Ten Favorite High or Low Songs: Back in the High Life Again (#6)

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Curve ball time! I'm counting down my favorite songs that have "high" or "low" in the title, and I've come to a place where there are two major shake-ups. First, there won't be a "high" song for 4/20. Secondly, here's a song you know but a version you don't. Here's the next song on the list. #6: Back in the High Life Again - Warren Zevon Warren Zevon??? And when you listen to it, you hear a slow, acoustic song that sounds nothing like the upbeat, synth-driven Steve Winwood hit. How right you are! It's amazing how changing the tempo of a song can completely change the meaning of the song. Winwood's original was a celebration of returning to the good times. Zevon's version, recorded on an album called Life'll Kill Ya and released two years before his diagnosis with terminal cancer, seems to be more wishful thinking. When Winwood sings "I'll drink and dance with one hand free" you can see him on the dance floor. When Zevon, in contrast, sang that line you can see him more standing outside the club, denied entrance. If you think about it, it's a pretty good definition of Zevon's career: after the success of Excitable Boy he never really got "back in the high life," remaining a cult figure, until he released his final album. It's amazing how Warren Zevon took a very well-known song written by someone else and turned it into a Warren Zevon song. Back in the High Life Again Written by Steve Winwood and Will Jennings Recorded by Warren Zevon From Life'll Kill Ya, 2000 (Original by Steve Winwood, from Back in the High Life, 1986) Oh I'll be a sight to see: