Lyrics to
The French Inhaler

This version of The French Inhaler was released by Warren Zevon in 1976.

Our About Warren Zevon page at Decade Lyrics includes the lyrics for The French Inhaler from 1976 as well as all of the other lyrics from Warren Zevon that we have in our lyrics database.

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How’re you going to make your way in the world
When you weren’t cut out for working
When your fingers are slender and frail
How’re you going to get around
In this sleazy bedroom town
If you don’t put yourself up for sale

Where will you go with your scarves and your miracles
Who’s gonna know who you are
Drugs and wine and flattering light
You must try it again till you get it right
Maybe you’ll end up with someone different every night

All these people with no home to go home to
They’d all like to spend the night with you
Maybe I would, too

But tell me
How’re you going to make your way in the world, woman
When you weren’t cut out for working
And you just can’t concentrate
And you always show up late

You said you were an actress
Yes, I believe you are
I thought you’d be a star
So I drank up all the money,
Yes, I drank up all the money,
With these phonies in this Hollywood bar,
These friends of mine in this Hollywood bar

Loneliness and frustration
We both came down with an acute case
And when the lights came up at two
I caught a glimpse of you
And your face looked like something
Death brought with him in his suitcase

Your pretty face
It looked so wasted
Another pretty face
Devastated
The French Inhaler
He stamped and mailed her
“So long, Norman”
She said, “So long, Norman”

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Warren Zevon has released many songs over the years besides The French Inhaler. Warren Zevon released songs from 1969 to 2003 spanning across albums like Wanted Dead Or Alive, Warren Zevon, Excitable Boy, Bad Luck Streak In Dancing School, Stand In The Fire, The Envoy, Sentimental Hygiene, Transverse City, Hindu Love Gods, Mr. Bad Example, Mutineer, Life'll Kill Ya, My Ride's Here, and The Wind. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Warren Zevon.

If you're a fan of 1970s songs looking for more songs from 1976 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and The French Inhaler by Warren Zevon

The lyrics to The French Inhaler are just the words, phrases, verses and chorus that Warren Zevon used when the song was created in 1976. The lyrics to The French Inhaler have both easy-to-spot meanings and hidden metaphors that have been discussed by the music press and fans, but only Warren Zevon and any collaborators know all of the inspirations for the song.

If you like etymology or breaking apart phrases and words, it is easy to understand the lyrics to The French Inhaler by Warren Zevon. The word "lyric" itself derives from the Latin word lyricus, with the actual English word lyrics applied to the definition "words set to music" listed in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Continuing the chain, the Latin word lyricus derives from the Greek word λυρικός or lyrikós. This somewhat means "poetry accompanied by the lyre" or "words set to music." You can easily see that by looking at the background of the word lyric, that the "lyrics to The French Inhaler" means the words set to the music of The French Inhaler, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Warren Zevon. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song. However, the singular form lyric is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics. Hence, by this analysis of word structure, you could say that the lyric to The French Inhaler and the lyrics to The French Inhaler are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Warren Zevon who came here looking just for the lyrics to The French Inhaler, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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