Werewolves of London

This article is about the song. For the 1980s video game, see Werewolves of London (video game)

Not to be confused with Werewolf of London.

"Werewolves of London"
Song
B-side	"Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner"

"Werewolves of London" is a rock song composed by LeRoy Marinell, Waddy Wachtel, and Warren Zevon and performed by Zevon. Included on Zevon's 1978 album Excitable Boy, it featured accompaniment by bassist John McVie and drummer Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac. The song is memorable for its humorous and macabre lyrics — e.g. "I saw a werewolf drinking a piña colada at Trader Vic's, his hair was perfect!" — and the refrain featuring a howled "ah-ooo!!"

This song was the only solo success by Warren Zevon that made the American Top 40 charts (AT40), scoring a respectable position of number 21, during mid-1978. The song entered the AT40 on 22 April 1978, peaked at number 21, and remained in the AT40 for only 6 weeks. The single was released on the Asylum label with a catalogue number of 45472.

Covers

• T-Bone Burnett and members of Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue played the then-unreleased song on several dates, including December 4, 1975 at the Montreal Forum. That version includes the Jack Nicholson reference, as well as Patty Hearst, Frank Sinatra, Rick Danko, Linda Lovelace, Marilyn Chambers, Lon Chaney, Lon Chaney, Jr., Sammy Davis, Jr and Jimmy Hoffa among others.
• During 1979, The Flamin' Groovies recorded a version of the song for their album Jumpin' in the Night.
• During 1985, the Dexys Midnight Runners track "One of those Things" from the album Don't Stand Me Down uses the riff taken from "Werewolves of London". Zevon and his co-writers LeRoy Marinell and Waddy Wachtel thus get writing credits on the song.
• During 1988, David Lindley and El-Rayo X did a ska-flavored cover on their album Very Greasy.
• During 1990, The Black Velvet Band covered the song for the compilation album Rubáiyát.
• During 1999, The Big Wu covered the song on their album Welcome to the Family, Baby.
• During 2002, Doves reinterpreted the song as a b-side titled "Hit The Ground Running". They previously performed this song in concerts, usually as part of their encore.
• Since 2005, the rock band The Golden Ticket have made the song a highlight of their live show.
• During 2006, indie rock band Magnolia Electric Co. covered the song.
• During 2006, Jimmy Buffett covered this song on the soundtrack for the movie Hoot. Although only a small portion of the song appeared in the movie, the entire song is on the soundtrack album. He has also performed it in concert 18 times.
• Adam Sandler performed the song on Late Show with David Letterman, singing and playing guitar. He also recorded the song for the tribute album Enjoy Every Sandwich: Songs of Warren Zevon.
• The Grateful Dead covered this song a number of times, often on Halloween, including a performance in London's Wembley Stadium on Halloween 1990. The band also performed the song once as a rare encore on July 8, 1978 at Red Rocks Amphitheatre.
• Kidz Bop Kids covered this song on the 2004 album Kidz Bop Halloween
• Kid Rock heavily samples the song, using it as the main tune of his 2008 song "All Summer Long" from the CD Rock N Roll Jesus. The chorus for "Werewolves in London" (including the howling) is sung just before the first verse of "All Summer Long" during Rock's performance on his episode of VH1 Storytellers.
• Akira the Don reinterpreted the song on his 2008 album/mixtape, Thieving, as "Werewolves!", which concerned London grifters and slum landlords.
• WMMR, a rock radio station based in Philadelphia, USA sometimes plays a rare version of the song Zevon performed live which he renamed "Werewolves of Bryn Mawr" (after an area just west of Philadelphia). Zevon changes the words around slightly in a couple of the verses.
• Jackson Browne covered the then-unreleased song on a September 7, 1975 live WMMR radio broadcast from The Main Point, which was located in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania in the USA. This may be the Bryn Mawr reference.

In popular culture

• Jesse Ventura played the song at his inauguration party as governor of Minnesota.
• A short-lived Frontier League baseball team based in London, Ontario was named for the song - the team was called the London Werewolves.
• It is played as the "goal song" by the Phoenix Coyotes of the National Hockey League.
• In 1986 the film The Color of Money, starring Tom Cruise and Paul Newman, featured a scene with Cruise shooting all the billiard balls in the pockets while Zevon's song plays in the background.
• The Wollongong Wolves used an arrangement of Werewolves of London as their theme song, with the lyrics "a-ooo, We're the wolves of Wollongong" put to the distinctive melody.
• It is the theme song of the Chip Franklin morning show on KOGO in San Diego.
• BBC Radio 2 listeners rated it as having the best opening line in a song.
• Raúl Ibáñez used the song as his entrance music for each at bat while playing for the Seattle Mariners. His name was sung to the "Ahwoo", "Raauuulll."
• The Minnesota Timberwolves used this song early in the history of their franchaise.

External links

• Grateful Dead cover information