Those pesky Wainwright kids are causing trouble again…
In my early teens, with punk in full fury, it was always very exciting and entertaining to hear a good bit of swearing on a record.
The classic, of course, was Ian Dury’s Plaistow Patricia on New Boots and Panties (a moment’s silence please for one of the greatest albums ever…..) which, for the unacquainted starts with the late Mr Dury delivering a stream of full-blown expletives with no musical accompaniment. Oh how we laughed.
However, I don’t remember anything with a title quite as fruity as ‘Bloody Mother Fucking Asshole’ - which is Martha Wainwright’s paean to her father Loudon, previously released as a single and now probably the best track on her eponymous debut album.
Now, my daughter is only six weeks old, who knows what will go on between us in the future. I’m sure that at some point she’ll feel nothing but hatred for me. I just hope that should she get round to writing a song about me either a) it’s slightly nicer than that or b) if it’s horrible, it’s not very good.
The rest of the album is also very fine, incidentally. She’s at the smart end of folk.. a little more poetic than her father, but more conventional than her brother (lots of nice guitar strumming, simple accompaniment etc). I’ve never listened to her mum so can’t compare.
And yes, unfortunately for her dad, BMFA is a quite wonderful song.
Poor old Loudon. I wonder if young ‘uns who hear Rufus and Martha singing and read their interviews are buying his albums to find out what sort of monster this man is…or whether they’re boycotting him out of principle.
We all used to sit around and play Loudon Wainwright songs on the guitar when we were younger - well, ‘The Suicide Song’ in particular.
So I’ve been listening to him for years. Hey, I knew Rufus when he was just a tit man…(Wainwright in-joke, there) Anyway, I’ve ordered his new album, so I’ve got he full Wainwright 2005 set to compare and contrast. i wonder if near simultaneous releases from all the family are going to become an annual thing now.
If you’ve never listened to him..you should. If nothing else - he’s very funny. His live album - Career Moves is a pretty good starting place.