"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.
Song Lyrics
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.
Chorus:
Aaahoo, werewolves of London
Aaahoo(2x)
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.
Chorus 2x
He's the hairy, hairy 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.
Chorus 2x
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
- wikipedia: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 wikipedia:Patty Hearst, wikipedia:Frank Sinatra, wikipedia:Rick Danko, wikipedia:Linda Lovelace, wikipedia:Marilyn Chambers, wikipedia:Sammy Davis Jr and Jwikipedia:immy Hoffa among others.
- In 1979, wikipedia:The Flamin' Groovies recorded a version of the song for their album wikipedia:Jumpin' in the Night.
- In 1985 the [wikipedia:[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, wikipedia: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 wikipedia:Rubáiyát.
- In 1999, The Big Wu covered the song on their album wikipedia:Welcome to the Family, Baby!
- In 2002, British alternative band wikipedia: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, wikipedia:indie rock band wikipedia:Magnolia Electric Co. covered the song.
- In 2006, wikipedia: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.
- wikipedia: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 wikipedia:Grateful Dead covered this song a number of times, often on Halloween, including a performance in London's Wembley Stadium on wikipedia:Halloween wikipedia:1990. The band also performed the song once as a rare encore on wikipedia:July 8, wikipedia:1978 at wikipedia:Red Rocks Amphitheatre.
- wikipedia:Kidz Bop Kids covered this song on the 2004 album Kidz Bop Halloween
- wikipedia:Kid Rock heavily samples the song, using it as the main tune of his 2008 song "All Summer Long" from the CD wikipedia:Rock N Roll Jesus. The song also samples wikipedia:Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama" (which has a similar chord progression).
- wikipedia:Akira the Don reinterpreted the song on his Thieving mixtape as "Werewolves!", which concerned London grifters and slum landlords.
- wikipedia:Philadelphia-based rock radio station wikipedia:WMMR sometimes plays a rare version of the song Zevon performed live which he renamed "Werewolves of wikipedia: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
- Jesse Ventura played the song at his inauguration party as governor of Minnesota.[1]
- Author wikipedia:Kelley Armstrong created a character in her book Bitten that she attributes directly to this last line.
- A short-lived wikipedia:Frontier League wikipedia:baseball team based in London, Ontario was named for the song - the team was called the wikipedia:London Werewolves.
- It is played as the "goal song" by the wikipedia:Phoenix Coyotes of the wikipedia:National Hockey League.
- In 1986 the film wikipedia: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 wikipedia:Annette Curtis Klause the Five sing this song to Vivian Gandillon in an attempt to comfort her.
- The wikipedia:Australian soccer club wikipedia: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 Episode #809 of wikipedia:Mystery Science Theater 3000, featuring the film wikipedia:I Was a Teenage Werewolf, wikipedia: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, wikipedia:Tom Servo, speaking on behalf of a character, says "Sir, I saw a werewolf with a Chinese menu in his hand!"
- On wikipedia:comedian, wikipedia:Jimmy Carr's: In Concert, released in wikipedia: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 wikipedia:Chip Franklin morning show on Kwikipedia:OGO in wikipedia:San Diego.
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
External Links
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- ↑ "Werewolves of London", Johnny Black, Blender, April, 2008