Warren Zevon
Lyric guide

Mr Bad Example

Read Mr Bad Example lyrics by Warren Zevon on LyroVerse, with linked artist context and related song paths.

Warren Zevon visibility10 visits
person Curated by Ethan Walker LyroVerse team
Reference snapshot

The page facts to cite before the commentary

Use this page for the lyric text, linked artist context, and any LyroVerse editor's note attached to the song. Listener comments remain user-generated and should not be treated as the primary source.

Page type: lyric reference Artist: Warren Zevon Canonical path: /zevon-warren/mr-bad-example Related lyric paths: 6
Lyrics

Mr Bad Example

The lyric stays readable and compact here; the note and related paths sit nearby so you do not lose the song while looking for context.

I started as an altar boy working at the church

Learning all my holy moves doing some research

Which led me to a cash box labelled "Children's Fund"

I'd leave the change and tuck the bills inside my cumberbund

I got a part-time job at my father's carpet store

Laying tackless stripping and housewives by the score

I loaded up their furniture and took it to Spokane

Auctioned off every last naugahyde divan

I'm very well acquainted with the seven deadly sins

I keep a busy schedule trying to fit them in

I'm proud to be a glutton and I don't have time for sloth

I'm greedy and I'm angry and I don't care who I cross

CHORUS

I'm Mr. Bad Example, intruder in the dirt

I llike to have a good time and I don't care who gets hurt

I'm Mr. Bad Example, take a look at me

I'll live to be a hundred and go down in history

Of course I went to law school and got a law degree

And counselled all my clients to plead insanity

Then worked in hair replacement swindling the bald

Where very few are chosen, fewer still are called

Then on to Monte Carlo play chemin de fer

I threw away the fortune I made transplanting hair

I put my last few francs down on a prostitute

Who took me up to her room to perform the flag salute

Whereupon I stole her passport and her wig

And headed for the airport and the midnight flight, you dig?

Fourteen hours later I was down in Adelaide

Looking through the want ads sipping Foster's in the shade

I opened up an agency somewhere down the line

To hire aboriginals to work the opal mines

But I attached their wages and took a whopping cut

And whisked away their workman's comp and pauperized the lot

CHORUS

I bought a first class ticket on Malaysian Air

Landed in Sri Lanka none the worse for wear

I'm thinking of retiring from all my dirty deals

See you in the next life, wake me up for meals

Quick answers

What this page can answer fast

Who performs "Mr Bad Example"?

Warren Zevon performs "Mr Bad Example", and this lyric page sits inside the Warren Zevon catalog on LyroVerse.

Are there related songs to explore after "Mr Bad Example"?

Yes. The related section below points to Bill Lee and The factory with a short reason for opening each page next.

Where can I find more songs by Warren Zevon?

Use the artist link near the top of the page or the related paths section below to keep moving through Warren Zevon's lyric pages.

Song Room

Interpretations, questions, and corrections for this song

Interpretations, questions, memories, and correction notes live together here. The room stays noindex while the best insights are reviewed.

Open Song Room
0 followers Selected insights only surface after moderation
Listener comments

What people are saying

0 comments
Add a short interpretation or memory

A strong comment here is specific: the phrase you keep hearing, the mood you come back for, or the reason this song stays in rotation.

Sign in to post the first listener note. Reporting stays open to everyone.

No listener comments on Mr Bad Example yet.