Enjoy Every Sandwich.

Warren Zevon died 5 years ago today.

Other than "Werewolves of London" I didn't know much of Warren Zevon when he died. Having grown up on a heavy diet of mainly Bruce Springsteen, you'd have though Mr. Zevon's records and I would've crossed paths, but it just didn't happen. Now I would like to remedy that for anyone who is possibly reading this.

Warren Zevon was brilliant. His songs are what you can call "classic rock" at its best, and he even threw some serious dark humor into a bunch of his songs, a sense of humor he honed over years of alcohol abuse and rough times. He also spent some time in my hometown, Philadelphia, engaged to a DJ at local rock station WYSP. However his drinking was out of control and he eventually left Philly for the west coast once again. It was inoperable cancer however, and the same cancer that killed Steve McQueen, that eventually took his life. When it came down to the end, he knew his cancer was inoperable, and he knew he would die. Knowing this, he refused treatment to ease his pain and instead spent his last months recording his final album, The Wind, that would be released two weeks before his death.

On October 30, 2002 Zevon made his last final appearance in public as the only guest on the entire hour of The Late Show with David Letterman. Letterman, who Zevon called "the best friend my music's ever had", had been a huge fan of Zevon for years, and knowing he was dying dedicated the entire hour long program to him. Zevon played three songs and spoke about his illness.

When asked by Letterman if there's anything he should know about life and death, Zevon responded "you're supposed to enjoy every sandwich."

Here is Warren Zevon's last public appearance and performance, playing my favorite song of his and Letterman's as well, "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner"