Anthony W Collins
Auchenflower, Queensland, 1987
I was not a particularly diligent under-graduate. In fact, I was a very poor under- graduate. I developed, though, what is now a lifelong habit of needing music to concentrate.
I had a copy of Excitable Boy by Warren Zevon. On vinyl, of course. It was played long, hard and loud on my ancient Bang and Olufsen stereo. I loved Lawyers, Guns And Money, would howl appropriately during Werewolves Of London. I was mourning the loss of my ‘once beloved’ and Accidentally Like A Martyr could have been written about me. When Tenderness On The Block played I was undone, but for my money the best song on the whole album was Veracruz. It’s about the 1914 incursion into Mexico by American forces and the battle for Veracruz.
I had recorded my favourite songs onto a cassette and late at night studying, I would play them over and over again. (To this day, I do my best work to Midnight Oil’s songs.) Veracruz was first track on the tape. The line I heard Woodrow Wilson’s guns still resonates today. I love it when Warren Zevon sings lines in Spanish.
Aquel dia yo jure (On that day I swore)
Hacia el puerto volvere (To the port I will return)
Aunque el destino cambio mi vida (Even though destiny changed my life)
En Veracruz morire (In Veracruz I shall die)
Aquel dia yo jure (On that day I swore)
When you consider that at about the same time the ANZACs were fighting on Gallipoli with horrible carnage, the losses to both sides in the battle for Veracruz were modest. But my interest was pricked and I read more and more about the 1914 battle.
I was still struggling through the arts degree and not enjoying it. I had enrolled in a subject about American diplomatic history in the 20th century. I needed the subject to complete a Major – and it gave me a Friday off.
The lecturer was an irascible American, from New York of Italian descent. In class one day he announced how he loved Australia because for the first time in his life he felt equality. “Not with you jerks,” he said but with all American people. In the United States he said he had always been an Italian-American at best. But in Australia he was “just another f—ing Yank, just like those preppy WASP bas-tads”. He was triumphant. His classes were always lively, and he was unapologetic about American involvement in Central America. “We’ve been kickin’ ass in Central America for 150 years and we ain’t stopping now.”
The class size was remarkably small and I have to confess I enjoyed the subject matter. You will never believe the surprise I got when a question on the examination paper was to the effect: “Explain President Wilson’s incursion into Mexico in 1914”.
Humming Veracruz to myself I nailed a university exam for the first time in my life.
© Anthony W Collins.
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Love the track Veracruz…..definitely one of the best on this album, which in turn is one of the best albums of it’s time. Not usually interested in American History but this is a great story.
Anthony thank you. The genius of Zevon as a lyricist. As a father of two daughters I cry when I listen to “Tenderness on the Block”. The brilliance of “Accidentally like a Martyr” as a lyric and title hits me in waves. And we haven’t even considered “When California slides into the ocean. As the mystics and statistics say it will”. How do you write such stuff? How do you have the presence of mind to do it? Dylan and Tom Waits are the only ones who come close. Thank you for the smiles and the remembering.
I love the internet. Eight years after you type such a thing and I run into it, smacked upright into my chair: “How do you have the presence of mind to do it? Dylan and Tom Waits are the only ones who come close”. I miss Zevon so much. And am gutted that I never saw Waits live. Just to have dinner in the town where he resides (there are only 2 real restaurants there) I crammed a significant detour into a multi-state motorcycle trip, on the off chance that he and Kathleen might pick that night to eat out.
Veracruz is superb.
“Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner” is near perfect. aaah…Patty Hearst!
They love that song on Jo’burg
Love the story Mr Mulcaster. Also big fan of WZ. Your story reminds me of one of Springsteen’s great lines, “I learnt more from a three minute record than I ever learnt at school”.
Cheers
Still play my old cassettes to remind me of Uni days Mul. Something about that sound that’s unique. Aaahhhhooooo……
I have been a fan of Warren Zevon since the late 70s. I saw him perform in a venue in Fitzroy 23 years ago.
His song “Frank and Jesse James” includes the lines
“They rode against the railroads
They rode against the banks
They rode against the government
Never once did they ask for a word of thanks”
He was a great lyricist.
As a Zevon nut, I thoroughly enjoyed this Mulcaster. It’s a beautiful song, particularly the Spanish lines, and glad to hear it helped your academic pursuits.
I could probably name 15-20 great Zevon songs, but I still reckon that Albert Einstein/Charlie Sheen line in ‘Genius’ is as good as it gets when it comes to songwriting.
Actually, A. Collins, It’s Singer/songwriter Jorge Calderon who sings the Spanish Lyrics on Zevon’s recording of Veracruz. I recognized the voice and then found out that in the credits, Calderon actually wrote that one! Had an album of his once. He never made the big time but was talented!
Greetings from the US from another serious Zevon fan. Be well.
A few years ago I was in a wine bar in the Atlanta airport, and when the stranger next to me correctly identified a song playing over the speakers, I quipped: “That’s great, but do you know any Warren Zevon?”
He turned to me and said, “I have seen Warren Zevon in concert!”
His absolute favorite was Veracruz, it turns out, and now I can’t hear it without thinking of Random Middle-Aged North American Man in Atlanta Airport.
My personal favorite is My Ride’s Here, for what its worth.
As a lawyer/ law librarian, I love Lawyers, Guns and Money! I am nearing retirement and just discovered Zevon. It’s great listening to intelligent music while mulling over questions of law and politics.
Veracruz is my favorite Warren Zevon song.
I started with Werewolves of London around 1980 and I was hooked. I cried during Letterman’s on air eulogy. And I made my kids listen ɓy playing the Excitable Boy album all the time. They all howled well.
You’re never too young for intelligent lyrics, right? He stands the test of time.