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Warren Zevon has not joined FLAPSS and has not endorsed it. This page is a reference record assembled from published interviews and public remarks. Every answer below is a direct quotation with the source and date shown next to it.

Warren Zevon

Songwriter and musician

United States · 1947–2003

American songwriter, whose records ran from Excitable Boy and Werewolves of London to Life'll Kill Ya and My Ride's Here. Diagnosed in August 2002 with inoperable pleural mesothelioma and told he had three months to live, he refused treatment that might have cost him the strength to work, and instead wrote and recorded a final album, The Wind, which was released two weeks before his death in September 2003.

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Question Has knowing that you will die changed how you live? Death & what remains read 10 other answers →

I just thought right away that I wanted to work. ... This is a good job. It's been a good job. Work is the most effective drug there can possibly be. ... I'm on the periphery of a lot of despair, of course. ... You'd have to be stupid not to be. I have my moments when I'm not too thrilled about this whole deal. But at the same time, the songs have never come like this, so I'd have to feel more gratitude than anything else. I'm probably in the intensest creative period of my life.

Recorded Jon Pareles, The New York Times Magazine, from an interview at Hugo's, West Hollywood, autumn 2002, 26 January 2003 source ↗

Question How close have you come to death? Death & what remains read 55 other answers →

This is a lot harder for you than it is for me. If you had gone to bed as many nights as I did in the old days knowing that you had taken so much stuff that could kill you and not knowing if you would wake up, this is not as shocking as you think.

Recorded The New York Times Magazine, 26 January 2003 source ↗

Question Are you afraid of death? Death & what remains read 17 other answers →

Somebody who won't go to the doctor for a normal checkup is fearful and nervous. ... But once you find out what it's like on the other side, you can go beyond fear.

Recorded Jon Pareles, The New York Times Magazine, 26 January 2003 source ↗

Question What are you still hoping to finish? Death & what remains read 8 other answers →

The songs aren't all written. ... You don't know where they're going to go. That's the fun of the job. There's the usual malarkey, the usual gags, the usual stuff. And also a few songs written by way of kind of being farewells to people, goodbyes to people, gratitude to people. Expressions of, you know, this was a nice deal, life. But I don't think it's exactly weighted with sentimentality.

Recorded Jon Pareles, The New York Times Magazine, 26 January 2003 source ↗

Question What is the most important lesson life has taught you? Time & hindsight read 80 other answers →

I might have made a tactical error in not going to a physician for 20 years. ... It's one of those phobias that didn't pay off. ... How much you're supposed to enjoy every sandwich.

Recorded David Letterman, Late Show with David Letterman, 30 October 2002, as reported in the New York Times Magazine, The New York Times Magazine, 26 January 2003 source ↗

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