Considerations: Warren Zevon's "Desperadoes Under The Eaves"

I was listening to Warren Zevon "listening to the air condtioner hum" at the Hollywood Hawaiian Hotel this morning, a nice reminder of the genius of this tune. The narrator has just woken up from what would appear to be a regular routine - a lot of drinks, some girl, who knows what else. But the morning offers time to reflect, and even vow to rise up anew. By the end of this short but poignant song, we know it's not gonna happen.


"Still waking up in the mornings with shaking hands / And I'm trying to find a girl who understands me / But except in dreams you're never really free / Don't the sun look angry at me"

He then proceeds to sit there and listen to the air conditioner hum for the rest of the song's duration. This ending comes, of course, after the narrator (Zevon himself?) has already admitted that "if California slides into the ocean / Like the mystics and statistics say it wil / I predict this motel will be standing / until I pay my bill." So he never really was going to try and fix things.

This is the best-written cynicism I think I've ever come across.