The passing of Queen Elizabeth II was certainly a massive historical moment, and led to a lot of media coverage on her legacy, good and bad. From her steadiness through seven decades of war, turmoil, pandemic, and family trouble, the Queen showed strength and courage that many hope to attain… except for one small thing. The London werewolf epidemic of the mid-1970s. Instead of cleaning things up, she was dancing with Lon Chaney and Lon Chaney Jr.



Rocker Warren Zevon was a Chicago musician in the late 60s and 70s who worked his way up the ladder, first as a commercial jingle writer, then a session musician, then recorded a few covers, and finally began recording his own compositions. He had some minor success before finally signing to a major label in the mid-70s. His debut album and follow up were critical darlings, but it was his third major album Excitable Boy that brought him to the big time. And all because of one silly ditty.

One day Phil Everly and Zevon were watching the movie Werewolf of London, and joked that Warren should turn that into a song and dance craze, a la The Monster Mash. After a hearty laugh, Zevon said “what the hell”, and wrote some silly lyrics up.
Here’s where it gets weird – this was in 1975, a full 3 years before the song was recorded. Jackson Browne –

– saw the lyrics and decided to perform the song himself on stage! So to many people, Zevon’s version seemed like a cover of a Browne song. Weird.
The song apparently took so long to record and get just right that most of the album’s budget was just on this particular song. Fleetwood Mac’s rhythm section (Mick Fleetwood and John McVie) play drums and bass, respectively. Guitar was provided by Waddy Wachtel… who was later convicted for kiddie porn. Oy. A good tip is that dudes named “Waddy” or usually up to no good.
Things I love about this song:
- “Little-old-lady-got-mutilated-late-last-night”… So good.
- The cover of the single. Holy cow, how awesome is this??? I need this on a t-shirt, now.

- Lee Ho Fooks is a real place in London! You can get a big dish of beef chow mein! I always thought it was an excuse to get something that sounded like The f-word on the radio.

- I love that Warren takes time to tell us that the wolf’s hair was perfect, and that he has an exquisite tailor.
- I love that the aforementioned Lon Chaney and Chaney, Jr. were dancing with the Queen. Doing the “Werewolf of London”… though I never knew what the actual dance looked like, or if there was one.
- Apparently Tom Cruise sings this in The Color of Money. Because why not.
The song peaked at No. 21 on the Billboard chart, by far Warren’s greatest hit. The title track to Excitable Boy is just as weird, it’s about a kid who rapes and kills his prom date. In 1981, a movie called “An American Werewolf in London” was released, it’s awesome, go watch it. Sadley, Warren Zevon died in 2003.
For your enjoyment, here is a map of where the Werewolves of London were spotted: