Warren Zevon wrote a lot of story songs that would make great movies. "Lawyers, Guns and Money" would fall into the action/adventure genre, telling the tale of a troubled youth visiting Cuba who writes home to his father for help.
The reference to "I'm hiding in Honduras" may refer to the short exile of famous American short story writer O. Henry (Will Porter). In 1894, while working as a bank teller in Austin, Texas, Porter embezzled $5,000. He fled to New Orleansand then Honduras to avoid prosecution. At that time, US companies began their major export of Bananas from Honduras to the US, so the New Orleans-Honduras route was a well traveled one. Porter stayed in Honduras 11 months but returned to Austin to be near his terminally ill wife. He was arrested an served time in jail.
Zevon gleaned the title for this song on one of his many adventures. He and his label rep Burt Stein were on a trip to Kauai, Hawaii, and ended up in the company of a young lady who took them to a friend's house. On the way, she mentioned that her friend might not be home, in which case they'd have to break in. Zevon started thinking of the letter he'd have to write to his label boss if it got hairy. "Send lawyers," he said. "And guns," Stein added. "And money," said Zevon.
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