Song of the Day 1/11: Warren Zevon, “I Was in the House When the House Burned Down”

Friday calls for kick-ass rock ‘n’ roll, and this is one of my go-to songs for getting revved up.

The Warren Zevon songs everybody knows mostly come from the mid-1970s, when he was a favorite of the LA “Mellow Mafia” and championed by people like Jackson Browne and frequently covered by Linda Ronstadt. After that his addictions crippled his career, reducing his following to a dedicated cult. His last two albums returned him to some of his former glory, but even those two albums, “Life’ll Kill Ya” and “The Wind” are best known for poignant songs like “Keep Me in Your Heart.”

This rocker was included on “Life’ll Kill Ya,” which came out shortly before Zevon got his terminal cancer diagnosis. I think it’s the most kick-ass rock song Zevon ever wrote, and if it got the glossy kind of production his early hits got it would be more widely known today. Enjoy.