I love this song. Not many songs deal with a failed suicide, domestic abuse, and a brush with sadomasochism. I’m a huge Warren Zevon fan. His songs tend to be on the dark side…and anyone who has listened to Excitable Boy will testify to that.
When I heard Zevon’s version of this song for the first time I was sold. I first heard the Linda Ronstadt version and I loved it. I’m a Linda Ronstadt fan but something about Zevon’s version draws me in. It’s raw and crude and I love the way he sings it.
Zevon wrote and recorded the song and it appeared on his self-titled album in 1976. It became a hit when Linda Ronstadt covered it the next year. She cleaned up the song a little. Ronstadt’s cover was a cleaned-up version with the gender reversed. Still, her character fails at suicide, but the S&M (sadomasochism) references are gone.
Like other Zevon songs this is a pretty crude and risqué song. His character is such a disaster that he can’t even kill himself: he puts his head on the railroad tracks, but the train doesn’t run anymore.
I met a girl at the rainbow bar
She asked me if I’d beat her
She took me back to the hired house
I don’t wanna talk about it, hut
It’s thought that the song was a friendly swipe at Jackson Browne, whose songs such as “Here Come Those Tears Again” and “Sleep’s Dark and Silent Gate” from The Pretender could be quite dark. The album was produced by Jackson Browne and had backing vocals by Lindsey Buckingham.
Another hit cover version of the song was recorded by Canadian country singer Terri Clark in 1996. It peaked at #1 in the Canadian Country Charts and #5 in the Billboard Country Charts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TbfQPRgcS8
Poor Poor Pitiful Me
I lay my head on the railroad tracks
I’m waiting on the double E
The railroad don’t run no more
Poor poor pitiful me
Poor poor pitiful me and poor poor pitiful me
These young girls won’t let me be
Lord have mercy on me, woe is me
Well I met a girl in West Hollywood
Well I ain’t naming names
But she really worked me over good
She was just like Jesse James
She really worked me over good
She was a credit to her gender
She put me through some changes Lord
Sort of like a waring blender
Poor poor pitiful me, poor poor pitiful me
These young girls won’t let me be
Lord have mercy on me, woe is me
Poor poor pitiful me and poor poor pitiful me
Oh these girls won’t let me be
Lord have mercy on me, woe is me
I met a girl at the rainbow bar
She asked me if I’d beat her
She took me back to the hired house
I don’t wanna talk about it, hut
Poor poor pitiful me
Poor poor pitiful me
Hut, never mind
Poor poor pitiful me
Yeah poor poor pitiful me
PowerPop... An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture 
a good one, I never noticed the lyrics so much (especially not Warren’s … I’ve heard Linda’s far more often). With all the friends he had and the monetary backing from the label, it’s remarkable he didn’t become much bigger…but kind of like one person said of Canada’s Rheostatics, they might be just a bit too smart for their own good.
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Yea that is a good way of looking at it. His songs always had tha dark side…even Werewolves of London
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Like Dave, I’ve never really paid much attention to the lyrics. I like that he mentions the famed Rainbow Bar & Grill in West Hollywood, which I’ve been to several times. I worked as a city planner for West Hollywood in the late 80s.
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I love the Linda cover, but this song is much more rocking by Warren.
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I do like Linda’s cover…but yea…the rawness of this is what I like.
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I still like Linda’s version better, but the original is good.
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I do like the song and also heard it first by Linda R. I also like some of his other songs. Yet, I’m in a minority here by saying I don’t care much for this artist for some reason, can’t really say why.
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He certainly has some darkness in him….or did.
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I read this story where he was at high school when JFK got shot – and Zevon walked around saying “Jackie, I have a sore head”. Dark sense of humour there.
It’s not surprising that Browne’s songs were dark around that time given the circumstances – although they were pretty serious even before he lost his wife.
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Well…I had to chuckle a little at that…yea that is dark. The first dark joke I remember was when Reagan was shot…James Brady was also shot in the head but lived…the joke was…he had a half of mind to quit that job.
Yea Browne went through a rough time in the mid to late seventies.
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Great tune, Max. I’m not sure I had heard any version of it.
I’m definitely more familiar with Linda Ronstadt and have covered her on previous occasions. When it comes to Warren Zevon, I pretty much only know “Werewolves of London” – poor poor pitiful me!
It’s safe to assume I’m in the minority when I say “Werewolves” has never impressed me that much. Don’t get me wrong: I’m not saying it’s a terrible song. I do find it very repetitive though.
That being said, while Zevon isn’t my first priority, he’s an artist I’d like to explore further.
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He is very dark…take a listen to Excitable Boy with the lyrics in front of you…that is why…I think…he never broke into the mainstream. He has some good songs though.
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Wow, it’s a great catchy tune, but I can see that pairing it with lyrics about rape and murder and subsequently digging up the bones of the victim isn’t everybody’s cup of tea!
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Yea….he was a great songwriter but with a hell of a dark edge. He did have another hit…Lawyers Guns and Money.
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Another good tune – at least no one gets bitten in their leg or raped, and there are no skeletons! 🙂
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LOL
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What a great song. Thanks for the head’s up, it’s been way too long.
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This song reminds me of a few girls from my past, and, in some cases, I DON’T want to talk about it. One often can’t read a book by its cover. Some wild things goin’ on out there. Please be careful.
I have Zevon’s 2-CD “Best Of” compilation, but I rarely listen to it.
I LIKE his offbeat subject matter, though he is also good at writing beautiful ballads.
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He really is dark at times….like with the song Excitable Boy.
Yep…I knew a girl very close to this…I ran as fast as I could at the time.
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I have always preferred Zevon’s version over Ronstadt’s. One reason is politically I have a problem with the lyrics directed at a woman. Poor Poor Pitiful Me is funny when the target is male. When the target is female, it is, uhm, a tad offensive.
I will admit, however, that while I knew the lyrics I never paid much attention to them. They don’t strike me as something to be taken seriously, again when the target is male. Too much, ahem, self-pity. And it is the absurdity of the self-pity that colors the whole song for me.
And I love it.
I do want to say something that struck me as I read the comments about Werewolves of London and especially Lawyers Guns and Money. They aren’t so much songs as they are riffs with lyrics hung on them. Of course, what is Louie Louie if not that riff? I’m not saying its a bad thing, but the comment that one of the songs sounds repetitive is on target. I still love it.
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Yea Zevon wasn’t politically correct for sure. Plus some men and women DO want that…I did meet one woman who I started to date and she said she liked that sort of thing…I got out of that pretty quick! I told her…no I cannot hit you.
Yea…this one is very close to Sweet Home Alabama….but many are and so is that song.
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