David Letterman becomes moving as he introduces Warren Zevon to Rock Hall

David Letterman, who hosted Warren Zevon’s last television appearance before his death in 2002, paid tribute to his friend Saturday night with a lengthy induction speech at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame that lasted several times as long as the Killers’ musical salute that followed. The former late night host mixed werewolf jokes with a memory of bursting into tears at the end of his last meeting with Zevon.

Letterman told the story of having Zevon on his schedule shortly after the rocker was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer and was given just months to live. It was there that Zevon delivered his famous “Enjoy Every Sandwich” advice, and Letterman talked about following the singer-songwriter into his dressing room. There, he said, Zevon handed him the electric guitar he had used during his many appearances on the show and said, “Get this for me.” “I know now what needs to happen,” Letterman said, “and it definitely happened. I started sobbing uncontrollably.”

Letterman stood next to the guitar in question and said, “For 22 years I’ve taken care of the guitar. … By God, it’s going back to work tonight.” To Dave Keuning, lead guitarist of the Killers, he said, “It’s all yours, sir.” And at that point, it was left to the Killers — with special guest Waddy Wachtel, who played guitar on most of Zevon’s most famous records — to close the tribute with their version of one of the winner’s signature songs, “Lawyers, Guns and Money.”

It was just a tribute to one song, and his most famous song, ‘Werewolves of London’, had no part in it – apart from a few ‘Ah-oooh!’ wording that Brandon Flowers worked on as a semi-subtle interpolation toward the end of “Lawyers.”

Read the full text of Letterman’s speech:

“I’m Dave ‘They Call Me the Breeze’ Letterman. I mean, honest to God. How cool is this, people? How can you not feel a little let down after Salt-N-Pepa? I don’t blame you. Let’s wrap up the show and go home. I can’t tell you how much fun this is for me, one, to just be out of the house, but two, to be here. And I want to thank the people who invited me to be a part of this, to represent Warren Zevon, to represent his family, and to represent the people who love Warren’s music Thank you very much for that.

“About a week ago I was talking to Warren’s son Jordan, and I said, ‘Jordan, first of all, I feel incredibly honored to be a part of this, and thank you again. Is there anything you would like me to mention that particular night?’ And Jordan said, “Yes. There are three things I want you to mention: When Warren was a child, he studied with Igor Stravinsky, the classical composer.” “Okay,” I said, “I’ll do that.” I said, “By the way, when I was a kid I had a paper route,” and we kept going. He said, “I also want you to call Stumpy the gangster.” I said, ‘Okay, I understand. Stumpy the gangster.” He said, “Next I want you to call Bev the Mormon.” ‘Okay. Stumpy the gangster, Bev the Mormon. Understood.’ And I said, ‘By the way, Jordan, those are my two favorite songs.’ He said, “Those were his parents, stupid.”

“Oh by the way, Igor Stravinsky is still waiting for his nomination.

“I first knew about Warren Zevon’s music when there was an article in Rolling Stone, a big front-page article about Warren Zevon. It was called ‘The Crack Up and Resurrection of Warren Zevon.’ That was the article title of the story; the subtitle was ‘How He Saved Himself from a Coward’s Death.’ Well, by God, this caught my attention, and so I read the article because I enjoyed the man’s music, and at some point in the article we realized that Warren is having some problems with his addiction. He is being tortured. He has emotional problems and he’s addicted and he’s struggling, and we all know that sometimes these stories don’t end well. It turns out that at some point he got very drunk, picked up a gun and started recording his own record albums. Now I had been a TV weatherman at the time, so this was completely outside my experience. But because of that, Warren was able to get through it with the help of his family, with the help of his friends, and he saved his own life. And I just wonder: is it harder to save your own life or someone else’s life? Or is that right? But by God, the fact that it allowed Warren to exist, tortured as he was, and save his own life was even more valuable to me, listening to the man’s music.

“That’s when I got to know Warren personally. I used to have a TV show on NBC. Hands down if you remember NBC. Warren was a guest on the show and he often filled in for our musical director, Paul Shaffer. And it was a joy for me to have these two around and listen to Warren and talk to Warren and get to know him. And I was drawn to an album that Warren had made in the ’70s. It was called ‘Stand in the Fire.’ It was recorded at the Roxy on Sunset Blvd., and it was a live album, and the energy of that album at that time came off the record and jumped on you and knocked you down. It was great. And I was talking to Warren on the show about that album and I said, ‘Warren, that was so great, ‘Stand in the Fire.’ I couldn’t get enough of the music on that live album. It was extremely dynamic.’ Warren looked at me and said, “You know, honestly, Dave, when it comes to the ’70s, I don’t really remember much,” explaining his struggle. But then the music we were listening to, Warren playing with our band… and forgive me for this, but because I was sitting there in that studio, it was my own version of ’20 Feet From Stardom.’ It was wonderful,

“You know, in music many pretend, but Warren is a poet who leaves few of life’s vagaries untouched. Warren’s music is rich in historical illusions, love and sorrow, tinged with unexpected quirks. Delivered with third-track rock ‘n’ roll, or sweet, heartbreaking, lush, symphonic melodies, both versions of the man’s music are classic.

“Rock ‘n’ roll… Just ask Warren’s peers – Bruce Springsteen, Don Henley, Jackson Browne, Bob Dylan. Just ask Igor Stravinsky. Warren Zevon is in my Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, basically his own wing.

“I had an idea; you’re going to have to be patient with this. I’ve been so engrossed in Warren Zevon’s work that when I came here tonight at the Way-mo, I decided I better make a list of Warren Zevon songs and explain some of them to this audience… And remember, thank you, I’m not a musicologist, I’m not the professor of rock. I’m just Dave. Are you ready for this? Here we go. This is not a complete list. And I’ve divided them into three categories.

“The first category: Warren Zevon, global and personal struggle. ‘Roland, the Headless Thompson Gunner’ – we all know this is about a Norwegian mercenary and Patty Hearst. We know ‘Excitable Boy’ – this is about a boy who gets really excited about pot roast. ‘I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead’ – and boy, if that doesn’t get you into the Hall of Fame, stop trying.”

“Category number two: love songs. ‘Mutineer.’ Oh my God, this makes people cry. “Reconsider me.” This also makes people cry. ‘Looking for a heart.’ Every time I listen to this song it’s always like I’m hearing it for the first time and then I start crying.

“Okay, the third category of Warren Zevon songs: songs about werewolves. That’s right. This is about a werewolf in London, and I don’t know if this is a true story, but there you have it.”

A tribute followed in which Bruce Springsteen, Jackson Browne, Don Henley and Jorge Calderon, among other friends and contemporaries, spoke about Zevon’s impact, interspersed with performances in which Linda Ronstadt performed one of her many covers of his work. Then Letterman came back.

“The thing about ‘Enjoy every sandwich’ – you know that’s easy, but it has great meaning. And there’s no one in this room who hasn’t thought about that, but no one can stick to that every day. But by God, doesn’t that apply to life on this planet? Enjoy every sandwich.”

“I have a joke here that I want to try: Oh my God, I’m surrounded by murderers and they’ve captured Waddy Wachtel. Oh, brother.

“So that night, with Warren on the show, that was 22 years ago, the last time I saw Warren after the show, Warren goes to his dressing room and I follow Warren into the dressing room myself. And I’ve been warned never to follow people into the dressing room, but I go to Warren and we’re in the dressing room and he’s changed and he’s getting his things and he’s putting them away. And he’s got a guitar there that he uses every time he’s appeared on our show. And as we’re talking, he picks up the guitar. and puts it in the guitar case. And then he twists those two little guitar clippies on a guitar case. How long do I have to do this? Close the guitar case, he hands it to me and says, ‘Take care of this for me.’ So in my head I think I’ve seen this movie. I now know what needs to be done, and it certainly happened. I started sobbing uncontrollably. Warren and I hugged and I said, “Warren, I just love your music.”

“So I’ve taken care of the guitar for 22 years. This is the guitar right here… You know, in a way I’m glad the guitar is getting a bigger response than the ‘I’m surrounded by murderers’ joke. This is the guitar, and by God, um, it’s going back to work tonight. Dave [Keuning, lead guitarist of the Killers]It’s all yours, sir. So now to put Warren in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, it’s going to be the Killers. Congratulations, Warren. Thanks for everything. Enjoy every sandwich.”

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction was followed by two weeks of a much longer tribute to Zevon, the four-hour, 30-plus-song concert “Warren Zevon: Join Me in LA,” produced as a benefit by the Wild Honey organization at the United Theater on Broadway in downtown Los Angeles. Among the performers on that show were his original producer Jackson Browne and longtime co-writer Calderon, veteran session musicians Rick Marotta, Bob Glaub and Leland Sklar, and admirers like Dwight Yoakam, Shooter Jennings and Fountains of Wayne. (Watch a review of that show here and read interviews with Jordan Zevon, Calderon and some of the other participants here.)