My Ride's Here

Warren Zevon’s final album before being diagnosed with terminal cancer was prophetically titled My Ride’s Here. It features Zevon in collaboration with a circle of writer friends, including Carl Hiassen, Larry Klein, Hunter S. Thompson, Mitch Alborn and Paul Muldoon. Like Zevon, these are all men with a sharp intelligence and dark wit whose predominant theme is aging amidst the cruelty and disappointment of the modern world. The album visits realms of darkness, especially on the Thompson-assisted “You’re a Whole Different Person When You’re Scared,” which includes this vision: “The eagle screams on Friday / The Colts are doomed this year / The fat's finally in the fire / In the Kingdom of Fear / Dangerous creeps are everywhere.” Longtime Zevon cheerleader David Letterman shows up with the Late Show band for “Hit Somebody (The Hockey Song),” which lightens the mood with a sweetly deranged character study in the mold of Zevon classics like “Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner.” Though his twisted humor is in peak form, the album closes on a feeling of peace.