Desperados Under The Eaves Lyrics
I was staring in my empty coffee cup
I was thinking that the gypsy wasn't lyin'
All the salty margaritas in Los Angeles
I'm gonna drink 'em up
Like the mystics and statistics say it will
I predict this motel will be standing until I pay my bill
Don't the trees look like crucified thieves
Don't you feel like Desperados under the eaves
Heaven help the one who leaves
And I'm trying to find a girl who understands me
But except in dreams you're never really free
Don't the sun look angry at me
I was listening to the air conditioner hum
It went mmmmmm..
........................... Look
away..........................................
(Look away down Gower Avenue, Look away....)
No one can read these lyrics and understand the power of this song without hearing the airconditioner turn into strings.....
Absolutely amazing and it always brings me to tears.
mysterri
The overall tone feels like it's about recovery from alcoholism - "...empty coffee cup", "Still wake up with shaking hands" allude to that; What ties the verses together is the sense of guilt and disorientation , and that there's a higher power judging him ("...the sun look angry at me")- that's sort of where 12 step programs take you.
I wonder if "the gypsy wasn't lyin'" is a reference to a rehab counselor, because a gypsy is very dubious, as is often the case with rehab counselors who tend have personal experience with addiction. In 12-step programs, a counselor would tell you that if you're an alcoholic, you're gonna keep drinking compulsively ("All the salty margaritas.. gonna drink um up") unless you keep working your 12-step program for life.
" ...sun look angry through the trees... crucified thieves, and Heaven help..." are all spiritual references. Sun represents all-powerful, always present, unassailable god/higher power; the crucified thieves are reminiscent of Jesus on the cross (per the Bible, Jesus was crucified along with two thieves) "Desperado under the eaves" seems to refer to the fact that he's sneaking away from creditors, but in the larger, poetic sense, it means guilty in the eyes of the higher power. Especially in the sense that alcoholism is often a form of escape from matters of conscience.
So he's left listening to the AC hum, but guilty before God (angry sun), awaiting his fate as a mortal.
"Look away down Gower Avenue" is interesting because at one end is Paramount Studios (on Melrose) which could represent fame and the world's stage, and at the other end is the towering church Hollywood Presbyterian which could represent spiritual transition (baptism or funeral)... which way is he looking?Not bad, but here is a little more insight from someone who grew up in Hollywood. As far as gypsy goes there are more than a few fortune tellers in Hollywood, but your thinking fits, about 12 steps. Under the Eaves refers to a shopping center on Sunset Bl. and Gower St. that is called Gower Gulch and is set up with a western theme with boardwalks and eaves! It is true that Gower St. ends at Melrose where the studio is, but it also goes past a very large cemetery (The Hollywood Forever Cemetery). This can also be a reference...
Not bad, but here is a little more insight from someone who grew up in Hollywood. As far as gypsy goes there are more than a few fortune tellers in Hollywood, but your thinking fits, about 12 steps. Under the Eaves refers to a shopping center on Sunset Bl. and Gower St. that is called Gower Gulch and is set up with a western theme with boardwalks and eaves! It is true that Gower St. ends at Melrose where the studio is, but it also goes past a very large cemetery (The Hollywood Forever Cemetery). This can also be a reference to heavenly powers you allude to in paragraph three, Warren was such a great talent and the line about how California sliding into the ocean but not until he pays his bill at the hotel reminds me of how the always had a clink in his armor or a tweaked wheel. I reference the title of one of his albums "Bad Luck in Dancing School) LOL. Lastly, he has that haunting lyric similar to "Dixie". "I wish I was in Dixie in Dixieland I'll make my stand, look away, look away." Perhaps Warren was going to make his stand there in Hollywood, look away, look away.
Gower Gulch is were they used to shoot a lot of westerns; the term "drugstore cowboy" came from all the extras from these films who would congregate in the drugstores along Gower drinking coffee and probably whisky. This is the true origin of the songs title.
Gower Gulch is were they used to shoot a lot of westerns; the term "drugstore cowboy" came from all the extras from these films who would congregate in the drugstores along Gower drinking coffee and probably whisky. This is the true origin of the songs title.
Great call Pat1234, dizzoh, on the shopping center Gower Gulch !!! It's classic Zevon tongue in cheek!! The cemetery is another good call - it all references mortality. I think I missed a good bit in my original analysis: WZ has this great technique of zeroing in on a theme with visceral images (i.e. his "empty cup" - depression is a "coffee" cup - sobriety). While the angry sun through the trees is a higher power metaphor, it's also a very real and painful source of sunburn...
Great call Pat1234, dizzoh, on the shopping center Gower Gulch !!! It's classic Zevon tongue in cheek!! The cemetery is another good call - it all references mortality. I think I missed a good bit in my original analysis: WZ has this great technique of zeroing in on a theme with visceral images (i.e. his "empty cup" - depression is a "coffee" cup - sobriety). While the angry sun through the trees is a higher power metaphor, it's also a very real and painful source of sunburn and dehydration to those "desperadoes" on the street - which WZ counters with Air Conditioning. Jeeze, I miss him.
As Crystal Zevon reports, the song is actually a literal report from the field. Warren had been staying for quite a while at the Hollywood Hawaiin hotel during one of his many "down" periods, and had run out of money and couldn't pay his bill. With the help of a friend (could have been Jackson Browne or Waddy Wachtel, read the book but don't recall), he left through a bathroom window into an alleyway during the night. Felt guilty about leaving an unpaid bill and returned years later to make good, but famous by then, all they would take was an autographed album. Felt like a desperado, escaped "under the eaves", and was tormented by the guilt of filching on his bill.
That is a great story. Definitely adds depth and resonance to a song already fraught with both. And I've had that book on my to-do list for years; thanks for the reminder that I really need to get to it. And, of course, thank you so much for taking the time to share that story here, O great world-king
That is a great story. Definitely adds depth and resonance to a song already fraught with both. And I've had that book on my to-do list for years; thanks for the reminder that I really need to get to it. And, of course, thank you so much for taking the time to share that story here, O great world-king
I've heard this song my whole life and it wasn't until today that I realized the string intro is the same as the piano intro of Frank and Jesse James. I suppose he was feeling a bit like an outlaw as he sat in that hotel room contemplating the alternatives to a traditional front desk check out.
Has anyone else noticed Zevon's nod to Bob Dylan in "Desperadoes"? Following the the second verse of Dylan's "It takes a lot to laugh, It takes a train to cry" from Highway 61 Revisited. By chance I heard it on the radio this morning, and I was struck by the wording. We know that Warren admired Dylan immensely. I don't think the echoes in "Desperadoes" were accidental, especially the first two lines here.
I also wonder if Warren's referring to the Double E in "Poor, poor, pitiful me" was also a nod to Dylan.
Don't the moon look good, mama, Shinin' through the trees? Don't the brakeman look good, mama, Flagging down the "Double E"? Don't the sun look good Goin' down over the sea? Don't my gal look fine When she's comin' after me?
Read more at http://www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/3530822107858502906/#cvFaSEoMZGuUYtRc.99
@doitright Nice catch!\r\n
@doitright Nice catch!\r\n
Possibly WZ's finest moment.
No one can read these lyrics and understand the power of this song without hearing the airconditioner turn into strings.....
Absolutely amazing and it always brings me to tears.
mysterri
No one can read these lyrics and understand the power of this song without hearing the airconditioner turn into strings.....
Absolutely amazing and it always brings me to tears.
mysterri
Seems to be about the nadir of existence. Blending oneself into the background.
As Joyce wrote, "His own identity was fading out into a grey impalpable world"
yes, alcoholism, but also an acceptance of the basics of human nature (this hotel will be standing until i pay my bill) and a kind of miltonesque looking forward in listening to the air conditioner hum. his time is running low and he still has a lot to say.