Sixteen years before he died of lung cancer in 2003, Warren Zevon recorded a song that foreshadowed his own death,
The song about a blue-collar worker who chooses to become a factory worker like his dad, “The Factory,” appeared on Zevon’s 1987 comeback album Sentimental Hygiene.
In the song, Zevon sings, “Kickin’ asbestos in the factory. Punchin’ out Chryslers in the factory. Breathin’ that plastic in the factory.”
Zevon died in 2003 of advanced malignant mesothelioma, which is often caused by exposure to asbestos. Even stranger, Zevon has never worked in a factory, so he accidentally and tragically predicted the cause of his death.
“I keep asking myself how I suddenly was thrust into the position of travel agent for death,” he reflected during an appearance on Letterman. “But then, of course, the whole point of why it’s so strange is that I had already assigned myself that role so many years of writing ago.”
The “Werewolves of London” singer released the album Life’ll Kill Ya in 2000, less than two years before his passing, and My Ride’s Here, months before his diagnosis. The albums featured themes of death and decay, as well as his fear of the doctors.
When writing his last album, the singer-songwriter felt unwell but was not yet diagnosed. This is why many of the lyrics speak to a vague allusion about a non-specific ailment.
“I knew it was bad when the doctor came in with the CAT scan in his hand, closed the door, and gave me a glass of water and said, ‘I need to tell you something,’” Zevon told the Los Angeles Times.
After his diagnosis, Zevon met with his doctor over breakfast and joked about the name of his records. “These are my last two albums,” Zevon told his doctor. “Maybe now you’ll understand that eerie acceptance of death you keep asking me about.”
Almost a year to the day that he spoke with the Los Angeles Times about his cancer, Zevon passed away in his Los Angeles home on September 7, 2003.
