3 Things You Didn’t Know About the 1978 One-Hit Wonder “Werewolves Of London”

If you’ve heard it, you’ve howled with it. That’s right, the 1978 single “Werewolves Of London” is a catchy track that, after just a single listen, gets you howling at the moon above. With a familiar and simple piano riff and vocals that stay with you, it’s a tune that has lasted for ages.

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Here below, we wanted to dive into why. We also wanted to highlight three lesser-known things about the offering that you might find interesting next time you’re calling out to the heavens. Indeed, these are three things you didn’t know about the 1978 one-hit wonder “Werewolves Of London”.

Famous Friends

It’s always interesting to see where and when a famous song begins. When it comes to “Werewolves Of London”, the track started as a joke. Phil Everly of The Everly Brothers mused to songwriter and performer Warren Zevon that he should compose a track with the scary title.

Everly had just seen the 1935 movie of the same name. And though it was some 40 years since that film’s release, he thought Zevon could knock the assignment out of the park. “Werewolves Of London” soon became one of those famous tracks written in just a few minutes as Zevon and his bandmates started to shout out lyric ideas in jest.

Later, in the studio, Zevon went through a number of possible players for the recording session. But in the end, he landed on Fleetwood Mac’s drummer, Mick Fleetwood, and bassist, John McVie. After the tune was cut, famous artists like Jackson Browne and T Bone Burnett co-signed it, playing it live even before the single had been released on the 1978 LP, Excitable Boy.

Chinese Food

Anyone listening to Zevon’s track, which hit No. 21 on the Billboard Hot 100, certainly notices all the references to Chinese food. Well, salivate at your own risk, because the British restaurant Zevon cites in the offering is now sadly closed.

Indeed, Zevon sings, “He was looking for the place called Lee Ho Fook’s / Gonna get a big dish of beef chow mein.” Sounds delicious, right? And the place where the fictitious werewolf sat actually existed. The Lee Ho Fook restaurant stood at 15 Gerrard Street in East London, part of the city’s robust Chinatown.

But the Cantonese spot closed in 2008. Now we just have the memory of its menu in the hands of a cartoonish, howling monster.

Sleeper Hit

Often, we are not our own best critic. Such was the case with Warren Zevon and “Werewolves Of London”. The Chicago-born artist didn’t even want to release the offering as a single in the late 1970s. Much to his surprise, it was a breakout success.

“I don’t know why that became such a hit,” Zevon later said. But we have a guess. Maybe because it’s just super fun to sing along to. Almost like Halloween, it’s an excuse to act wild and be a little out there. Indeed, just ask 1986 pool shark Tom Cruise (see: above)!

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