Mr. Bad Example (song)

"Mr. Bad Example"
Single by Warren Zevon
from the album Mr. Bad Example
Released	1991
Genre	Rock
Length	3:21
Label	Giant
Songwriter(s)	Warren Zevon, Jorge Calderón.

"Mr. Bad Example" is a song composed in 1991 by Warren Zevon and Jorge Calderón. It was used as the title track for the album, Mr. Bad Example. It tells the story of a nameless con-man and thief, sung to a polka.

It has been described as "a hilarious shaggy dog tale of one man's love affair with global irresponsibility",^[1] and an "antiheroic credo".^[2] In the song, the narrator successfully steals from a church, customers of his father's carpet store, and even a prostitute he hired. He also has a brief stint as a lawyer, makes a fortune in hair replacement then squanders it playing chemin-de-fer, and successfully tricks and impoverishes aboriginals he had hired to mine for opal. The song ends with the man retiring from his dirty deals, and asking that when you meet him in the next life you wake him up for meals.

References

1. "Mr. Bad Example album review on AllMusic". AllMusic.
2. Pollock, Bruce (2005). Rock Song Index: The 7500 Most Important Songs for the Rock and Roll Era (2nd ed.). Routledge. p. 248. ISBN 0415970733. OCLC 60393874.