Werewolves of London

"Werewolves of London" is a song composed by LeRoy Marinell, Waddy Wachtel, and Warren Zevon and performed by Zevon. Included on Zevon's album Excitable Boy, it featured accompaniment by bassist John McVie and drummer Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac. The title reference is to the first Hollywood motion picture about lycanthropy, entitled Werewolf of London. The song is memorable for its humorous and macabre lyrics, and the refrain featuring a howling "a-ooo!!"

[edit] Covers

In 1975, T Bone Burnett and members of Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue played the then-unreleased song on several dates, including Dec. 4, 1975 at the Montreal Forum, available for listening through WolfgangsVault.com. That version includes the Jack Nicholson reference, as well as Patty Hearst, Frank Sinatra, Rick Danko, Linda Lovelace, Marilyn Chambers, Sammy Davis Jr. and Jimmy Hoffa among others.
In 1985 the Dexy's Midnight Runners track "One of those Things" from the Album "Don't Stand Me Down" uses the riff taken from Werewolves of London. Zevon and his co-writers LeRoy Marinell and Waddy Wachtel thus get writing credits on the song.
In 1988, David Lindley and El-Rayo X did a reggae flavored cover on their album Very Greasy.
In 1990, The Black Velvet Band covered the song for the compilation album Rubáiyát.
In 2002, British alternative band Doves reinterpreted the song as a b-side titled "Hit The Ground Running".
Since 2005, the rock band The Golden Ticket have made the song a highlight of their live show.
In 2006, indie rock band Magnolia Electric Co. covered the song.
In 2006, Jimmy Buffett covered this song on the soundtrack for the movie Hoot. Although only a small portion of the song appeared in the movie, the entire song is on the soundtrack album. He has also performed it in concert 18 times.
On 17 September 2006, Australian Idol finalist Bobby Flynn covered the song during the 2nd Finals Week (Rock) segment of the competition.
Adam Sandler performed the song on the David Letterman show, singing and playing guitar. He also recorded the song for the tribute album Enjoy Every Sandwich: Songs of Warren Zevon.
The Grateful Dead covered this song a number of times, often on Halloween, including a performance in London's Wembly Stadium on Halloween 1990. The band also performed the song once as a rare encore on July 8, 1978 at Red Rocks Amphitheatre.
Kid Rock samples the song on his 2007 CD Rock And Roll Jesus. The song is called "All Summer Long" and also samples Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet home Alabama" (which has a similar chord progression).
In November of 2007, Widespread Panic covered the song for the 45th time since the band started in 1985 (www.everydaycompanion.com)
Akira The Don reinterpreted the song on his Thieving mixtape as "Werewolves!", which concerned London grifters and slum landlords.
Jesse Ventura played the song at his inauguration party as governor of Minnesota.^[1]

[edit] In popular culture

Author Kelley Armstrong created a character in her book Bitten that she attributes directly to this last line.
It is the at-bat song for Seattle Mariners left fielder Raúl Ibáñez.
In an episode of The Larry Sanders Show, Zevon appears as himself and expresses his disdain for having to always play "Werewolves of London" on television appearances.
In "The Color of Money," Tom Cruise shoots pool while the song is playing in the background.
A short-lived Frontier League baseball team based in London, Ontario was named for the song - the team was called the London Werewolves.
It is played as the "goal song" by the Phoenix Coyotes of the National Hockey League.
In The Halloween That Almost Wasn't, a Budapest werewolf named Warren (derived from Zevon's first name) arrives at Count Dracula's castle. Igor led him inside there.
In the novel Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause the Five sing this song to Vivian Gandillon in an attempt to comfort her.