I was gambling in Havana
I took a little risk
Send lawyers, guns and money
Dad, get me out of this

Every sovereign professional has a lawyers, guns and money moment at one point or other.

Warren Zevon’s my favourite songwriter, after Bob Dylan. He was literate, witty, satisfyingly cynical and musical. He took the easy-on-the-ear musicality of the West Coast, Asylum-label sound of the Eagles, Jackson Browne et al and added his own black humour and an edge of film noir. He also wrote the most fragile love songs.

Lawyers, Guns and Money first appeared on Zevon’s 1978 album Excitable Boy, but here I’ve chosen a version by The Wallflowers recorded for the posthumous tribute album, Enjoy Every Sandwich.

Here’s the Wallflowers and Zevon’s son Jordan (who also appears on the album) on the David Letterman Show …

And here’s Zevon himself on the David Sanborn show …