a novelty.' There are times when I prefer that it was ' Bridge Over Troubled Water', but I don't think bad about the song. It's better that I bring something to mind than nothing. We didn't think it was suitable to be played on the radio. Zevon later said of the song, 'I don't know why that became such a hit. The song was a quick hit, staying in the Billboard Top 40 chart for over a month.īBC Radio 2 listeners rated it as having the best opening line in a song. Over Zevon's objections, Elektra Records chose 'Werewolves of London' as the album's first single (he preferred 'Johnny Strikes Up the Band' or 'Tenderness on the Block'). Egon Ronay's Dunlop Guide for 1974 discussed the restaurant and said it served Cantonese cuisine. The song's lyrics 'He was looking for the place called Lee Ho Fook‘s / Gonna get a big dish of beef chow mein' refer to Lee Ho Fook, a Chinese restaurant on 15 Gerrard Street in London's Chinatown, which is in the West End of London. Lee Ho Fook in London-the werewolf goes here to get beef chow mein. The protracted studio time and musicians' fees led to the song eating up most of the album's budget. Īccording to Wachtel, 'Werewolves of London' was 'the hardest song to get down in the studio I've ever worked on.' However, Wachtel 'laid down his solo in one take.' They tried at least seven different configurations of musicians in the recording studio before being satisfied with McVie and Fleetwood's contributions. 'Excitable Boy' and 'Werewolves of London' were considered for but not included on Zevon's self-titled second album in 1976. Burnett's version of the song included alternate or partially improvized lyrics mentioning stars from classical Hollywood cinema, along with mentions of vanished labor leader Jimmy Hoffa, and adult film stars Marilyn Chambers and Linda Lovelace. T Bone Burnett also performed the song, on the first leg of Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue tour in the autumn of 1975. Soon after, Zevon's friend Jackson Browne saw the lyrics and thought 'Werewolves of London' had potential and began performing the song during his own live concerts. However, none of them took the song seriously. Everly had watched a television broadcast of the 1935 film Werewolf of London and 'suggested to Zevon that he adapt the title for a song and dance craze.' Zevon, Marinell and Wachtel played with the idea and wrote the song in about 15 minutes, all contributing lyrics that were transcribed by Zevon's then-wife Crystal. The song began as a joke by Phil Everly (of The Everly Brothers) to Zevon in 1975, over two years before the recording sessions for Excitable Boy.

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