Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner - Warren Zevon, 1978

 
 
Roland was a warrior from the Land of the Midnight Sun
With a Thompson gun for hire, fighting to be done
The deal was made in Denmark on a dark and stormy day
So he set out for Biafra to join the bloody fray

Through sixty-six and seven they fought the Congo war
Fingers on their triggers, knee-deep in gore
For days and nights they battled the Bantu to their knees
They killed to earn their living and to help out the Congolese

Roland the Thompson gunner (x2)

His comrades fought beside him - Van Owen and the rest
But of all the Thompson gunners, Roland was the best
So the CIA decided they wanted Roland dead
That son-of-a-bitch Van Owen blew off Roland's head

Roland the headless Thompson gunner (Time, time, time
For another peaceful war
Norway's bravest son But time stands still for Roland
'Til he evens up the score)
They can still see his headless body stalking through the night
In the muzzle flash of Roland's Thompson gun
In the muzzle flash of Roland's Thompson gun

Roland searched the continent for the man who'd done him in
He found him in Mombassa in a barroom drinking gin
Roland aimed his Thompson gun - he didn't say a word
But he blew Van Owen's body from there to Johannesburg

Roland the headless Thompson gunner (x4)

The eternal Thompson gunner, still wandering through the night
Now it's ten years later but he still keeps up the fight
In Ireland, in Lebanon, in Palestine and Berkeley
Patty Hearst heard the burst of Roland's Thompson gun
And bought it
 
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Warren Zevon's father was a boxer and small-time criminal associated with L. A. mobster Mickey Cohen. His mother, on the other hand, was a Mormon from Salt Lake City. His parents broke up when he was 16, and Warren quit school to pursue a career in music; and it was quite a career. Besides releasing successful singles such as Werewolves of London, A Certain Girl, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Excitable Boy (check out the lyrics on THIS one), he also wrote songs covered by other artists such as Linda Ronstadt: Hasten Down the Wind, Carmelita, and Poor Poor Pitiful Me.

Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner is a strange song, but maybe not for Warren Zevon. He co-wrote the tune with David Lindell, an ex-mercenary running a bar in Spain. Besides being delightfully dark, the lyrics take stabs at various African conflicts, many of which may have had CIA involvement. The Patty Hearst reference throws a bizarre twist to the end, but most of his songs do make you think.

As it turns out , Roland was the last song Warren Zevon ever performed live (on David Letterman) before his death in 2003. Knowing he was diagnosed with inoperable mesothelioma, Zevon recorded one last album, The Wind. The featured guests read like a who's who of '70s American Rock, and on September 7, 2003, he succumbed to his cancer. He was 56.