Letters: A Girl, Her Dad And 'Werewolves Of London'

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

Judging from our inbox, we caused tears - copious tears - last Thursday, when we aired a story about this song.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WEREWOLVES OF LONDON")

WARREN ZEVON: (Singing) Ah-oooo, werewolves of London...

CORNISH: That's Warren Zevon with the 1978 song "Werewolves of London."

Listener Christina Pappas of Lexington, Kentucky, told us about the song for our series "Mom and Dad's Record Collection." Pappas hates it, but her father loves it.

CHRISTINA PAPPAS: My dad's a truck driver now. And whenever he's on the road and hears this song, he will call me. And he will blast the song into the phone. And I'll begin one of my rants, and then we'll have a good laugh together. And then we'll just chat and catch up.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WEREWOLVES OF LONDON")

ZEVON: (Singing) He's the hairy-handed gent who ran amuck in Kent. Lately, he's been overheard in Mayfair...

CORNISH: Pappas went on to say she had told her father she'd played that song at her wedding, quote, "over my dead body." Instead, their father-daughter dance would be to "What A Wonderful World." You know where this is going. The werewolves won.

PAPPAS: So on my wedding day, as my dad and I are standing in, you know, the center of the dance floor, kind of waiting for the song to - queued up, once that opening line - that opening, kind of bass line to the song - started playing, my dad froze. And he looked at me, and I just smiled and said, this is the only song we're - could ever dance to. And he started crying, and I started crying. I can honestly say that's probably only the second time in my entire life I've seen my father tear up.

CORNISH: And out there in listener land, the tears flowed like wine. Phyllis Irvine(ph), of Santa Rosa, California, writes: I was simultaneously laughing and crying, picturing them howling to the song as they danced.

Jeffrey Posner of Portland, Oregon, had this to say: If anyone should dare ask me why I listen to NPR, all I have to do is use Thursday's piece about summer music to prove that NPR is, without a doubt, the finest, most moving, and most human programming anywhere on the planet.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WEREWOLVES OF LONDON")

ZEVON: (Singing) You better stay away from him. He'll rip your lungs out, Jim...

CORNISH: There were no tears for H. John Henry of Royersford, Pennsylvania. He was, however, moved to tell us this: You have 10 minutes to talk about music and you waste it? Talking to some girl about her and father's relationship, over a tune that's long gone?

But then Gail Hecky(ph) of Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, who sent us a critical e-mail earlier last week, found herself compelled to send another note, saying: OK, I just wrote to complain two days ago; and you've now found me sitting in my car, unable to leave the story about the father-daughter "Werewolves of London" song.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WEREWOLVES OF LONDON")

ZEVON: (Singing) Ah-oooo, werewolves of London...

CORNISH: You can write to us at NPR.org. Just click on Contact Us at the bottom of the page.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WEREWOLVES OF LONDON")

ZEVON: (Singing) Ah-oooo, werewolves of London. Ah-oooo. Well, I saw Lon Chaney walking with the queen, doing the werewolves of London. I saw Lon Chaney Jr. walking with the queen - ooh! - doing the werewolves of London...

CORNISH: This is NPR. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.