Loudon Wainwright - Older Than My Old Man Now

[DavidM]

Currently streaming on the Liusterpaal website Loudon Wainwright III's latest album, Older Than My Old Man Now;

http://3voor12.vpro.nl/#!/luisterpaal/albums/Louden-Wainwright-III.html

Songs about getting older, families and dying. Rueful as one reviewer put it, but full of humour too. There's a song all about the many and various drugs he has to take so he can " eat and sleep and crap and piss and (something) and breathe". There are lots of other wonderful lines on it, too, like "There's no shallow end in the family pool". Plus, a duet with (..deep breath) Dame Edna Everage (?!), "I Remember Sex". So, it's an album all about him, him, him, but it's rewarding and funny just the same.

[AndyM]

Dame Edna??? Sounds like Rufus' sense of camp has been rubbing off on his Dad!

[Adam Blake]

His dad's sense of humour was always pretty dry. I can't imagine the repartee round the family dinner table when Rufus was coming out.

[NormanD]

I don't think Loudon III's reaction was especially liberal or supportive, was it? He may be 'accepting' now, but I bet that's he has more jealousy than pride about Rufus's greater commercial success than he's ever seen.

Many people watch soaps, many more immerse themselves in reality tv shows. Some of us just follow the antics of Les Wainwrights-McGarrigles, a display of family doings that has been going on for pushing forty years now. Does Martha still view her dad as a BMFA? Does Loudon III dandle Rufus's baby Lorca on his knee? Will Lorca's biological grandfather, Leonard Cohen, come round for dinner? Will sister Jane ever become Anna's regular singing partner? Was Jessica Tate really shot by that firing squad?

[Rob Hall]

The soundtrack alone would be a thing of wonder:

Your Mother And I
Go Leave
Rufus Is A Tit Man
Dinner At Eight
Bloody Mother F***ing A**hole

There's probably more, but those are the ones that spring immediately to mind. For those that don't know it, 'Go Leave' is an incredibly powerful song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ul0SCpzFUXI

[DavidM]

Some of us just follow the antics of Les Wainwrights-McGarrigles, a display of family doings that has been going on for pushing forty years now.

You're better informed than me, Norman, but certainly there are buckets of irony ( - pram-loads ?) when he sings about "...yet another wife, another Blessed event."