Writer: Warren Zevon
Producer: Jackson Browne
Recorded: Summer 1977 at the Sound Factory in Hollywood, California
Released: January 1978
| Players: | Warren Zevon — vocals, piano Waddy Wachtel — guitar Kenny Edwards — bass Rick Marotta — drums |
| Album: | Excitable Boy (Asylum, 1978) |
Warren Zevon first made a name for himself as a songwriter whose work was recorded by others, particularly Linda Ronstadt (“Hasten Down The Wind,” “Poor Poor Pitiful Me,” “Mohammed's Radio”).
Jackson Browne was an early Zevon supporter who helped broker his record deal with Asylum and produced his first two albums.
In the liner notes to the anthology, I'll Sleep When I'm Dead, Zevon recounted the genesis of “Lawyers, Guns And Money”: “My friend Burt Stein (who was also my A&R man at Asylum Records) and I were on vacation in Kauai, Hawaii. We were riding past the cane fields with a young woman whose acquaintance I'd made the previous evening, and she was taking us to a friend's 'plantation house.' She mentioned sort of off-handedly that her friend wasn't home; that we might, in fact, have to break in. I turned to Burt. 'Dear Joe,' I said, thinking of Joe Smith, the president of the record company. 'Send lawyers.' 'And guns,' Burt added. I said, 'And money.'”
Though never a hit as a single, “Lawyers, Guns And Money” was a popular radio track and remains a favorite with Zevon's fans.
The song did cause some controversy due to the line “the s–t has hit the fan,” which was verboten on the radio. Asylum released an edited version of the song with an entire verse cut from it. Much to Zevon's despair, that version of the song appeared on the first Zevon collection, A Quiet, Normal Life.
Excitable Boy was Zevon's most successful album, peaking at Number Eight on the Billboard 200 and earning a gold record