Worrier King is a song that Warren Zevon would sing during live performances, although it never appeared on any of his studio albums. A recording of him playing and singing the song does however appear on the live compilation album Learning to Flinch (1993).
Background[]
In 1992, Warren met blues performer John Hammond, whom he considered to be one of his heroes. Inspired, he went out the next morning and bought a pair of fingerpicks and a bottleneck and in the course of only one half hour taught himself how to play slide guitar, subsequently writing the song Worrier King for Hammond.
Zevon would later comment during a show that, even after performing the song over a hundred and forty times since, his slide guitar playing had "not improved one iota since that first morning." Deciding that while in "the guitar playing magazine happy ending to the story" he would be playing like Ry Cooder a year later, he was forced to conclude that playing slide guitar must be "some kind of zen fucking deal" and left it at that.
Lyrics[]
Note: the text of this song's lyrics is not under the same copyright license as the wiki's encyclopedic text, it is used under fair use/dealing.
I've got a bird that whistles
I've got a bird that sings
I've got a bird that I've got a bird
I'm worried about that bird
And I worry about everything
And I worry when I see my subjects
Bow down to the Worrier King
Well. I'm hiding from the mailman
And I hate to hear the telephone ring
I'm hiding from the mailman
And I hate to hear the telephone
Worried about the women
And I worry about everything
And I worry when I see my subjects
Bow down to the Worrier King
Ive been up all night wondering what the mornings gonna bring
I've been up all night
Wondering what November's gonna bring
Worried about my country
And I worry about everything
And I worry when I see my subjects
Bow down to the Worrier King
Worried about my bird
And I worry about everything
And I worry when I see my subjects
Bow down to the Worrier King