An Album with High Stakes
By the mid-1970s, Warren Zevon was a respected songwriter’s songwriter in the Los Angeles scene, a brilliant, dark-witted artist championed by peers like Jackson Browne, who produced his 1976 self-titled album for Asylum Records. While that record was a critical
darling, filled with grim and literary tales of mercenaries and misfits, it wasn't a commercial smash. For his follow-up, 1978's "Excitable Boy," the pressure was on to deliver something that would connect with a wider audience. Zevon had a stable of meticulously crafted, noir-inflected rock songs ready to go. And then there was this other, weirder track—a song born from a joke that nobody, including Zevon himself, initially took seriously.
A 'Dumb Song for Smart People'
The idea for "Werewolves of London" started as a lark. Musician Phil Everly of The Everly Brothers had caught the 1935 film "Werewolf of London" on TV and suggested the title to Zevon as a potential dance craze song. Zevon, along with collaborators Waddy Wachtel and LeRoy Marinell, knocked out the song in about 15 minutes. Wachtel improvised the now-legendary opening lines about a werewolf with a Chinese menu in Soho, Zevon translated a guitar riff into that unforgettable piano vamp, and an absurd masterpiece was born. Zevon himself called it "a dumb song for smart people," a piece of comic noir that felt completely out of step with the earnest singer-songwriter confessionals of the era. It was a fun, throwaway track. Or so he thought.
The Label's Rejection
When it came time to assemble "Excitable Boy," "Werewolves of London" became a point of contention. While some accounts differ, the dominant story is one of creative conflict. Asylum Records was allegedly hesitant about the track. From their perspective, it was a novelty song that risked undermining the serious, literary reputation Zevon and his champion Jackson Browne had carefully built. Why lead with a goofy song about a monster's grooming habits when you had powerful, story-driven tracks like "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner" or "Lawyers, Guns and Money"? In a strange twist, it was Zevon and Wachtel who were initially insulted when the label eventually chose it as the single, fearing it would make Zevon look like a one-hit novelty act. Browne, however, knew the song was quintessentially Zevon and had refused the label's earlier pressure for him to record it himself.
The Artist's Insistence
Despite his own reservations about it being a single, Zevon fought for the song's inclusion on the album. The recording process was notoriously difficult and expensive, chewing through much of the album's budget as they searched for the right rhythm section. After multiple failed attempts, they finally landed the powerhouse duo of Mick Fleetwood and John McVie of Fleetwood Mac, who gave the track its signature heavy groove. Zevon’s defiance in ensuring the song was completed, and Browne’s insistence that it was a Zevon track through and through, secured its place on the album. Over Zevon's own preference for other tracks to be the lead single, Asylum ultimately pushed "Werewolves of London" to radio.
An Unlikely, Enduring Anthem
The label's gamble—and Zevon's strange creation—paid off handsomely. "Werewolves of London" became an instant hit, climbing to number 21 on the Billboard charts and remaining his only Top 40 hit. The song Zevon once dismissed as a dumb joke became his calling card. It perfectly captured the duality of his genius: the high-minded literary craftsman who also possessed a savage, satirical wit and a love for pure rock and roll. The track’s bizarre imagery—the werewolf’s perfect hair, his hankering for beef chow mein, his hobnobbing with the Queen—was unforgettable. It was a novelty song, but one with a sharp intelligence and a killer hook that lodged itself in the public's imagination and has stayed there ever since.
