Werewolves of London

Single Cover

"Werewolves of London" is a song composed by LeRoy Marinell, Waddy Wachtel, and Warren Zevon and performed by Zevon. Included on Zevon's album Excitable Boy, it featured accompaniment by bassist John McVie and drummer Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac. The song is memorable for its humorous and macabre lyrics — e.g. "I saw a werewolf drinking a piña colada at Trader Vic's, his hair was perfect!" — and the refrain featuring a howled "a-hooo!!" It is the best known of all the Warren Zevon songs.

Music

"Werewolves of London" is in the key of G Major. It is played at a tempo of 108 quarter beats per-minute. The chords D Major, C Major and G Major are constant throughout the song and a straight 4/4 drum beat. The songs most prominent instruments are the piano and a distorted electric guitar playing chords to back up the piano. There is also a guitar solo played using a slide mid-way through the song.

Lyrics

Note: the text of this song's lyrics is not under the same copyright license as the wiki's encyclopedic text, it is used under fair use/dealing.

I saw a werewolf with a Chinese menu in his hand,

Walkin through the streets of Soho in the rain.

He was lookin for the place called Lee Ho Fooks, gonna get a big dish of beef chow mein.

Aaahoo, werewolves of London.

Aaahoo,

Aaahoo, werewolves of London,

Aaahoo.

Ya hear him howlin around your kitchen door, ya better not let him in.

Little old lady got mutilated late last night, werewolves of London again.

Aaahoo, werewolves of London,

Aaahoo.

Aaahoo, werewolves of London,

Aaahoo.

He's the hairy handed gent, who ran amok in Kent.

Lately he's been overheard in Mayfair.

You better stay away from him, he'll rip your lungs out Jim.

Huh, I'd like to meet his tailor.

Aaahoo, werewolves of London,

Aaahoo.

Aaahoo, werewolves of London,

Aaahoo.

Well, I saw Lon Chaney walkin with the queen, doing the werewolves of London.

I saw Lon Chaney Jr. walkin with the queen, doin the werewolves of London

I saw a werewolf drinkin a pina colada at Trader Vic's,

And his hair was perfect.

Ahhhooooo, werewolves of London,

Draw blood.

Covers

Cover cartoon

• T-Bone Burnett and members of Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue played the then-unreleased song on several dates, including December 4, 1975 at the Montreal Forum. That version includes the Jack Nicholson reference, as well as Patty Hearst, Frank Sinatra, Rick Danko, Linda Lovelace, Marilyn Chambers, Sammy Davis Jr and Jimmy Hoffa among others.
• In 1979, The Flamin' Groovies recorded a version of the song for their album Jumpin' in the Night.
• In 1985 the Dexy's Midnight Runners track "One of those Things" from the Album Don't Stand Me Down uses the riff taken from "Werewolves of London". Zevon and his co-writers LeRoy Marinell and Waddy Wachtel thus get writing credits on the song.
• In 1988, David Lindley and El-Rayo X did a ska-flavored cover on their album Very Greasy.
• In 1990, The Black Velvet Band covered the song for the compilation album Rubáiyát.
• In 1999, The Big Wu covered the song on their album Welcome to the Family, Baby!
• In 2002, British alternative band Doves reinterpreted the song as a b-side titled "Hit The Ground Running". They previously performed this song in concerts, usually as part of their encore.
• Since 2005, the rock band The Golden Ticket have made the song a highlight of their live show.
• In 2006, indie rock band Magnolia Electric Co. covered the song.
• In 2006, Jimmy Buffett covered this song on the soundtrack for the movie Hoot. Although only a small portion of the song appeared in the movie, the entire song is on the soundtrack album. He has also performed it in concert 18 times.
• Adam Sandler performed the song on The David Letterman Show, singing and playing guitar. He also recorded the song for the tribute album Enjoy Every Sandwich: Songs of Warren Zevon.
• The Grateful Dead covered this song a number of times, often on Halloween, including a performance in London's Wembley Stadium on Halloween 1990. The band also performed the song once as a rare encore on July 8, 1978 at Red Rocks Amphitheatre.
• Kidz Bop Kids covered this song on the 2004 album Kidz Bop Halloween
• Kid Rock heavily samples the song, using it as the main tune of his 2008 song "All Summer Long" from the CD Rock N Roll Jesus. The song also samples Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama" (which has a similar chord progression).
• Akira the Don reinterpreted the song on his Thieving mixtape as "Werewolves!", which concerned London grifters and slum landlords.
• Philadelphia-based rock radio station WMMR sometimes plays a rare version of the song Zevon performed live which he renamed "Werewolves of Bryn Mawr" (after an area just west of Philadelphia). Zevon changes the words around slightly in a couple of the verses.
• The Better Deal covered the song in its early days and at its Halloween/Last Show in 2007.

In popular culture

Werewolves fan art

• Jesse Ventura played the song at his inauguration party as governor of American state of Minnesota.
• Author Kelley Armstrong created a character in her book Bitten that she attributes directly to this last line.
• A short-lived "Frontier League" baseball team based in London, Ontario, Canada was named for the song - the team was called the London Werewolves.
• It is played as the post game "win song" by the Phoenix Coyotes of the National Hockey League.
• In 1986 the film The Color of Money, starring Tom Cruise and Paul Newman, featured a scene with Cruise running the table while Zevon's song plays in the background.
• In the novel Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause the Five sing this song to Vivian Gandillon in an attempt to comfort her.
• The Australian soccer club Wollongong Wolves used an arrangement of Werewolves of London as their theme song, with the lyrics "a-ooo, We're the wolves of Wollongong" put to the distinctive melody.
• In 809th episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000, featuring the film I Was a Teenage Werewolf, Mike Nelson and his robot pals use several phrases from the song to riff the film; for example, when a search party is seeking the titular werewolf, Tom Servo, speaking on behalf of a character, says "Sir, I saw a werewolf with a Chinese menu in his hand!"
• On comedian, Jimmy Carr's: In Concert, released in 2008. The DVD menu, after a long while plays "Werewolves of London". It continues to the second verse where it fades out and repeats.
• It is the theme song of the Chip Franklin morning show on OGO in San Diego, California.
• A video game of the same title was released in 1987. The game was set in London, and the plot is to kill each of eight members of an aristocratic family who put a curse on the player, resulting in a daily transformation into a werewolf. Though, other than the name, it is unknown whether the song and the game are related.
• Raul Ibanez has used it as his walk-on song. While he was in Seattle, fans would sing along, substituing "Rauuul!" in place of "Ahooo!"

See Also

• Excitable Boy
• A Quiet Normal Life: The Best of Warren Zevon
• I'll Sleep When I'm Dead (An Anthology)
• Genius: The Best of Warren Zevon
• Stand in the Fire
• Learning to Flinch
• Enjoy Every Sandwich: Songs of Warren Zevon

External Links

• Lyrics and chords
• Grateful Dead cover information
• Classic Tracks: Werewolves of London
• Purchasable sheet music for "Werewolves of London"
• Werewolves/Zevon homage short story
• Blog post on Chinese food in Soho inspired by the song
• Did Kid Rock steal from Warren Zevon?