Zevon’s Greatest Lines?

  • “She only sleeps on planes” – Suzie Lightning; beautifully succinct and evocative.
  • “A little old lady got mutilated late last night” – Werewolves Of London; fantastic staccato alliteration.
  • “Some days I feel like my shadow’s casting me” – Dirty Life And Times; from his last album after he was diagnosed with terminal cancer.
  • “Home is just a place to hang your head” – Things To Do In Denver When You’re Dead; take a cliche and bend it into something new and illuminating.
  • “She’s so many women, He can’t find the one who was his friend” – Hasten Down The Wind.
  • “No-one’s invested enough of themselves to yield to maturity” – Nobody’s In Love This Year; or nearly any other line from this tender ballad of love lost.
  • “Send lawyers, guns and money.  Dad, get me out of this” – Lawyers, Guns And Money.
  • “Your face looked like something death brought with him in his suitcase” – The French Inhaler; you know you’re in trouble when…
  • “The vast indifference of heaven” – The Indifference Of Heaven.
  • “And if California slides into the ocean, Like the mystics and statistics say it will, I predict this motel will be standing, Until I pay my bill” – Desperados Under The Eaves
  • “I went to the doctor, I said, ‘I’m feeling kind of rough’, ‘Let me break it to you son, Your shit’s fucked up’ ” – My Shit’s Fucked Up; yup.
  • “Love conquers all, You can’t start it like a car, You can’t stop it with a gun” – Searching For A Heart.

And a runner-up…

  • “When your grasp has exceeded your reach” – Fistful Of Rain; because I think he borrowed the line from John Ruskin, the English poet.

Suggestions, objections and contradictions welcome.

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