Wake Up with Warren Zevon’s ‘Splendid Isolation’

The late, great Warren Zevon is an OK, Boomer artist; I won’t dispute that. But if he predates you then you missed out. From his early, Western-inspired work like “Frank & Jesse James” and “Desperadoes Under the Eaves” to the radio hits of his “Lawyers, Guns & Money” album right up to the song he wrote when his cancer was irreversible, “Keep Me in Your Heart,” his writing was always razor sharp, sardonic and darkly brilliant. Like the twisted B-side of the sunny, upbeat, Fleetwood Mac/Jackson Browne LA sound. Letterman loved him and so did I and my brothers.

He was also decades ahead of his time with this one.

I want to live alone in the desert
I want to be like Georgia O'Keefe
I want to live on the Upper East Side
And never go down in the street

Splendid Isolation
I don't need no one
Splendid Isolation

Michael Jackson in Disneyland
Don't have to share it with nobody else
Lock the gates, Goofy, take my hand
And lead me through the World of Self

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Splendid Isolation
I don't need no one
Splendid Isolation

Don't want to wake up with no one beside me
Don't want to take up with nobody new
Don't want nobody coming by without calling first
Don't want nothing to do with you

I'm putting tinfoil up on the windows
Lying down in the dark to dream
I don't want to see their faces
I don't want to hear them scream

Splendid Isolation
I don't need no one
Splendid Isolation

RIP. Stay safe. Wash your hands.