This is the second song to appear here from the underrated Warren Zevon. I doubt I have heard another song like Lawyers, Guns and Money. I hold it in such high regard, and I never grow tired of listening to it. It is a tongue-in-cheek tale of a young American man’s adventures in Cold War-era Latin America. Some of the lines are indelible like Send lawyers, guns, and money, The sh/t has hit the fan. It is the closing track on his 1978 album Excitable Boy. Bob Dylan’s son Jakob Dylan (The Wallflowers) did a version of this song on the Dave Letterman show.
[Intro]
(One, two, three, four)
[Verse 1]
I went home with the waitress
The way I always do
How was I to know
She was with the Russians too?
[Verse 2]
I was gambling in Havana
I took a little risk
Send lawyers, guns, and money
Dad, get me out of this
Ha!
I always mistook the line ‘Dad, get me out of this’ for ‘They’ll, get me out of this‘.
Excitable Boy includes the single Werewolves of London, which reached No. 21 and remained in the American Top 40 for six weeks. The album brought Zevon to commercial attention and remains the best-selling album of his career. It was considered macabrely humorous by some critics. More music will come from Warren Zevon.
Reference:
1. Lawyers, Guns and Money – Wikipedia
2. Excitable Boy – Wikipedia
“The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know.”- Michel Legrand
Observation Blogger 
I really love Zevon’s catalog and this song… I love the title track Excitable Boy…one of the darkest songs framed by cheerful music I’ve ever heard.
I enjoyed ‘Excitable Boy’ a lot (another one for the collection!). It reminds me a lot of another song or artist. It’s gonna drive me nuts to figure that one out.
I’m largely unfamiliar with Zevon’s discography, but I know a lot of people swear by his music and they all yelp ‘underrated’.
Dylan liked him and covered him. I just downloaded Dylan singing Zevon’s ‘Mutineer’ at Hartford 2002. That and Zevon’s performance on the Letterman show are just sooo good!
Mutineer sounds so Leonard Cohen to me.
I also like “Keep Me In Your Heart”when he was dying and it always brings a tear… Play It All Night Long is hilarious.
I wrote an article on ‘Keep Me in Your Heart’. I liked Play it all Night Long.
Oh cool…I’ve covered them also.