"I warn you, Sir! The discourtesy of this bank is beyond all limits. One word more and I — I withdraw my overdraft!"

---

Cartoon from Punch Magazine Vol. 152, June 27, 1917

An overdraft occurs when money is withdrawn from a bank account and the available balance goes below zero. In this situation the account is said to be "overdrawn". If there is a prior agreement with the account provider for an overdraft, and the amount overdrawn is within the authorized overdraft limit, then interest is normally charged at the agreed rate. If the negative balance exceeds the agreed terms, then additional fees may be charged and higher interest rates may apply.

Reasons for overdrafts[link]

Overdrafts occur for a variety of reasons. These may include:

• Intentional short-term loan - The account holder finds themselves short of money and knowingly makes an insufficient-funds debit. They accept the associated fees and cover the overdraft with their next deposit.
• Failure to maintain an accurate account register - The account holder doesn't accurately account for activity on their account and overspends through negligence.
• ATM overdraft - Banks or ATMs may allow cash withdrawals despite insufficient availability of funds. The account holder may or may not be aware of this fact at the time of the withdrawal. If the ATM is unable to communicate with the cardholder's bank, it may automatically authorize a withdrawal based on limits preset by the authorizing network.
• Temporary Deposit Hold - A deposit made to the account can be placed on hold by the bank. This may be due to Regulation CC (which governs the placement of holds on deposited checks) or due to individual bank policies. The funds may not be immediately available and lead to overdraft fees.
• Unexpected electronic withdrawals - At some point in the past the account holder may have authorized electronic withdrawals by a business. This could occur in good faith of both parties if the electronic withdrawal in question is made legally possible by terms of the contract, such as the initiation of a recurring service following a free trial period. The debit could also have been made as a result of a wage garnishment, an offset claim for a taxing agency or a credit account or overdraft with another account with the same bank, or a direct-deposit chargeback in order to recover an overpayment.
• Merchant error - A merchant may improperly debit a customer's account due to human error. For example, a customer may authorize a $5.00 purchase which may post to the account for $500.00. The customer has the option to recover these funds through chargeback to the merchant.
• Chargeback to merchant - A merchant account could receive a chargeback because of making an improper credit or debit card charge to a customer or a customer making an unauthorized credit or debit card charge to someone else's account in order to "pay" for goods or services from the merchant. It is possible for the chargeback and associated fee to cause an overdraft or leave insufficient funds to cover a subsequent withdrawal or debit from the merchant's account that received the chargeback.
• Authorization holds - When a customer makes a purchase using their debit card without using their PIN, the transaction is treated as a credit transaction. The funds are placed on hold in the customer's account reducing the customer's available balance. However the merchant doesn't receive the funds until they process the transaction batch for the period during which the customer's purchase was made. Banks do not hold these funds indefinitely, and so the bank may release the hold before the merchant collects the funds thus making these funds available again. If the customer spends these funds, then barring an interim deposit the account will overdraw when the merchant collects for the original purchase.
• Bank fees - The bank charges a fee unexpected to the account holder, creating a negative balance or leaving insufficient funds for a subsequent debit from the same account.^[1]
• Playing the float - The account holder makes a debit while insufficient funds are present in the account believing they will be able to deposit sufficient funds before the debit clears. While many cases of playing the float are done with honest intentions, the time involved in checks clearing and the difference in the processing of debits and credits are exploited by those committing check kiting.
• Returned check deposit - The account holder deposits a check or money order and the deposited item is returned due to non-sufficient funds, a closed account, or being discovered to be counterfeit, stolen, altered, or forged. As a result of the check chargeback and associated fee, an overdraft results or a subsequent debit which was reliant on such funds causes one. This could be due to a deposited item that is known to be bad, or the customer could be a victim of a bad check or a counterfeit check scam. If the resulting overdraft is too large or cannot be covered in a short period of time, the bank could sue or even press criminal charges.
• Intentional Fraud - An ATM deposit with misrepresented funds is made or a check or money order known to be bad is deposited (see above) by the account holder, and enough money is debited before the fraud is discovered to result in an overdraft once the chargeback is made. The fraud could be perpetrated against one's own account, another person's account, or an account set up in another person's name by an identity thief.
• Bank Error - A check debit may post for an improper amount due to human or computer error, so an amount much larger than the maker intended may be removed from the account. Same bank errors can work to the account holder's detriment, but others could work to their benefit.
• Victimization - The account may have been a target of identity theft. This could occur as the result of demand-draft, ATM-card, or debit-card fraud, skimming, check forgery, an "account takeover," or phishing. The criminal act could cause an overdraft or cause a subsequent debit to cause one. The money or checks from an ATM deposit could also have been stolen or the envelope lost or stolen, in which case the victim is often denied a remedy.
• Intraday overdraft - A debit occurs in the customer’s account resulting in an overdraft which is then covered by a credit that posts to the account during the same business day. Whether this actually results in overdraft fees depends on the deposit-account holder agreement of the particular bank.

United Kingdom[link]

Overdraft protection in the UK[link]

Banks in the UK often offer a basic overdraft facility, subject to a pre-arranged limit (known as an authorized overdraft limit). However, whether this is offered free of interest, subject to an average monthly balance figure or at the bank's overdraft lending rate varies from bank to bank and may differ according to the account product held.

When a customer exceeds their authorized overdraft limit, they become overdrawn without authorization, which often results in the customer being charged one or more fees, together with a higher rate of lending on the amount by which they have exceeded their authorized overdraft limit. The fees charged by banks can vary. A customer may also incur a fee if they present an item which their issuing bank declines for reason of insufficient funds, that is, the bank elects not to permit the customer to go into unauthorized overdraft. Again, the level and nature of such fees varies widely between banks. Usually, the bank sends out a letter informing the customer of the charge and requesting that the account be operated within its limits from that point onwards. In a BBC Whistleblower programme on the practice, it was noted that the actual cost of an unauthorised overdraft to the bank was less than two pounds.

Amount of fees[link]

No major UK bank has completely dropped unauthorized overdraft fees. Some, however, offer a "buffer zone", where customers will not be charged fees if they are over their limit by less than a certain amount. Other banks tend to charge fees regardless of the amount of the level of the overdraft, which is seen by some as unfair. In response to criticism, Lloyds TSB changed its fee structure; rather than a single monthly fee for an unauthorized overdraft, they now charge per day. They also allow a 'grace period' where you can pay money in before 3.30pm (Mon - Fri) before any items are returned or any bank charges incurred (with exception from Standing Orders which debit at beginning of working day). Lloyds TSB allows their customers, if they have gone into an unplanned Overdraft on a Friday for example, to pay money in before 10am on Monday morning and the daily fees for the weekend (Saturday and Sunday) to be waivered. This, however, does need to be cleared funds. Alliance & Leicester formerly had a buffer zone facility (marketed as a "last few pounds" feature of their account), but this has been withdrawn.

In general, the fee charged is between twenty-five and thirty pounds, along with an increased rate of debit interest. The charges for cheques and Direct Debits which are refused (or "bounced") due to insufficient funds are usually the same as or slightly less than the general overdraft fees, and can be charged on top of them. A situation which has provoked much controversy is the bank declining a cheque/Direct Debit, levying a fee which takes the customer overdrawn and then charging them for going overdrawn. However, some banks, like Halifax, have a "no fees on fees" policy whereby an account that goes overdrawn solely because of an unpaid item fee will not be charged an additional fee.

Legal status and controversy[link]

In 2006 the Office of Fair Trading issued a statement which concluded that credit card issuers were levying penalty charges when customers exceeded their maximum spend limit and / or made late payments to their accounts. In the statement, the OFT recommended that credit card issuers set such fees at a maximum of 12 UK pounds.^[2]

In the statement, the OFT opined that the fees charged by credit card issuers were analogous to unauthorized overdraft fees charged by banks. Many customers who have incurred unauthorized overdraft fees have used this statement as a springboard to sue their banks in order to recover the fees. It is currently thought that the England and Wales county courts are flooded with such claims.^[3] Claimants tend frequently to be assisted by web sites such as The Consumer Action Group.^[4] To date, many banks do not appear in court to justify their unauthorized overdraft charging structures and many customers have recovered such charges in full,^[5] However, there have been cases where the courts have ruled in favor of the banks and alternatively struck out claims against customers who have not adequately made a case against their bank.^[6]

United States[link]

Overdraft protection in the US[link]

Overdraft protection is a financial service offered by banking institutions primarily in the United States. Overdraft or courtesy pay program protection pays items presented to a customer's account when sufficient funds are not present to cover the amount of the withdrawal. Overdraft protection can cover ATM withdrawals, purchases made with a debit card, electronic transfers, and checks. In the case of non-preauthorized items such as checks, or ACH withdrawals, overdraft protection allows for these items to be paid as opposed to being returned unpaid, or bouncing. However, ATM withdrawals and purchases made with a debit or check card are considered preauthorized and must be paid by the bank when presented, even if this causes an overdraft.

Ad-hoc coverage of overdrafts[link]

Traditionally, the manager of a bank would look at the bank's list of overdrafts each day. If the manager saw that a favored customer had incurred an overdraft, they had the discretion to pay the overdraft for the customer. Banks traditionally did not charge for this ad-hoc coverage. However, it was fully discretionary, and so could not be depended on. With the advent of large-scale interstate branch banking, traditional ad-hoc coverage has practically disappeared.

The one exception to this is so-called "force pay" lists. At the beginning of each business day, branch managers often still get a computerized list of items that are pending rejection, only for accounts held in their specific branch, city or state. Generally, if a customer is able to come into the branch with cash or make a transfer to cover the amount of the item pending rejection, the manager can "force pay" the item. In addition, if there are extenuating circumstances or the item in question is from an account held by a regular customer, the manager may take a risk by paying the item, but this is increasingly uncommon. Banks have a cut-off time when this action must take place by, as after that time, the item automatically switches from "pending rejection" to "rejected," and no further action may be taken.

Overdraft lines of credit[link]

This form of overdraft protection is a contractual relationship in which the bank promises to pay overdrafts up to a certain dollar limit. A consumer who wants an overdraft line of credit must complete and sign an application, after which the bank checks the consumer's credit and approves or denies the application. Overdraft lines of credit are loans and must comply with the Truth in Lending Act. As with linked accounts, banks typically charge a nominal fee per overdraft, and also charge interest on the outstanding balance. Some banks charge a small monthly fee regardless of whether the line of credit is used. This form of overdraft protection is available to consumers who meet the creditworthiness criteria established by the bank for such accounts. Once the line of credit is established, the available credit may be visible as part of the customer's available balance.

Linked accounts[link]

Also referred to as "Overdraft Transfer Protection", a checking account can be linked to another account, such as a savings account, credit card, or line of credit. Once the link is established, when an item is presented to the checking account that would result in an overdraft, funds are transferred from the linked account to cover the overdraft. A nominal fee is usually charged for each overdraft transfer, and if the linked account is a credit card or other line of credit, the consumer may be required to pay interest under the terms of that account.

The main difference between linked accounts and an overdraft line of credit is that an overdraft line of credit is typically only usable for overdraft protection. Separate accounts that are linked for overdraft protection are independent accounts in their own right.

Bounce protection plans[link]

A more recent product being offered by some banks is called "bounce protection."

Smaller banks offer plans administered by third party companies which help the banks gain additional fee income.^[7] Larger banks tend not to offer bounce protection plans, but instead process overdrafts as disclosed in their account terms and conditions.

In either case, the bank may choose to cover overdrawn items at their discretion and charge an overdraft fee, the amount of which may or may not be disclosed. As opposed to traditional ad-hoc coverage, this decision to pay or not pay overdrawn items is automated and based on objective criteria such as the customer's average balance, the overdraft history of the account, the number of accounts the customer holds with the bank, and the length of time those accounts have been open.^[8] However, the bank does not promise to pay the overdraft even if the automated criteria are met.

Bounce protection plans have some superficial similarities to overdraft lines of credit and ad-hoc coverage of overdrafts, but tend to operate under different rules. Like an overdraft line of credit, the balance of the bounce protection plan may be viewable as part of the customer's available balance, yet the bank reserves the right to refuse payment of an overdrawn item, as with traditional ad-hoc coverage. Banks typically charge a one-time fee for each overdraft paid. A bank may also charge a recurring daily fee for each day during which the account has a negative balance.

Critics argue that because funds are advanced to a consumer and repayment is expected, that bounce protection is a type of loan.^[9] Because banks are not contractually obligated to cover the overdrafts, "bounce protection" is not regulated by the Truth in Lending Act, which prohibits certain deceptive advertisements and requires disclosure of the terms of loans. Historically, bounce protection could be added to a consumer's account without his or her permission or knowledge.

In May 2005, Regulation DD of the Truth in Savings Act was amended to require that banks offering "bounce protection" plans provide certain disclosures to their customers. These amendments include requirements to disclose the types of transaction that may cause bounce protection to be triggered, the fees associated with bounce protection, separate statement categories to enumerate the number of fees charged, and restrictions on the marketing of bounce protection programs to deter misleading advertisements. These disclosures are already provided by larger banks which process overdrafts according to their terms and conditions.

Transaction processing order[link]

An area of controversy with regards to overdraft fees is the order in which a bank posts transactions to a customer's account. This is controversial because largest to smallest processing tends to maximize overdraft occurrences on a customer's account. This situation can arise when the account holder makes a number of small debits for which there are sufficient funds in the account at the time of purchase. Later, the account holder makes a large debit that overdraws the account (either accidentally or intentionally). If all of the items present for payment to the account on the same day, and the bank processes the largest transaction first, multiple overdrafts can result.

The "biggest check first" policy is common among large U.S. banks.^[10] Banks argue that this is done to prevent a customer's most important transactions (such as a rent or mortgage check, or utility payment) from being returned unpaid, despite some such transactions being guaranteed. Consumers have attempted to litigate to prevent this practice, arguing that banks use "biggest check first" to manipulate the order of transactions to artificially trigger more overdraft fees to collect. Banks in the United States are mostly regulated by the Office of the Comptroller of Currency, a Federal agency, which has formally approved of the practice; the practice has recently been challenged, however, under numerous individual state deceptive practice laws.^[11]

Bank deposit agreements usually provide that the bank may clear transactions in any order, at the bank's discretion.^[12]

Opt-in regulation[link]

In July, 2010 the Federal Reserve adopted regulations (revisions to Regulation E) which prohibited overdraft fees resulting from one time debit card and ATM transactions unless the bank customer had opted in to overdraft protection. Research by Moebs Services released in February, 2011 showed that as many as 90% of customers had chosen overdraft protection resulting in the projection that United States banks would post record profits from overdraft fees.^[13]

References[link]

v t e Consumer debt Alternative financial services  · Financial literacy Unsecured debt Credit card debt (cash advance)  · Overdraft  · Payday loan  · Personal loan / Signature loan  · Moneylender Secured debt Mortgage loan / Home equity loan / Home equity line of credit  · car title loan / logbook loan  · tax refund anticipation loan  · pawnbroker Debt management Debt consolidation  · Credit counseling / Debt management plan / Debt settlement  · Personal bankruptcy  · Foreclosure / Repossession  · Debt Support Trust Key concepts Annual percentage rate (APR)

Nathan Fake is an English electronic music artist from Norfolk, who has released numerous singles as well as two album releases on the label Border Community Recordings. His music has been used in soundtracks for TV shows and an advertisement.

In 2006, his debut album Drowning in a Sea of Love was released on Border Community. The album received very good reviews in the music press.^[1] He released a six track mini-album Hard Islands in 2009.^[2]

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• Drowning in a Sea of Love (2006) - Border Community
• Hard Islands (2009) - Border Community

EP[link]

• Outhouse (2003) - Border Community
• Watlington Street EP (2004) - Saw Recordings
• The Sky Was Pink (2004) - Border Community
• Dinamo EP (2005) Traum Schallplatten
• Silent Night (2005) - Border Community 7" release
• Drowning in a Sea of Remixes (Remix EP) (2006) - Border Community
• You Are Here (2007) - Border Community

Remixes[link]

• Avus - "Real (Nathan Fake Remix)" - Border Community (2004)
• Perc - "Closer (Nathan Fake Remix)" - Premier Sounds (2004)
• DJ Remy - "Scrambled (Nathan Fake Remix)" - Additive Records (2004)
• Steve Lawler - "Out at Night (Nathan's Night In)" - Subversive Records (2004)
• Tiefschwarz - "Isst (Nathan Fake Remix)" - Fine Records (2005)
• Shocking Pinks - "Dressed To Please (Nathan Fake Remix)" - DFA Records (2008)
• Vincent Oliver - "Cluods in The Haeds (Nathan Fake Remix)" - Lo Recordings (2008)
• Grasscut - "Muppet (Nathan Fake Remix)" - Ninja Tune (2010)
• Jon Hopkins - "Wire (Nathan Fake Remix)" - Double Six Recordings (2010)
• Walls - "Gaberdine" - Kompakt (2010)
• PVT - "Light Up Bright Fires (Nathan Fake Remix)" - Warp Records (2010)
• Radiohead - "Morning Mr Magpie (Nathan Fake RMX)" (2011)

Compilation appearances[link]

• Numb Chance (2006) - Elektronische Musik: Interkontinental 5 - Traum Schallplatten

Collaborations[link]

• "Lava Flow" (collaboration with Milky Globe) (2006) - LoEB

Television[link]

• The track "Grandfathered" was used in an ad for the Motorola Pebl phone and in the television programme Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe.
• The track "You Are Here" was used in the CSI: Miami episode "Miami Confidential". The FortDax remix is used as the theme tune to BBC Four's Newswipe with Charlie Brooker.^[3]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Nathan Fake Official Site
• Border Community
• Nathan Fake feature on BBC Collective
• Nathan Fake discography at Discogs
• Video tutorial on composing by Nathan Fake
• Nathan Fake Mixtape on Andrew Meza's BTS Radio

This article about an English musician is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Warren William Zevon /ˈziːvɒn/ (January 24, 1947 – September 7, 2003) was an American rock singer-songwriter and musician noted for including his sometimes sardonic opinions of life in his musical lyrics, composing songs that were sometimes humorous and often had political or historical themes.

Zevon's work has often been praised by well-known musicians, including Jackson Browne, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, and Neil Young.^[1] His best-known compositions include "Werewolves of London", "Lawyers, Guns and Money", "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner" and "Johnny Strikes Up The Band," all of which are featured on his third album, Excitable Boy (1978). Other well-known songs written by Zevon have been recorded by other artists, including "Poor Poor Pitiful Me" (a top 40 hit by Linda Ronstadt), "Accidentally Like a Martyr," "Mohammed's Radio", "Carmelita", and "Hasten Down the Wind".

Along with his own compositions, Zevon recorded or performed occasional covers, including Bob Dylan's "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" and Leonard Cohen's "First We Take Manhattan". He was a frequent guest on Late Night with David Letterman and The Late Show with David Letterman. Letterman later performed guest vocals on "Hit Somebody! (The Hockey Song)" with Paul Shaffer and members of the CBS Orchestra on Warren Zevon's "My Ride Is Here" album.

Early life[link]

Zevon was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Beverly Cope (Simmons) and William Zevon. His father was a Jewish immigrant from Russia, and his original surname was "Zivotovsky"; his mother was from a Mormon family.^[2][3][4] They moved to Fresno, California. By the age of thirteen, Zevon was an occasional visitor to the home of Igor Stravinsky where he, alongside Robert Craft, briefly studied modern classical music. Zevon's parents divorced when he was 16 years old and he soon quit high school and moved from Los Angeles to New York to become a folk singer.^{[citation needed]}

Zevon turned to a musical career early, including a stretch with high school friend Violet Santangelo as a musical duo called lyme & cybelle (exercising artistic license, the band name eschewed capitalization).^{[citation needed]} He spent time as a session musician and jingle composer. He wrote several songs for his White Whale label-mates the Turtles ("Like the Seasons" and "Outside Chance"), though his participation in their recording is unknown.^{[citation needed]} Another early composition ("She Quit Me") was included in the soundtrack for the film Midnight Cowboy (1969). (To suit its place in the film, the song was re-recorded as the female-centric "He Quit Me.") Zevon's first attempt at a solo album, Wanted Dead or Alive (1969), was produced by 1960s cult figure Kim Fowley but did not sell well. Flashes of Zevon's later writing preoccupations of romantic loss and noir-ish violence are present in songs like "Tule's Blues" and "A Bullet for Ramona". Zevon's second effort, Leaf in the Wind, was called by his son, Jordan, "A bullshit money grab by the label".^{[citation needed]}

During the early 1970s, Zevon toured regularly with the Everly Brothers as keyboard player and band leader/musical coordinator.^{[citation needed]} Later during the same decade he toured and recorded with Don Everly and Phil Everly, separately, as they tried to launch solo careers after their break-up. His dissatisfaction with his career (and a lack of funds) led him to move to Spain in the summer of 1975, where he lived and played in The Dubliner Bar, a small tavern in Sitges near Barcelona owned by David Lindell, a former mercenary. Together they composed "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner".^{[citation needed]}

Return to L.A. and major-label debut[link]

By September 1975, Zevon had returned to Los Angeles, where he roomed with then-unknown Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham. There, he collaborated with Jackson Browne, who in 1976 produced and promoted Zevon's self-titled major-label debut. Contributors to this album included Nicks, Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, members of the Eagles, Linda Ronstadt, and Bonnie Raitt. Ronstadt elected to record many of his songs, including "Hasten Down the Wind," "Carmelita", "Poor Poor Pitiful Me", and "Mohammed's Radio." Zevon's first tour in 1977 included guest appearances in the middle of Jackson Browne concerts, one of which is documented on a widely circulated bootleg recording of a Dutch radio program under the title The Offender meets the Pretender.

Though a much darker and more ironic songwriter than Browne and other leading figures of the era's L.A.-based singer-songwriter movement, Zevon shared with his 1970s L.A. peers a grounding in earlier folk and country influences and a commitment to a writerly style of songcraft with roots in the work of artists like Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell. Though only a modest commercial success, the Browne-produced Warren Zevon (1976) would later be termed a masterpiece in the first edition of the Rolling Stone Record Guide and is cited in the book's most recently revised (November 2004) edition as Zevon's most realized work. Representative tracks include the junkie's lament "Carmelita," the Copland-esque outlaw ballad "Frank and Jesse James," "The French Inhaler," a scathing insider's look at life and lust in the L.A. music business (which was, in fact about his first wife and mother to his son Jordan) and "Desperados Under the Eaves", a chronicle of Zevon's increasing alcoholism.

Success[link]

Zevon touring solo in Heidelberg as the opener for Jackson Browne, 1976

In 1978, Zevon released Excitable Boy (produced by Jackson Browne and guitarist Waddy Wachtel) to critical acclaim and popular success. The title tune (about a juvenile sociopath's murderous prom night) name-checked "Little Susie", the heroine of former employers the Everly Brothers' tune "Wake Up Little Susie", while songs such as "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner" and "Lawyers, Guns and Money" used deadpan humor to wed geopolitical subtexts to hard-boiled narratives. Tracks from this album received heavy FM airplay and the single release "Werewolves of London", which featured Mick Fleetwood and John McVie, was a relatively lighthearted version of Zevon's signature macabre outlook and a Top 30 success.

Critic Dave Marsh, in The Rolling Stone Record Guide (1979), called Zevon "one of the toughest rockers ever to come out of Southern California".^[5]:427 Rolling Stone called the album one of the most significant releases of the 1970s and placed him alongside Neil Young, Jackson Browne, and Bruce Springsteen as one of the four most important new artists to emerge in the decade.

Zevon followed Excitable Boy with 1980's Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School. This album was dedicated to Ken Millar, better known under his nom-de-plume as detective novelist Ross Macdonald. Millar was a literary hero of Zevon's who met the singer for the first time while participating in an intervention organized by Rolling Stone journalist Paul Nelson that helped Zevon temporarily curtail his addictions. Featuring a modest hit with the single "A Certain Girl" (Zevon's cover of a R&B record by Ernie K-Doe scored #57 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart), the album sold briskly but was uneven, and represented a decline rather than commercial and critical consistency. It contained a collaboration with Bruce Springsteen called "Jeannie Needs a Shooter", and the ballad "Empty-Handed Heart" featuring a descant sung by Linda Ronstadt, which dealt with Zevon's divorce from wife Crystal. (Crystal is the only woman he married legally although she is often listed erroneously as his "second wife".^[6] Marilyn "Tule" Livingston, the mother of his son Jordan, and Zevon were in a long-term relationship but never married.) Later during 1980, he released the live album Stand in the Fire (dedicated to Martin Scorsese), recorded over five nights at The Roxy Theatre in Los Angeles.

Personal crisis and first comeback[link]

Zevon's 1982 release The Envoy returned to the high standard of Excitable Boy but was not a commercial success.^[7] It was an eclectic but characteristic set that included such compositions as "Ain't That Pretty at All," "Charlie's Medicine" and "Jesus Mentioned," the first of Zevon's two musical reactions to the death of Elvis Presley (the other is the song "Porcelain Monkey" on Life'll Kill Ya in 2000). The title track was dedicated to Philip Habib, U.S. special envoy to the Middle East during the early 1980s. In the liner notes for the 1996 I'll Sleep When I'm Dead anthology, Zevon stated that after the song came out, Habib sent him "a very nice letter of appreciation on State Department stationery". The lyrics from another track, "The Hula Hula Boys," were excerpted in Hunter S. Thompson's 1983 book, The Curse of Lono.

In 1983, the recently divorced Zevon became engaged to Philadelphia DJ Anita Gevinson and moved to the East Coast.^[8] After the disappointing reception for The Envoy, Zevon's distributor Asylum Records ended their business relationship, which Zevon discovered only when he read about it in the Random Notes gossip column of Rolling Stone. The trauma allegedly caused him to relapse into serious alcoholism and he voluntarily checked himself into an unnamed rehab clinic somewhere in Minnesota in 1984. His relationship with Gevinson ended shortly thereafter.^[8] Zevon retreated from the music business for several years, during which he finally overcame severe alcohol and drug addictions.

During this interim period, Zevon collaborated with Bill Berry, Peter Buck and Mike Mills (of R.E.M.), along with backup vocalist Bryan Cook to form a minor project called Hindu Love Gods. The group released the non-charting single "Narrator" on the IRS label in 1984, then went into abeyance for several years.

Berry, Buck and Mills served as the core of Zevon's next studio band when he re-emerged in 1987 by signing with Virgin Records and recording the album Sentimental Hygiene. The release, hailed as his best since Excitable Boy, featured a thicker rock sound and taut, often humorous songs like "Detox Mansion," "Bad Karma" (which featured R.E.M. lead singer Michael Stipe on backup vocals), and "Reconsider Me." Included were contributions from Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Flea, Brian Setzer, George Clinton, as well as Berry, Buck, and Mills. Also on hand were longtime collaborators Jorge Calderón and Waddy Wachtel.

During the Sentimental Hygiene sessions, Zevon also participated in an all-night jam session with Berry, Buck and Mills, as they worked their way through rock and blues numbers by the likes of Bo Diddley, Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson and Prince. Though the sessions were not initially intended for release, they eventually saw the light of day as a Hindu Love Gods album.

The immediate follow-up to Sentimental Hygiene was 1989's Transverse City, a futuristic concept album inspired by Zevon's interest in the work of cyberpunk science fiction author William Gibson. It featured guests including Little Feat drummer Richie Hayward, Jefferson Airplane bassist Jack Casady, keyboard player Chick Corea and guitarists Jerry Garcia, Jorma Kaukonen, Pink Floyd's David Gilmour and Neil Young. Key tracks include the title song, "Splendid Isolation," "Run Straight Down" (which had a promotional video that featured Zevon singing in a factory while Gilmour played his guitar solos) and "They Moved the Moon," the latter among Zevon's eerier ballads.

Later years and second comeback[link]

Transverse City was a commercial disappointment, and Virgin Records ended its relationship with Zevon soon after the album's release. Zevon, however, contracted almost immediately with Giant Records, and the first issue under Zevon's contract with his new distributor was the self-titled Hindu Love Gods album recorded during the Sentimental Hygiene sessions. The album included a cover of Prince's "Raspberry Beret", which became a #23 Modern Rock hit in the U.S.

In 1991, Zevon, once again a solo artist, released Mr. Bad Example. This album featured the modest pop hit "Searching for a Heart" and the rocker "Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead", later utilized for the title of the neo-noir film of the same name directed by Gary Fleder; after some skirmishing over the unauthorized use of Zevon's song title, the Zevon track was licensed to play over the film's end credits. Zevon also sang lead vocals on the song "Casey Jones" from the Grateful Dead tribute album, Deadicated (although the cut is credited to regular collaborator David Lindley).

Zevon toured the United States (with the Odds), Europe, and Australia and New Zealand during this period.

Owing to his reduced circumstances, his performances were often true solo efforts (with minimal accompaniment on piano and guitar); 1993's live Learning to Flinch documents such a tour. The disc received some airplay on college radio and was considered Zevon's version of Unplugged. Zevon often played in Colorado to allow for an opportunity to visit with his long-time friend Hunter S. Thompson.

A lifelong fan of "hard-boiled" fiction, Zevon was friendly with several well-known writers who also collaborated on his songwriting during this period, including Thompson, Carl Hiaasen and Mitch Albom. Zevon also served as musical coordinator and occasional guitarist for an ad-hoc rock music group called the Rock Bottom Remainders, a collection of writers performing rock and roll standards at book fairs and other events. This group included Stephen King, Dave Barry, Matt Groening and Amy Tan, among other popular writers, and it has continued to perform one benefit concert per year since Zevon's death.

An affiliated project for which Zevon both played and wrote liner notes is the offbeat 1998 album Stranger Than Fiction, a two CD set attributed to the Wrockers containing rock covers and originals by many of the Remainders authors plus such notables as Norman Mailer and Maya Angelou. Zevon oversaw music for the short-lived revival of the NBC series Route 66 (1993), contributing that series' main title theme, "If You Won't Leave Me I'll Find Somebody Who Will". His music was also featured in several of William Shatner's TekWar movies from 1994 to 1996 (he is listed as "theme music composer" in the opening credits, and his song "Real or Not" was used as the show's theme song.)

Occasionally, between 1982 and 2001, Zevon filled in for Paul Shaffer as bandleader on Late Night with David Letterman and later Late Show with David Letterman. One example was in 1998 when Shaffer traveled to Canada to film his cameo in Blues Brothers 2000.

In 1995, Zevon released the self-produced Mutineer. The title track was frequently covered by Bob Dylan on his U.S. Fall Tour in 2002.^[9] Zevon's cover of cult artist Judee Sill's "Jesus Was a Crossmaker" predated the wider rediscovery of her work a decade later. The album, however, suffered the worst sales of Zevon's career, in part because his label, superagent Irving Azoff's short-lived Giant Records, was in the process of going out of business. Rhino Records released a Zevon "best-of" compilation in 1996, I'll Sleep When I'm Dead (An Anthology). Zevon also appeared on the Larry Sanders Show on HBO, in 1993, playing himself as a guest on the show, promoting Learning to Flinch. (Ironically, he and actor John Ritter, who guest starred on the same episode, died within four days of each other in September of 2003.) Zevon also played himself on two episodes of Suddenly Susan in 1999 along with singer/actor Rick Springfield.

After another five-year layoff, Zevon signed with industry veteran Danny Goldberg's Artemis Records and again rebounded with the mortality-themed 2000 release Life'll Kill Ya, containing the hymn-like "Don't Let Us Get Sick" and an austere version of Steve Winwood's 1980s hit "Back in the High Life Again". With record sales reasonably brisk and music critics giving Zevon his best notices since Excitable Boy, Life'll Kill Ya is seen as his second comeback. He followed with 2002's My Ride's Here (with morbid prescience of things to come), which included "Hit Somebody! (The Hockey Song)" (which was co-written by Tuesdays with Morrie author Mitch Albom, and featured Paul Shaffer, the "Late Night" band and a spoken guest vocal from TV host David Letterman) and the ballad "Genius", later taken as the title for a 2002 Zevon anthology, and a song whose string section illustrates the lasting influence of Stravinsky on Zevon's work.

At about this time, he and his neighbor actor Billy Bob Thornton formed a close friendship catalyzed by their common experiences with obsessive-compulsive disorder and the fact they lived in the same apartment building.^[6]

[edit] Cancer, death and The Wind

In interviews, Zevon described a lifelong phobia of doctors and said he seldom received medical assessment. Shortly before playing at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival in 2002, he started feeling dizzy and developed a chronic cough. After a period of suffering with pain and shortness of breath, Zevon was encouraged by his dentist to see a physician; he was diagnosed with inoperable peritoneal mesothelioma (a form of cancer associated with exposure to asbestos). Refusing treatments he believed might incapacitate him, Zevon instead began recording his final album, The Wind which includes guest appearances by close friends including Bruce Springsteen, Don Henley, Jackson Browne, Timothy B. Schmit, Joe Walsh, David Lindley, Billy Bob Thornton, Emmylou Harris, Tom Petty, Dwight Yoakam, and others. It has been said that the decision to include "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" was his, much to the dismay of the others in the project. At the request of the music television channel VH1, documentarian Nick Read was given access to the sessions; his cameras documented a man who retained his mordant sense of humor, even as his health was deteriorating over time.

On October 30, 2002, Zevon was featured on the Late Show with David Letterman as the only guest for the entire hour. The band played "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead" as his introduction. Zevon performed several songs and spoke at length about his illness. Zevon was a frequent guest and occasional substitute bandleader on Letterman's television shows since Late Night was first broadcast in 1982. He noted, "I might have made a tactical error in not going to a physician for 20 years." It was during this broadcast that, when asked by Letterman if he knew something more about life and death now, he first offered his oft-quoted insight on dying: "Enjoy every sandwich." He also took time to thank Letterman for his years of support, calling him "the best friend my music's ever had". For his final song of the evening, and his final public performance, Zevon performed "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner" at Letterman's request. In the green room after the show, Zevon presented Letterman with the guitar that he always used on the show, with a single request: "Here, I want you to have this, take good care of it."^[10] The day after Zevon's death, Letterman paid tribute to Zevon by replaying his performance of Mutineer from his last appearance. The Late Show band played Zevon's songs throughout the night.

Zevon stated previously that his illness was expected to be terminal within months after the diagnosis in the fall of 2002; however, he lived to see the birth of twin grandsons in June 2003 and the release of The Wind on August 26, 2003. Owing in part to the first VH1 broadcasts of Nick Read's documentary Warren Zevon: Keep Me In Your Heart, the album reached number 16 on the US charts, Zevon's highest placement since Excitable Boy. When his diagnosis became public, Zevon told the media that he just hoped to live long enough to see the next James Bond movie, a goal he accomplished. Coincidentally, the film was titled Die Another Day.

Warren Zevon died on September 7, 2003, aged 56, at his home in Los Angeles, California. The Wind was certified gold by the RIAA in December 2003 and Zevon received five posthumous Grammy nominations, including Song of the Year for the ballad "Keep Me In Your Heart". The Wind won two Grammys, with the album itself receiving the award for Best Contemporary Folk Album, while "Disorder in the House", Zevon's duet with Bruce Springsteen, was awarded Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocal. These posthumous awards were the first Grammys of Zevon's thirty-plus year career. He was cremated and his ashes were scattered into the Pacific Ocean near Los Angeles.

Posthumous releases and biographical works[link]

A tribute album titled Enjoy Every Sandwich: Songs of Warren Zevon was released October 19, 2004. Zevon's son, Jordan Zevon, acting as executive producer on the album and performing "Studebaker", a previously unfinished Warren Zevon composition. A second tribute album, titled Hurry Home Early: the Songs of Warren Zevon (the line "hurry home early" from the song "Boom Boom Mancini", on Sentimental Hygiene) was released by Wampus Multimedia on July 8, 2005.

On February 14, 2006, VH1 Classic premiered a music video from a new compilation, Reconsider Me: The Love Songs. The video, titled "She's Too Good For Me", aired every hour on the hour throughout the day.

First and last issues of the Zevon albums Stand in the Fire and The Envoy were released on March 27, 2007 by Rhino Records alongside a Rhino re-issue of Excitable Boy, with the three Cd's having four unreleased bonus tracks each. Noteworthy rarities include the outtakes "Word of Mouth" and "The Risk" from the Envoy sessions, and "Frozen Notes (Strings Version)", a melancholy outtake from Excitable Boy performed on acoustic piano with a string quartet. Also included on the expanded Excitable Boy CD is the brief but hilarious "I Need A Truck", Zevon's first-ever a cappella studio release.

On May 1, 2007, Ammal Records, the new label started up as a partnership with New West Records by Zevon's former boss at Artemis Danny Goldberg, released Preludes - Rare and Unreleased Recordings, a two-disc anthology of Zevon demos and alternate versions culled from 126 pre-1976 recordings that were kept in a suitcase. The album contains five previously unreleased songs: "Empty Hearted Town", "Going All the Way", "Steady Rain", "Stop Rainin` Lord" and "The Rosarita Beach Cafe", along with Zevon's original demo for "Studebaker". Selections from an interview between Zevon and Austin-based radio personality Jody Denberg are blended with about 40 minutes of music on the collection's second disc.

I'll Sleep When I'm Dead: The Dirty Life and Times of Warren Zevon, a biography/oral history compiled by ex-wife Crystal Zevon, was published in 2007 by Ecco Books. The book is made up of interwoven interviews from many of Zevon's friends and associates, and is notable for its unvarnished portrayal of Zevon (at his request).

Discography[link]

Studio albums[link]

Live albums[link]

Compilations[link]

Singles[link]

References[link]

• Ellis, Iain (2008). Rebels Wit Attitude: Subversive Rock Humorists. Soft Skull/Counterpoint. ISBN 978-1-59376-206-3. 

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Warren Zevon

• Warren Zevon official site
• Warren Zevon semi-official site
• Warren Zevon official MySpace site
• Warren Zevon Wiki
• Warren Zevon live audio recordings at Archive.org
• Jordan Zevon's Official Site
• Warren Zevon at Rolling Stone
• Warren Zevon's personal archive at Human ArchivesQ
• Warren Zevon Find a Grave
• Dirty Life And Times
• Keep Me In Your Heart
• Warren Zevon at the Internet Movie Database
• Works by or about Warren Zevon in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Warren Zevon collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Warren Zevon at the Notable Names Database