Werewolves of London

1978

Warren Zevon

Like the great majority of tunes that conjure up visions of Ghosts, Goblins and bowls of fun-sized candy bars, ‘Werewolves of London’ was not actually written with Halloween in mind. It was written because The Everly Brothers needed a dance song. It became a Halloween staple anyway… when October rolls around in any given year, you will hear Warren Zevon’s eerie ‘Ah-OOOOOOO’ leading off each repetition of ‘Werewolves In London!’ as Pop and Oldies stations get into the Halloween spirit by playing his little novelty tune about an Urban Werewolf living in England’s capitol city even more than they do anyway. 

 

The song was cowritten by Zevon and good friends and fellow songwriter/musicians Robert ‘Waddy’ Wachtel and Leroy Marinell.  As the story’s told, Zevon had hired Wachtel to play in The Everly Brothers backing band back when he was working with them. Phil Everly buttonholed Zevon one day and told him that he needed a dance tune…maybe about something like ‘Werewolves of London’, an idea inspired by a 1935 vintage horror movie about that very subject.

Zevon and Wachtel were at Leroy Marinell’s (Another songwriter as well as Werewolves In London’s third cowriter) house a couple of days later, where Zevon and Marinell were doodling around on guitars and bouncing ideas around when Waddy Wachtel walked in and asked him what he was playing. Wachtel looked up, replied ‘We’re doing Werewolves of London’, at which point Wachtel said "You mean Ahhooo - those Werewolves of London??’ and the songs soon-to-be signature howl was born.  At about the same time, Zevon came up with the line ‘I saw a werewolf with a Chinese menu in his hand.’ 
 
The three of them started trading off lines and lyrics, working off of each other, and within half an hour, they had the basic song down pat. They tweaked it here and there, and they had to come up with the guitar chords and such, but still, it was basically written and polished over the course of a workday, to become one of those songs that you just can’t do Halloween without hearing.

Zevon had a slew of friends in the Music and entertainment industry…he took it to Jackson Brown (Yes, That Jackson Brown) who produced it and released it on Asylum Records. Of course, before it could be recorded and released, they also needed back-up vocalists…. Hmmmm…who to call, who to call….  Ever heard of a little group called Fleetwood Mac? The back-up vocals are provided by none other than Mick Fleetwood and John McVie. 
 
The song was released in early 1978, and peaked on the Billboard Hot 100 at #21 after cracking the Top 40 on April 22^nd of that same year, It’d hang around the Top 40 for six weeks, radio station playlists for thirty-five years or so, nad is in fact, still goin' strong. Not only is it in constant rotation during Halloween, It’s pretty much a staple on Oldies stations year round. 
 
Oh…and Lee Ho Fook, the Chinese restaurant that our titular Werewolf was looking for in the opening couple of lines? It actually does exist, at 15-16 Gerrand Street in London’s Chinatown, though it’s now The Golden Harvest. When it was Lee Ho Fook, there was a picture of Warren Zevon displayed prominently on the wall.

The Werewolf’ll be looking for his big dish of Beef Chow Mein, drinking Pina Coladas at Trader Vic’s, and creating musical mayhem among little old ladies long after all of us are gone. Especially on Halloween A-OOOOOOOO ;)

So Enjoy! Werewolves of London, by Warren Zevon.