The most overlooked songwriter in history, according to David Letterman
Giving Saturday Night Live and The Tonight Show a run for their money for the most prized TV spot for any artist, upcoming or established, comedian and presenter David Letterman‘s 33-year tenure hosting NBC’s Late Night and CBS’ Late Show proved just as vital for many an act’s breakthrough, Future Islands, The White Stripes, and Arcade Fire all seeing their careers take off after memorable slots on the shows, and REM even granted their first TV appearance back in 1983.
Then there are the big names gifting Letterman with some of his most indelible moments, from James Brown’s powerhouse medley performance to Bruce Springsteen tearing through ‘Glory Days’ marking Late Night‘s change of the guards to Conan O’Brien and Paul McCartney playing the Late Show‘s marquee to a packed street below in 2009.
Among such a distinguished roll-call of over 4,000 music spots, one artist holds deep affection in Letterman’s heart, claiming his body of work as seriously “overlooked” and naming it as the most poignant encounter of his entire hosting career. Sharing a 20-year friendship, Warren Zevon’s characterful songwriting and rock pop veering between comic and stirring had won Letterman as a fan since 1980’s Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School, inviting him on the show several times regardless of commercial standing or an album to plug, even on occasion serving as substitute band leader in place of Paul Shaffer.
“Warren should have been in this establishment,” Letterman told Vulture in 2023 regarding The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s perennial nomination rejection. “If you listened to the music and anything about his life, this guy was rock and roll shooting himself in the mirror with a handgun. It doesn’t get much more rock and roll than that.” Zevon was an experienced professional musician despite his struggles to achieve fame as an artist, playing studio sessions, bandleading, advertising jingler, and musical coordinator around a handful of solo LPs.
It was country star Linda Rondstadt‘s rendition of ‘Hasten Down the Wind’ that broke him, aligning with his defining 1978 album Excitable Boy, which featured ‘Werewolves of London’ and ‘Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner’.
Following a chequered career in and out of commercial favour, precarious label support, and a drinking problem, a diagnosis of terminal pleural mesothelioma in 2002 prompted the recording of his final album, The Wind, and a special appearance on the Late Show that year entirely devoted to him as a guest.
Before closing the moving segment with performances of ‘Mutineer’, ‘Genius’, and fan favourite ‘Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner’, a bittersweet exchange was had between the two, including Zevon’s droll self-deprecating at his waning mortality and the immortal life advice to “enjoy every sandwich”. Zevon would die ten months later, and his appearance is frequently cited as one of TV’s most touching moments.
“After the show, he gave me his guitar, and I just started sobbing uncontrollably,” Letterman confessed. “I may start sobbing now. It’s a cinematic story of him packing up his guitar and handing it to me in the dressing room. If the interview is poignant, it’s because of Warren. I can’t watch it again. I just felt like, ‘This man, how much time does he have left?’ He decided he would come and be on our TV show. That suggests a responsibility that’s nearly insurmountable.”
