The Wind by Warren Zevon

The Wind, Warren Zevon's twelfth and final studio album, came out on Artemis on August 26, 2003, just two weeks before he died on September 7. He started making it soon after doctors found inoperable pleural mesothelioma, a cancer in the lining of his lung, and he produced it himself, which makes every song feel like a note left on the kitchen table.

It's not a gloomy record, though. The old dry wit is still there, and so is the tenderness that always lurked under the gallows humor, and "Keep Me in Your Heart" is the song the countdowns have held on to. Bruce Springsteen shows up on "Disorder in the House", which won a Grammy for Best Rock Vocal Performance by a duo or group, and the album took Best Contemporary Folk Album, with three more nominations on top. On his last Letterman visit, asked what he had learned about life and death, Zevon said to "enjoy every sandwich". This is what that sounds like.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.