“Poor Poor Pitiful Me” (Warren Zevon/Linda Ronstadt/Terri Clark)

Today’s classic song of the day is “Poor Poor Pitiful Me.” It was written by and originally recorded by Warren Zevon but became a hit when covered by singer Linda Ronstadt. It was also a hit for country singer Terri Clark two decades later.

As noted, Warren Zevon wrote “Poor Poor Pitiful Me” and included it on his 1976 album, Warren Zevon. It was said to be a friendly swipe at his friend Jackson Browne, who tended to write songs that were somewhat depressing. “Poor Poor Pitiful” makes fun of the “oh woe is me” school of songwriting by describing a guy who wants to commit suicide by train (but fails), is worked over pretty good by a girl he meets, then meets up with another girl with decided masochistic tendencies. Poor guy. Poor, poor, pitiful guy.

I’m a particular fan of this bit:

Well, I met a girl in West Hollywood
But I ain’t naming names
But she really worked me over good
She was just like Jesse James
She really worked me over good
She was a credit to her gender
She put me through some changes, Lord
Sort of like a Waring blender

That Waring blender line gets me every time.

Linda Ronstadt covered a lot of Warren Zevon’s songs, including “Hasten Down the Wind” and “Carmelita,” and decided to record her own version of “Poor Poor Pitiful Me” for her Simple Dreams album. Released as a single in January of 1978, Linda’s hard-rocking version of “Poor Poor Pitiful Me” hit #31 on the Billboard Hot 100, #26 on the Cash Box Top 100, and #27 on Billboard’s Easy Listening list. It also hit #46 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart.

Ms. Ronstadt changed a few of the lyrics for her recording of the song. In addition to switching the gender throughout, she didn’t think she could sing the third verse as it was originally written. “I can’t sing those words, man! That’s not who I am,” she reportedly said at the time.

The original third verse, if you’ve ever heard Warren’s version of the song, went like this:

I met a girl at the Rainbow Bar
She asked me if I’d beat her
She took me back to the Hyatt House
I don’t want to talk about it, hey

Along with the gender switch, Ms. Ronstadt changed the lyrics to read as follows:

Well, I met a boy in the Vieux Carres
Down in Yokohama
He picked me up and he threw me down
He said, “Please don’t hurt me, mama”

Not bad, but the original is a bit more humorous.

Almost two decades later, in September of 1996, country artist Terri Clark recorded her own slightly countrified version of “Poor Poor Pitiful Me,” based on Linda Ronstadt’s cover. Ms. Clark’s version was the best-performing of them all, shooting all the way to #5 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart.

And here’s your daily bonus video of the day, Linda Ronstadt singing “Poor Poor Pitiful Me” live in Atlanta in 1977, before she committed the song to vinyl. Look out for the great Waddy Wachtel on guitar—he really rocks!