Titus writes:
As
many of you know, I am not generally into ageing rock stars – I find
it embarrassing to watch some of these people perform, and question
what on earth they think they are doing, singing their old songs in a
way that doesn’t seem to bear any resemblance to the original. Of course
I have exceptions – the Canadian comtemporary musician Neil Young
being one. Whether you could reasonably put Dr. John Cooper-Clarke into
that category is perhaps questionable, because as I said in a recent
blog, he is primarily a poet.
In
the case of the American singer-songwriter Loudon Wainwright III, I
have followed his career closely from 1967 right to the present day,
and to me, he continually strives to re-invent both himself and his
music. He has released 26 studio albums, six compilations and four live
albums. In addition to his musical attributes, Loudon has also acted –
mainly in smallish roles, and indeed got heads together with a fellow
musician – Joe Henry – to write the sound track for Judd Apatow’s film,
‘Knocked Up’.
He
was born in North Carolina in 1946, and always referred to the great
Tom Lehrer as a big influence on him. When in Rhode Island, Loudon’s
gran got him a employment working in a boatyard, and it was here that he
bought a guitar and wrote close on twenty songs in a year, in a witty,
self-mocking style. As well as Tom Lehrer, Wainwright cited Bob
Dylan’s performance at the Newport Folk Festival of 1963, as another
major influence.
You
will not be at all surprised that LW recorded 16 sessions for the Peel
Show (1970 – 2003), and at the end of the seventies, Radio 1
collaborated with BBC television, by producing the weekly programme
‘Sight & Sound in Concert’ which was a simultaneous broadcast
between radio and television – needless to say, Loudon made an
appearance on this too.
His
first marriage to folk singer Kate McGarrigle ended in divorce, but
they produced 2 children, Rufus & Martha, both of whom are
musicians. Rufus was the inspiration behind two of his father’s songs
and these were entitled ‘Rufus is a tit man’ (about his breastfeeding)
and ‘A father and a son’ which I have asked lex to play. Rufus later
wrote a song ‘Dinner at Eight’ about his conflictive relationship with
his father, whilst Martha & her father sang a duet ‘Father daughter
dialogue’ from the 1995 LP ‘Grown Man’. Loudon, Rufus & Martha
still play nowadays, and Dad, despite being 77 shows no sign of giving
up yet awhile. His web site is here.