Re: Hit Somebody

Date: 20 Feb 2003 21:48:37 GMT
Newsgroups: alt.music.zevon
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perhaps the best lyric warren has ever written (co-written with the irish poet
Muldoon) is the title track of your new cd..My Ride is Here.. i like the first verse even better with the ominous image of carrion flying
over the Marriot as Warren and Jesus and John Wayne wait for their"
ride"...Whether the threesome have just robbed a bank or what is up to your own
interpretation...but Jesus says to Marion, "i'll take the mazuma" (which is
yiddish for money) . The real genius ot this song is this line ending
with"Marion"....Marion, of course, is John Wayne's real name---How clever is
that!! to create a perfect rhyme with carrion) Where is Jesus going with the money? none other than Yuma, Arizona...i am
still unsure of the significance of Yuma in the song except for the fact that
it rhymes with mazuma...
Talk about the poets...Byron, Keats, Shelly and Milton...bravos all at the
Hilton in the third stanza..
.
..i especially like the last verse where warren who is playing to a draw,
reveals something of his christian sensibility when he pretty much blows off
Charlton Heston who wants to tell "the greatest story" with the simple
all-purpose snub:
"Man, I'd like to stay
But I'm bound for glory
I'm on my way
My ride's here..."
what a great line for a tombstone...think warren would mind if i use it on
mine?
here is the lyric in its entirety, for those who are unfamiliar with this
masterpiece...
best
marck
My Ride's Here
by Warren Zevon and Paul Muldoon
I was staying at the Marriott
With Jesus and John Wayne
I was waiting for a chariot
They were waiting for a train
The sky was full of carrion
"I'll take the mazuma"
Said Jesus to Marion
"That's the 3:10 to Yuma
My ride's here..."
The Houston sky was changeless
We galloped through bluebonnets
I was wrestling with an angel
You were working on a sonnet
You said, "I believe the seraphim
Will gather up my pinto
And carry us away, Jim
Across the San Jacinto
My ride's here..."
Shelley and Keats were out in the street
And even Lord Byron was leaving for Greece
While back at the Hilton, last but not least
Milton was holding his sides
Saying, "You bravos had better be
ready to fight
Or we'll never get out of East Texas tonight
The trail is long and the river is wide
And my ride's here"
I was staying at the Westin
I was playing to a draw
When in walked Charlton Heston
With the Tablets of the Law
He said, "It's still the Greatest Story"
I said, "Man, I'd like to stay
But I'm bound for glory
I'm on my way
My ride's here..."