Warren Zevon - Splendid Isolation

From his 1989 album, “Transverse City”. I claim no rights to any of the images or music in this video. All rights remain with their respective owners.
Lyrics:

[Instrumental intro]

I wanna live alone in the desert
I wanna be like Georgia O'Keefe
I wanna live on the Upper East Side
And never go down in the street

Splendid Isolation
I don't need no one
Splendid isolation

Michael Jackson in Disneyland
Don't have to share it with nobody else
Lock the gates, Goofy, take my hand
And lead me through the world of self

Splendid isolation
I don't need no one
Splendid isolation

Don't want to wake up with no one beside me
Don't want to take up with nobody new
Don't want nobody comin' by without calling first
Don't want nothin' to do with you

[Harmonica bridge]

I'm putting tinfoil up on the windows
Lying down in the dark to dream
I don't wanna to see their faces
I don't wanna to hear them scream

Splendid isolation
I don't need no one
Splendid isolation

Splendid isolation
I don't need no one
Splendid isolation

[Extended harmonica outro]

Songwriter: Warren Zevon
Music Producers: Warren Zevon, Duncan Aldrich, Andrew Slater
Video Producer: Eleanor Plant

Musically, this is folk rock in e minor, with a 4/4 time signature, and 122 bpm. I’s a blend of Eastern-European folk and down tempo rock. If the harmonica part sounds strangely familiar it’s because it’s Neil Young blowing it.

Some say that Warren Zevon was an almost indestructible narcissist who was never noble, honest, nor recognized by the Grammys. George was a big fan of Zevon for as long as I remember and listened to “Splendid Isolation” incessantly in June of 2017. For a long time after George died, I hated this song. I couldn’t decided if it was deeply depressing or if it was about triumph in the FACE of deep depression. I finally came to the conclusion that Zevon was simply owning up to a conflicted and selfish life, and that’s what my dad saw in it. I think maybe we ALL have a little of that inner conflict in us.