David Letterman, who in 2002 hosted Warren Zevon‘s final television appearance before his death, paid tribute to his friend Saturday night with a lengthy induction speech at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame that lasted several times as long as the musical salute by the Killers that followed. The former late-night host mixed werewolf jokes with a recollection of breaking down in tears at the end of his final encounter with Zevon.
Letterman told the story of having Zevon on his program shortly after the rocker was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer and given only months to live. It was there that Zevon issued his famous “Enjoy every sandwich” advice, and Letterman spoke of following the singer-songwriter to his dressing room. There, he said, Zevon handed him the electric guitar he had used in his many appearances on the show, saying, “Take care of this for me.” “I know what’s supposed to happen now,” Letterman said, “and sure as hell, it did happen. I started to sob uncontrollably.”
Letterman stood beside the guitar in question and said, “For 22 years, I have taken care of the guitar. … By God, tonight it’s going back to work.” To Dave Keuning, lead guitarist of the Killers, he said, “It’s all yours, sir.” And at that point, it was left to the Killers — with special guest Waddy Wachtel, who played guitar on most of Zevon’s most famous records — to close the tribute out with their version of one of the honoree’s signature songs, “Lawyers, Guns and Money.”
It was only a one-song tribute, and his most famous song, “Werewolves of London,” did not factor into it — save for a couple of “Ah-oooh!” phrasings that Brandon Flowers worked in near the end of “Lawyers” as a semi-subtle interpolation.
Read the entire text of Letterman’s speech, following:
“I’m Dave ‘They Call Me the Breeze’ Letterman. I mean, honest to God. How cool is this, folks? How can you not feel a little let down after Salt-N-Pepa? I don’t blame you. Let’s wrap the show up and go home. Now, I can’t tell you how much fun this is for me, one, to just be out of the house, but two, to be here. And I want to thank the people who invited me to be part of this, to represent Warren Zevon, to represent his family, and to represent the people who love Warren’s music.Thank you very much for that.
“About a week ago, I talked to Warren’s son, Jordan, and I said, ‘Jordan, first of all, I’m honored beyond belief to be part of this, and thank you again. Are there things you would like me to mention that particular night?’ And Jordan said, ‘Yes. There are three things I want you to mention: When Warren was a kid he studied with Igor Stravinsky, the classical composer.’ ‘Okay,’ I said, ‘I’ll do that.’ I said, ‘By the way, when I was a kid, I had a paper route,’ and we kept going. He said, ‘Also, I want you to mention Stumpy the gangster.’ I said, ‘Okay, got it. Stumpy the Gangster.’ He said, ‘Next, I want you to mention Bev the Mormon.’ ‘Okay. Stumpy the gangster, Bev the Mormon. Got that.’ And I said, ‘By the way, Jordan, those are my two favorite songs.’ He said, ‘Those were his parents, dumbass.’
“Oh, by the way, Igor Stravinsky is still waiting for his nomination.
“I first knew of Warren Zevon’s music when there was an article in Rolling Stone, a big front-page feature on Warren Zevon. It was called ‘The Crack Up and Resurrection of Warren Zevon.’ That was the title of the article of the story; the subtitle was ‘How he saved himself from a coward’s death.’ Well, then, by God, this got my attention, and so I read the article because I enjoyed the man’s music, and at one point in the article we realized that Warren is having some trouble with addiction. He’s tortured. He has emotional difficulties and he’s addicted and he’s struggling, and we all know that these stories sometimes don’t end well. It turned out at one point, he got very drunk, took a gun and started shooting up his own record albums. Now, at the time I had been a TV weatherman, so this was completely out of my league of experience. But because of that, Warren was able to struggle through with the help of his family, with the help of his friends, and he did save his own life. And I just wonder, is it more difficult to save your own life or save the life of somebody else? Or is that equal? But by God, the fact that Warren existed through this, tortured as he was, and saved his own life, to me, listening to the man’s music, I found it to be even more valuable.
“When I then got to know Warren in person. I used to have a TV show on NBC. Hands if you remember NBC. Warren would be a guest on the program and he often would fill in for our musical director, Paul Shaffer. And it was a delight for me to have these two around, listening to Warren and talking to and getting to know Warren. And I was taken by an album that Warren had done in the ‘70s. It was called ‘Stand in the Fire.’ It was recorded at the Roxy on Sunset Blvd., and it was a live album, and the energy of that album would come off the record in those days and jump on you and knock you down. It was amazing. And I was talking to Warren on the show about that album and I said, ‘Warren, that was so great, “Stand in the Fire.” The music on that live album, I couldn’t get enough of that. It was tremendously dynamic.’ Warren looked at me and he said, ‘Well, you know, honestly, Dave, when it comes to the ‘70s, there’s really not much I can remember,’ kind of explaining his struggle. But then the music that we listened to, Warren playing with our band… and forgive me for this, but being right there in that studio, it was my own version of ‘20 Feet From Stardom.’ It was delightful,
“You know, in music, many pretend, but Warren is a poet leaving few of life’s vagaries unaddressed. Warren’s music is dense with historic illusion, love and sadness, tinted with unexpected whimsy. Delivered with third-rail voltage rock ‘n’ roll, or sweet, heartbreaking, lush, symphonic melodies, either version of the man’s music is classic.
“Rock ‘n’ roll… Ask any of Warren’s peers — Bruce Springsteen, Don Henley, Jackson Browne, Bob Dylan. Hell, ask Igor Stravinsky. Warren Zevon is in my Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, actually his own wing.
“I had an idea; you’re gonna have to bear with me on this. I am so consumed with the work of Warren Zevon that when I was coming over here tonight in the Way-mo, I decided I better make a list of Warren Zevon songs and explain some of these to this audience… And keep in mind, thank you, I’m not a musicologist, I’m not the professor of rock. I’m just Dave. Are you ready for this? Here we go. Now this is not a complete list. And I’ve divided ’em into three categories.
“The first category: Warren Zevon, global and personal strife. ‘Roland, the Headless Thompson Gunner’ — we all know that this is about a Norwegian mercenary and Patty Hearst. We know ‘Excitable Boy’ — this is about a boy who gets very excited about pot roast. ‘I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead’ — and boy, if this doesn’t get you in the Hall of Fame, stop trying.
“Category number two: love songs. ‘Mutineer.’ Oh my God, this makes people cry. ‘Reconsider Me.’ This also makes people cry. ‘Searching for a Heart.’ Whenever I listen to this song, it’s always like the first time I’ve heard it and then I start to cry.
“Okay, the third category of Warren Zevon songs: Songs about werewolves. That’s right. This is about a werewolf in London, and I don’t know if this is a true story, but there you have it.”
A tribute reel followed that featured Bruce Springsteen, Jackson Browne, Don Henley and Jorge Calderon, among other friends and contemporaries, talking about Zevon’s impact, interspersed with performance clips that included Linda Ronstadt doing one of her many covers of his work. Then Letterman returned.
David Letterman speaks onstage during the 2025 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony at Peacock Theater on November 8, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.
Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for RRH
“The thing about ‘Enjoy every sandwich’ — you know that that’s easy, but it’s deeply meaningful. And there’s not a person in this room who hasn’t considered that, but nobody can hang on to that on a daily basis. But by God, isn’t that true of life around the planet? Enjoy every sandwich.
“I have a joke here I want to try: Oh my God, I’m surrounded by Killers and they’ve captured Waddy Wachtel. Oh, brother.
“So that night, with Warren on the show, that was 22 years ago, the last time I saw Warren after the show, Warren goes up to his dressing room and I follow Warren to the dressing room myself. And I’ve been warned never to follow people to the dressing room, but I go up to Warren and we’re in the dressing room and he’s changed his clothes and he’s taking his stuff and he’s putting it away. And he’s got a guitar there that he’s used every time he’s appeared on our show. And as we’re chatting, he picks up the guitar and he puts it in the guitar case. And then he flips up those two little guitar clippies on a guitar case. How long do I need to do this? He closes the guitar case, he hands it to me and he says, ‘Take care of this for me.’ So in my head, I think I’ve seen this movie. I know what’s supposed to happen now, and sure as hell, it did happen. I started to sob uncontrollably. Warren and I hugged and I said, ‘Warren, I just love your music.’
“So for 22 years, I have taken care of the guitar. This is the guitar right here… You know, in a way I’m glad the guitar gets a bigger reaction than the ‘I’m surrounded by Killers’ joke. This is the guitar, and by God, um, tonight it’s going back to work. Dave [Keuning, lead guitarist of the Killers], it’s all yours, sir. So now to put Warren right in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, it’s gonna be the Killers. Congratulations, Warren. Thank you for everything. Enjoy every sandwich.”
The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction followed by two weeks a far longer tribute to Zevon, the four-hour, 30-song-plus concert “Warren Zevon: Join Me in L.A.,” produced as a benefit by the Wild Honey organization at the United Theatre on Broadway in downtown Los Angeles. Among the performers at that show were his original producer Jackson Browne and longtime co-writer, Calderon, veteran session musicians Rick Marotta, Bob Glaub and Leland Sklar, and admirers such as Dwight Yoakam, Shooter Jennings and Fountains of Wayne. (See a review of that show here and read interviews with Jordan Zevon, Calderon and some of the other participants here.)
