I was sitting in the Hollywood Hawaiian Hotel
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

And if California slides into the ocean
Like the mystics and statistics say it will
I predict this motel will be standing until I pay my bill

Don't the sun look angry through the trees
Don't the trees look like crucified thieves
Don't you feel like Desperados under the eaves
Heaven help the one who leaves

Still waking up in the mornings with shaking hands
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 sitting in the Hollywood Hawaiian Hotel
I was listening to the air conditioner hum
It went mmm...
Look away
(Look away down Gower Avenue, look away)

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Lyrics submitted by pakalolo

Desperados Under the Eaves Lyrics as written by Warren Zevon

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.

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Desperados Under The Eaves song meanings

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My Interpretation
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.
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 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?
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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?

Reason:

Keystrokeon December 20, 2012 Link
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@Keystroke

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.

Pat1234on February 18, 2013

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.

dizzohon March 05, 2013

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.

Keystrokeon April 12, 2013

Love this interpretation and also the notes in the replies. In response to your last question, though it was in disrepair at the time, the Hollywood sign is pretty much straight ahead if you're looking North on Gower Avenue (as Google Maps' Street View will attest), and it's probably the only N/S running street in Hollywood that offers this view from the street level from beginning to end. Put that together with cemetery to the south, and either way you look you have symbols of both death and fame. I'm not sure if I can link here, but this photo illustrates being able to see both at once: ssl.panoramio.com/photo/82136260

kctrojanon April 19, 2013

Yours is a brilliant interpretation. Thanks. Along those lines perhaps the title line has a double meaning. One, that an alcoholic sleeping late would shun the direct sunlight and stay under the eaves. Another, that he would avoid the harsh judgement of the angry Sun/God looking down on him. Another thought just hit me. Desperados are desperate persons, right? From "to despair".

BillLaveryon January 25, 2014