Written and originally recorded by Warren Zevon, "Poor Poor Pitiful Me" first appeared on his self-titled album in 1976. It became a hit when Linda Ronstadt covered it the next year. In the '70s, Ronstadt had several hits originally recorded by other artists, including "You're No Good" and "Heat Wave."
Typical of Zevon's songwriting, this is a pretty crude and risqué song. His character is such a disaster that he can't even kill himself: he puts his head on the railroad tracks, but the train doesn't run anymore. He then meets a girl and engages in some sadomasochism. Ronstadt's cover is a cleaned-up version with the gender reversed. Her character still fails at suicide, but the S&M references ("I met her at the Rainbow Bar, she asked me if I'd beat her...") are gone.
Ronstadt shared her thoughts on this song in a 1978 interview with Sounds: "To me that song seemed like the purest expression of male vanity. Step on you, be insensitive, be unkind and give you a hard time, saying can't ya take it, can't ya take it. Then if you tease men in the slightest bit, they'll just walk off with their feelings hurt, stomp off in a corner and pout. I mean that's the way men are, I swear. I thought the verse turned around to a female point of view was just perfect. The gender change works perfectly."
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