"Mohammed's Radio" is a song by American singer-songwriter
Warren Zevon
Warren William Zevon (; January 24, 1947 – September 7, 2003) was an American rock singer, songwriter, and musician.
Zevon's most famous compositions include "Werewolves of London", " Lawyers, Guns and Money", and " Roland the Headless Th ...
. The song was released on his 1976 album ''
Warren Zevon
Warren William Zevon (; January 24, 1947 – September 7, 2003) was an American rock singer, songwriter, and musician.
Zevon's most famous compositions include "Werewolves of London", " Lawyers, Guns and Money", and " Roland the Headless Th ...
''. The song was featured on ''
A Quiet Normal Life: The Best of Warren Zevon'' and several other greatest hits-type albums by Zevon.
Fleetwood Mac members
Lindsey Buckingham
Lindsey Adams Buckingham (born October 3, 1949) is an American musician and record producer, best known as the lead guitarist and male lead vocalist of the band Fleetwood Mac from 1975 to 1987 and 1997 to 2018. In addition to his tenure with Fl ...
and
Stevie Nicks are also featured on this recording, as are
Bobby Keys
Robert Henry Keys (December 18, 1943 – December 2, 2014) was an American saxophonist who performed with other musicians as a member of several horn sections of the 1970s. He appears on albums by the Rolling Stones, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Harry Ni ...
,
Bob Glaub
Bob Glaub (born May 10, 1952)Hageman, William (April 29, 2005)."The aces of bass: Five giants of an overshadowed instrument", Knight Ridder Tribune News Service. is an American bass player and session musician. He has played with such artists an ...
, and
Waddy Wachtel
Robert "Waddy" Wachtel (born May 24, 1947) is an American musician, composer and record producer, most notable for his guitar work. Wachtel has worked as session musician for other artists such as Linda Ronstadt, Stevie Nicks, Kim Carnes, Randy ...
.
By one telling, the title of the song was inspired by a Halloween parade Zevon witnessed in Aspen, Colorado in 1973. However, by another telling, Zevon simply liked the sound of the two words together.
[George Plaskeyes, ''Warren Zevon: Desperatiado'' of Los Angeles, p. 30.]
In any case, the song has multiple levels of meaning, starting with the redemptive power of rock music, but extending to notions of escapism, cultural mixing, mysticism, and whether rationalities exist below the surface level of society.
It features some of Zevon's trademark mordant irony.
[ By another interpretation it is a negative portrayal of life in Los Angeles.
The song has been interpreted by other artists as well, most notably by ]Linda Ronstadt
Linda Maria Ronstadt (born July 15, 1946) is a retired American singer who performed and recorded in diverse genres including rock, country, light opera, the Great American Songbook, and Latin. She has earned 11 Grammy Awards, three American ...
on her 1978 album ''Living in the USA
''Living in the USA'' is the ninth studio album by American singer Linda Ronstadt, released in 1978. The album was Ronstadt's third and final No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart.
Release
The album was originally released by Asylum in the L ...
'', a track that gained airplay on album-oriented rock
Album-oriented rock (AOR, originally called album-oriented radio) is an FM radio format created in the United States in the 1970s that focuses on the full repertoire of rock albums and is currently associated with classic rock.
Album-orien ...
radio formats.
Critical response
Music critic John Rockwell
John Sargent Rockwell (born September 16, 1940) is an American music critic, dance critic and arts administrator. According to '' Grove Music Online'', "Rockwell brings two signal attributes to his critical work: a genuine admiration for all ...
devotes pages to the song – both the Zevon original and
the Ronstadt rendition – in his contribution to the Greil Marcus
Greil Marcus (born June 19, 1945) is an American author, music journalist and cultural critic. He is notable for producing scholarly and literary essays that place rock music in a broader framework of culture and politics.
Biography
Marcus wa ...
-edited 1979 collection of essays ''Stranded: Rock and Roll for a Desert Island'', where among other things Rockwell describes it as "an artistic breakthrough" for Ronstadt.[John Rockwell, "Living ing in the U.S.A.", in ''Stranded: Rock and Roll for a Desert Island'', ed. Greil Marcus (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1979)]
pp. 215-18
/ref>
A number of other books have yielded significant commentary on the song such as ''Philosophy Americana: Making Philosophy at Home in American Culture'',
''Rolling Stone Interv - Rolling Stone Magazine'',
[All Music Guide to Rock: The Definitive Guide to Rock, Pop, and Soul]
Briefer references note that the song inspired an independent film in 1995 of the same title, and critic Dave Marsh put it near the top of a list of "best songs about radio".Dave Marsh and James Bernard, ''New Book of Rock Lists'', p. 164
/ref>
Personnel
* Warren Zevon
Warren William Zevon (; January 24, 1947 – September 7, 2003) was an American rock singer, songwriter, and musician.
Zevon's most famous compositions include "Werewolves of London", " Lawyers, Guns and Money", and " Roland the Headless Th ...
– Vocals, piano
* Stevie Nicks – Backing vocals
* Lindsey Buckingham
Lindsey Adams Buckingham (born October 3, 1949) is an American musician and record producer, best known as the lead guitarist and male lead vocalist of the band Fleetwood Mac from 1975 to 1987 and 1997 to 2018. In addition to his tenure with Fl ...
– Guitar, backing vocals
* Bobby Keys
Robert Henry Keys (December 18, 1943 – December 2, 2014) was an American saxophonist who performed with other musicians as a member of several horn sections of the 1970s. He appears on albums by the Rolling Stones, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Harry Ni ...
– Saxophone
* Bob Glaub
Bob Glaub (born May 10, 1952)Hageman, William (April 29, 2005)."The aces of bass: Five giants of an overshadowed instrument", Knight Ridder Tribune News Service. is an American bass player and session musician. He has played with such artists an ...
– Bass guitar
* Waddy Wachtel
Robert "Waddy" Wachtel (born May 24, 1947) is an American musician, composer and record producer, most notable for his guitar work. Wachtel has worked as session musician for other artists such as Linda Ronstadt, Stevie Nicks, Kim Carnes, Randy ...
– Guitar
* David Lindley – Lap steel guitar
* Larry Zack – Drums, percussion
Technical
* Jackson Browne - Producer
*Ken Caillat
Kenneth Douglas Caillat ( ) is an American record producer. He is best known for engineering the Fleetwood Mac albums '' Rumours'', ''Tusk'', ''Mirage'', ''Live'', and '' The Chain Box Set''.
Life and career
Caillat was the president of 5.1 Ent ...
- Engineer
References
{{authority control
Warren Zevon songs
Songs written by Warren Zevon
1976 songs
Linda Ronstadt songs
Songs about radio