Werewolves of London

This article is about the song. For the 1980s video game, see Werewolves of London (video game)

"Werewolves of London" is a rock song composed by LeRoy Marinell, Waddy Wachtel, and Warren Zevon and performed by Zevon. Included on Zevon's 1978 album Excitable Boy, it featured accompaniment by bassist John McVie and drummer Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac.

The single was released by Asylum as catalog number 45472. It entered the American Top 40 charts on April 22 1978, reaching number 21, and remained in the Top 40 for 6 weeks.

Through the emphasis of the melody on the note G the song is in the key of G major and the chord progression (D-C-G) is V-IV-I (rather than I-VII-IV).^[1]

Covers

• T-Bone Burnett and members of Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue played the then-unreleased song on several dates, including December 4, 1975 at the Montreal Forum. That version includes the Jack Nicholson reference, as well as Patty Hearst, Frank Sinatra, Rick Danko, Linda Lovelace, Marilyn Chambers, Lon Chaney, Sr., Lon Chaney, Jr., Sammy Davis, Jr. and Jimmy Hoffa, among others.
• During 1979, The Flamin' Groovies recorded a version of the song for their album Jumpin' in the Night.
• During 1985, the Dexys 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 ska-flavored cover on their album Very Greasy.
• During 2002, Doves reinterpreted the song as a b-side titled "Hit The Ground Running". They previously performed this song in concerts, usually as part of their encore.
• In 2006, indie rock band Magnolia Electric Co. covered the song.
• Also in 2006, Jimmy Buffett covered this song on the soundtrack for the movie Hoot.
• Adam Sandler performed the song on Late Show with David Letterman, singing and playing guitar. He also recorded the song for the tribute album Enjoy Every Sandwich: Songs of Warren Zevon.
• The Grateful Dead performed this song a number of times, often on Halloween, including a performance in London's Wembley Stadium on Halloween 1990.
• Kidz Bop Kids covered this song on the 2004 album Kidz Bop Halloween.
• Kid Rock heavily samples the song, using it as the main tune of his 2008 song "All Summer Long" from the CD Rock n Roll Jesus. The chorus for "Werewolves in London" (including the howling) is sung just before the first verse of "All Summer Long" during Rock's performance on his episode of VH1 Storytellers.
• Akira the Don reinterpreted the song on his 2008 album/mixtape, Thieving, as "Werewolves!", which concerned London grifters and slum landlords.
• Jackson Browne covered the then-unreleased song on a September 7, 1975 live WMMR radio broadcast from The Main Point, which was located in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.

In popular culture

• BBC Radio 2 listeners rated it as having the best opening line in a song.^[2]
• The song was performed by Warren Zevon on The Larry Sanders Show (Season 2, Episode 16).
• In 1986, Tom Cruise sang a portion of the song in the film The Color of Money.
• An episode of Community entitled "Physical Education" featured the song, referencing the scene in The Color of Money.

References