Singer turns to prose, offers look at his life
Loudon Wainwright III’s new memoir explores family, troubled relationships
For the better part of five decades, Loudon Wainwright III has been writing songs drawn unsparingly from his life: songs about his drinking, philandering and embattled breakups with Kate McGarrigle of Montreal’s McGarrigle sisters and Suzzy Roche of the Roches; his difficult relationships with his children and his father, famed Life magazine writer Loudon Wainwright Jr.; his bouts with depression; and growing old.
Wainwright has stood apart from the folk and roots movements in openly acknowledging his privileged boarding school background, and from singersongwriter formula in upending the “confessional” genre with biting humor. He’s mastered the topical song: His targets have ranged from Tonya Harding to Donald Trump.
Having been raised by a tortured soul, who, as admired as he was, lamented not being a “real writer” like John Updike or John Cheever, Loudon III got into acting (his sporadic roles over the years have included Capt. Calvin Spalding, the “singing surgeon” on TV’s “M.A.S.H.”) and songwriting. But all these years later, Wainwright emulates his old man with a new memoir, “Liner Notes.”
During a recent conversation that found him in Los Angeles, behind the wheel of a car, I asked him about his new guise as a prose stylist. Here’s a transcript of the chat, edited for clarity and space.
Q: You’ve been capturing your life for decades in songs like “Unhappy Anniversary,” “Mr. Guilty” and “Meet the Wainwrights.” What inspired you to write a book?
A: I just wanted to tell the story in a different way this time, in sentences instead of couplets. I’ve always had a tendency or propensity to write about myself and my family. There’s no real reason to write about anything else.
(His clan includes a number of singer-songwriters: Rufus Wainwright and Martha Wainwright, his children by the late Kate; Lucy Wainwright Roche, his daughter with Suzzy Roche; and sister Sloan Wainwright. The book’s dedication reads, “For the family, and all we put us through.”)
Q: You include in “Liner Notes” lyrics from many of your songs, though, as well as several of your father’s “View From Here” columns.
A: Yes, I wanted to put a lot of lyrics in the book. They crystallize what I say in the chapter essays. And I like the way my father’s beautiful writing connects with some of my concerns (among them, fatherhood, mortality and the writing life).
Q: You write about the threat to your “fragile ego” Kate and Anna McGarrigle’s acclaimed first album posed. What’s it like being surrounded by a family of such gifted artists? Do you find yourself competing with them, seeing them as rivals or bonding with them as fellow artists and pater familias?
A: Both of those things. On the one hand, it’s like a family business. We often perform together: We’re the dysfunctional von Trapp family. We certainly spur each other on, but we also want to shine together. Two years ago, we all went on a singer-songwriter cruise to Alaska — me and Rufus and Lucy and Suzzy (with whom he remains close) and Sloan. Singing together is very unifying.
Q: In your book, as in your songs, you’re very revealing in a mostly lighthearted fashion about your decades of “furtive, regretful behavior.” Do you worry that in this sensitive age some of your followers will jump ship?
A: My problems with my family are the same as yours with your family, only more public. I’ve never been overly revealing about them. I’ve always protected them.
Q: Is documenting this stuff cathartic?
A: I’m not sure about that. Writing songs is helpful in that it provides me with a job. Actually, writing about difficult subjects can be cathartic for the audience, greased with jokes and slid their way.
Q: Though you’re a prolific artist and scored a novelty hit in 1973 with “Dead Skunk,” you’ve never enjoyed the commercial success of a Paul Simon or a Jackson Browne. Was there a specific time in your career when you accepted the fact you’d always have a limited audience?
A: It was 1978. I had made six or seven records for major labels like Atlantic and Arista, and I was dropped by all of them because the albums didn’t sell. I tried in a lame, halfhearted way to record radiofriendly songs for Arista, but that didn’t work. After that, I was lucky to work with producers who really know how to serve the song, like Joe Henry and Dick Connette and David Mansfield. I made sure all of my songs were good enough to record — I didn’t want any filler on my albums.
Q: Among the numerous songs of yours that other artists have covered, do you have any favorites?
A: I write my songs for me to sing them. But hearing Johnny Cash sing “The Man Who Couldn’t Cry” live, with voice and guitar, on his first “American Recordings” album, was a thrill. It was a bit odd, though: He got laughs from the audience I didn’t know were there.
Q: What does your family think of “Liner Notes”?
A: The returns are not all in yet. There’s been a little radio silence from Rufus. And I haven’t heard from Martha. But Lucy said she likes it a lot, and so does Alexandra (his daughter by his current wife, Ritamarie Kelly). It may take time for
Q: Would your father have liked the book?
A: I think he would have liked the idea of me including his columns. I’ve written a lot about my father, mostly after he died (in 1988). My show, “Surviving Twin” (performed in April at the Old Town School of Folk Music), also incorporates his writing. It’s great to collaborate with him, even if he is no longer here.