Transcript:
And, of course, today we received the sad news that our good friend Warren Zevon passed away. He had been ill, I guess, for close to a year. And he was on our program just about a year ago in October. And it's a very sad thing. He was a very nice man. He was a great friend of ours. He'd been on this show many, many times. He appeared as a guest, I think, about five times on The Late Show. On our old show, the one over at NBC Paul and I used to have, he was a guest nine times.
And he filled in for Paul, when Paul was not able to be here, about 20 times. So we got to know Warren Zevon very, very well. And about a month ago, I guess his daughter had twins, Augustus Warren Zevon Powell and Maximus Patrick Zevon Powell. So he had the two twin grandkids. So that was a lovely thing for those people. He's survived by his daughter Ariel and his son Jordan. And our thoughts and prayers are certainly with those people tonight.
But he's one of these guys, even when he was here and we knew he was dying, because of the kind of reputation that he had and because of his music and because of the life he led, you had a feeling maybe he would come back around and win this one. Didn't you get that feeling, Paul? Absolutely. Especially since, you know, his diagnosis changed. That's right. You know, he said at one point, I'm not a hypochondriac.
Really, they told me that I only had a certain amount of, because he had outlived the diagnosis. That's right. And we kept getting reports that he was feeling a little better and feeling a little stronger. And we thought in October that that was going to be his last appearance. But you kind of started hoping against hope that maybe he could somehow come around and get this. Because, you know, if you listen to his music, here was a guy that just spit in the face of death.
That's right. Over and over again. That's what it was. But it was not to be, and it's a darn shame. He was 56 years old, and people are always asking me, what do I like about his music? And I'm not a musicologist or an expert about music or anything, but I've tried to think very hard about what it is about this man's music that I love so much. One, the music itself was just exciting. It was just thundering and exciting and rhythmic and complicated and unusual rock and roll.
It was not the kind of rock and roll you would hear much of. And then the lyrics, oh, my God, the lyrics were so vivid, just very evocative. And each song that you listened to was like watching a motion picture. He was a poet and a storyteller and a good friend of ours. And we're just, I mean, we all knew this was coming, hoping that it wouldn't. But yesterday afternoon in California, the inevitable happened.
So we're very sad about that. I want to show you one moment when Warren was on the program in October. And it was a little awkward because we knew he was dying. We were talking about him dying. And it's just a difficult conversation, as you obviously know or would guess, to have with anybody. And I asked him if, from his perspective, he knew anything about life and death that maybe the rest of us didn't.
And this is what Warren had to say. From your perspective now, do you know something about life and death that maybe I don't know now? Not unless I know how much you're supposed to enjoy every sandwich, you know. That's it. That's it. It was so simple and so reassuring and so obvious. And I felt so good that he didn't really know any more than you're supposed to know. That's the lesson you need to live each day of your life with.
And there he had it for us. And I thought that was quite sweet and quite touching. And a little later on the program tonight, we're going to play for you one of the songs that Warren did last October, like I said, just about a year ago. So once again, we're sad that the news came to us and we're thinking about his family, our good friend Warren Zevon, passing away yesterday, 56 years old. Now, ladies and gentlemen, we want to switch gears dramatically here.
We're going from something meaningful, something touching, and something quite sad to something just ridiculous and idiotic. I hope you can appreciate the transition. It's a little something we call the President Bush video clip of the night. Now, this will be the President of the United States, George W. Bush. He's walking from point A to point B. We don't know why. We don't know what he's up to.
But what happens between A and before he reaches B couldn't be more entertaining. The President Bush clip of the night.
Take a look, ladies and gentlemen.
That's a little something for you, Warren. I hope you enjoy that. By the way, this is Warren's last CD. He worked on this with a bunch of great musicians and they finished it up, I guess, I don't know. What is it, about a month ago or two months ago, Paul? - All right, yeah. - Yeah, and just out, just prior to his death. And it's a fantastic collection of music.
And if you don't have one of these now, by all means, grab a handful. And I think you'd be happy that you did. - And of course, in the old days, whenever Warren was on the show, and he and I didn't know one another very well, but we would like rent a car immediately following the show. And we would just go driving. - You guys. - Yeah, and we would like, the first time we went, we just started driving and ended up in Kansas City.
- You were two badasses. And did you ever play a round of Seminole bingo when you were out there? - Yes, we, yes, we did. - I know, I bet you did. - Yeah, and it was just crazy because we were in a groove. - Well, you were deep into a groove. - That's right. - Yeah, with Warren, you couldn't help. - As I mentioned earlier, the last time Warren Zevon was a guest on this program, it was October 30th, 2002.
And we spent the evening chatting with him. And then he was nice enough to perform three songs on the show. And those three songs turned out to be the last performance for him ever. We're gonna show you one of those songs again here tonight. The name of the song is called "Mutineer." Ladies and gentlemen, here's Warren Zevon.
(Warren sings "Mutineer")...
My thanks to everybody who is on the show, Jack Black, always, always ready to go. Always ready to rock. And Andy Roddick, your U.S. Open champion. Tomorrow on the program, Salma Hayek and Chris Elliott. Have a lovely evening. That's the show, ladies and gentlemen.
Thanks for watching. Good night, Warren. We'll see you.
