On October 30, 2002, Warren Zevon made one last appearance on Late Night with David Letterman. During 1980s and 1990s, Zevon was a favorite musical guest of Letterman on his late night shows. One of the many longtime fans who were saddened to hear that news was David Letterman. At the time, he said it was “a meditation on death.” A few months later, Zevon publicly announced that he had been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. In the fall of 2002, at age 55, Zevon uttered a different, more poignant quip about life that became equally famous among his fans - “Enjoy every sandwich.”Įarlier that spring, Zevon had released the album My Ride’s Here. (To read about the real origin of the “Live fast, die young…” quote, which is often misattributed to actor James Dean, click this link. “I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead” was his version of The Who’s famed line “Hope I die before I get old” or the earlier saying “Live fast, die young and leave a good-looking corpse!” The sentiments expressed in that song reflected Zevon’s attitude and lifestyle during his first decades of rock stardom, which were heavily fueled by alcohol and drugs. Those words were later used as the title of the posthumous biography written about him by his ex-wife Crystal Zevon and as the title of a 2-disc anthology of his music. Warren Zevon’s sardonic views on life and death are apparent in many of the songs he wrote.Īn early example is “I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead,” which first appeared on Zevon’s self-titled 1976 album.
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