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Title details for Liner Notes by Loudon Wainwright III - Available

Liner Notes

On Parents & Children, Exes & Excess, Death & Decay, & a Few of My Other Favorite Things

by Loudon Wainwright III
Loudon Wainwright III
Audiobook
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A memoir by the influential Grammy Award-winning singer and actor-son of journalist Loudon Wainwright, former husband of Kate McGarrigle and Suzzy Roche, and father of Rufus Wainwright, Martha Wainwright, Lucy Wainwright Roche, and Lexie Kelly Wainwright-a captivating meditation on relationships and creativity from the patriarch of one of America's great musical families. With a career spanning more than four decades, Loudon Wainwright III has established himself as one of the most enduring singer-songwriters who emerged from the late sixties. Not only does he perform regularly across America and in Europe, but he is a sought after actor, having appeared in such movies as The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, and Sleepwalk with Me; and TV series ranging from M*A*S*H to Person of Interest to Parks and Recreation. There is probably no singer-songwriter who has so blatantly inserted himself into his songs, about parents, grandparents, children, siblings, and wives. As he puts it in "So Many Songs": It's taken so long to finally see / My songs about you are all about me. The songs can be laugh-out-loud funny, but they also can cut to the bone. In his memoir, Wainwright continues to emphasize the personal: he details the family history his lyrics have referenced and the fractured relationships in the Wainwright family throughout generations: the alcoholism, the infidelities, the competitiveness-as well as the closeness, the successes, and the joy. Wainwright reflects on the experiences that have influenced his songwriting, including boarding school, the music business, swimming, macrobiotics, sex, incarceration, and something he calls Sir Walter Raleigh Syndrome. The book is very much about being a son-a status that dominates many of Wainwright's songs. But it is also about being a parent, a brother, and a grandfather. Wainwright's song lyrics are represented throughout the book, amplifying his prose and showing the connections between the songs and real life. He also includes excerpts and selections from his father's brilliant LIFE magazine columns-and, in so doing, re-establishes his father as a major essayist of his era. A funny and insightful meditation on family, inspiration, and art, Wainwright's memoir will thrill fans, listeners, and anyone who appreciates the intersection of music and life.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    September 5, 2017

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781681682891
      • File size: 302007 KB
      • Duration: 10:29:10

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Musician Loudon Wainwright recounts his fascinating and sometimes difficult life experiences, the "liner notes" of his life. Recollections include his student days at Carnegie School for the Arts, his hitchhiking travels along Route 66, his turbulent career, and his multiple relationships. Wainwright performs his own songs throughout this hilarious and honest audiobook. The humor is expected. After all, this is the folk artist whose biggest hit is the song titled "Dead Skunk." Wainwright's frankness can be jarring, but his openness is ultimately winning. Listeners who don't consider themselves "Loud Heads" (an actual phenomenon that Wainwright describes) will still enjoy this audiobook. Wainwright references his own work often, and the freedom to play his own work while he tells his stories makes this audiobook the definitive version of this title. S.P.C. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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