Top Ten Warren Zevon Songs: Searching for a Heart (#4)

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In addition to my top 20 Merle Haggard songs I'm also counting down my ten favorite songs by my all-time favorite rock songwriter, Warren Zevon. When you do something like this, the exceptional quality of so many songs makes it hard to put them in a certain order. Trust me, this was no easy list to put together! #4: Searching for a Heart They say love conquers all, you can't start it like a car, you can't stop it with a gun That is why Warren Zevon is my favorite songwriter. That's a line and a half. In fact, when David Letterman paid tribute to Zevon after his death in 2003 that was the first line he quoted from Zevon as an example of what a fine songwriter he was. This is one of Zevon's midtempo love songs that he never really got full credit for doing so well. Most people like to point to novelty songs like "Werewolves of London" or the "violent" songs on the Excitable Boy album (such as yesterday's entry, "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner") that earned him the inappropriate nickname "the Sam Peckinpah of rock and roll." Zevon had a softer side, too. Listen to "Tenderness on the Block," inspired by his baby daughter, on Excitable Boy for a great example of "the other side" of Warren Zevon. And this song fits that bill, too. It's about a man who's been hurt by love more than once and is trying to find that right person. Anyone who's been hurt by love or is trying to find love can identify strongly with this marvelous tune. Searching for a Heart Written by Warren Zevon From Mr. Bad Example, 1991