36 years later I finally got turned on to the rockin’ glory of Warren Zevon’s “Even a Dog Can Shake Hands”

By Steve Newton

I’m a little show on the uptake sometimes.

For example, just yesterday I was typing up my old interview from 1987 with Rick Richards of the Georgia Satellites, giving the article new life on the internet after being trapped on yellowing newspaper and stashed in a banker’s box for decades.

In the interview Richards mentions how he plays guitar on a track from the soon-to-be-released Warren Zevon album, Sentimental Hygiene. The song was called “Even a Dog Can Shake Hands”, so with a title like that I of course had to immediately search it up on YouTube and give it a listen.

Holy f**k! I couldn’t believe what an amazing tune that was–and not just because of Rick Richard’s wickedly rockin’ guitar riffs.

“That’s just Warren’s tongue-in-cheek comment on the music business,” Richards told me about the song’s title back in ’87, and he wasn’t foolin’. The song–cowritten with R.E.M. members  Bill Berry, Peter Buck and Mike Mills–is a cynical take on the phoniness inherent in the entertainment world.

You’ll be making the scene ’til they pick your bones clean
And they don’t leave much for the fans
Everybody’s tryna be a friend of mine
Even a dog can shake hands

Although I would interview Warren Zevon myself five years later, back in ’87 I wasn’t a big follower (my bad). Turns out Sentimental Hygiene is a star-studded affair, featuring appearances by Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Brian Setzer, Mike Campbell, Flea, David Lindley, Waddy Wachtel, and the guys from R.E.M., as well as Rick Richards.

I think I need to search for a copy on vinyl next time I’m visiting Neptoon.

To hear the full audio of my 1987 and 1988 interviews with Rick Richards–and my 1992 interview with Warren Zevon as well–subscribe to my Patreon page, where you can eavesdrop on over 500 my uncut, one-on-one conversations with musicians since 1982.