Loudon Wainwright Songs Ranked

Loudon Snowden Wainwright III (born September 5, 1946) is an American songwriter, folk singer, humorist, and actor. His sister is Sloan Wainwright. He is the father of musicians Rufus Wainwright, Martha Wainwright, and Lucy Wainwright Roche, and is the former husband of the late folk singer Kate McGarrigle.To date, Wainwright has released 24 studio albums, 4 live albums, and 6 compilations, as well as appearing in at least 18 television programs and feature films. Reflecting upon his career in 1999, he stated, “You could characterize the catalog as somewhat checkered, although I prefer to think of it as a tapestry.” In October 2017, Wainwright released his autobiography, Liner Notes: On Parents & Children, Exes & Excess, Death & Decay, and a Few of My Other Favorite Things. Here are all of Loudon Wainwright’s songs ranked.

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10. Grey in L.A. (Strange Weirdos, 2007)

“Any song he does is on my list of favorites. This one is particularly catchy, and sticks in my head… I love it anyway! This song is about how people who moved to LA from other parts of the country get sick of the sun everyday. And on the one day a year it does rain they love it cause it reminds them of home while everyone else is complaining and flipping their car on the 15.”

9. Unhappy Anniversary (More Love Songs, 1986)

“I dearly love Loudon’s songwriting and I’ve owned the Demon/Rounder compilation from this period for a long time- probably since the nineties at least so finally tracking down another couple of these albums was cause for celebration.”

8. The Days That We Die (Older Than My Old Man Now, 2012)

“An album about age and death, and obviously Loudon’s private life and struggle with his sons (both present to help sing on significant lyrics); the spectacular of personal affections has always been some kind of mark to Wainwright’s intimate songwriting, but nowadays has lost most of its humour and sounds a little embarrassing, like peeking through an open window.”

7. Your Mother and I (More Love Songs, 1986)

“Best album in his career: this has the greatest sequence of songs he’s ever managed to put on record. Enjoyable from the start to the end (exception made, maybe, for the synth-heavy No)”

See more: Loudon Wainwright Albums Ranked

6. White Winos (28 Days, 2000)

“This song is very Oepidal “we always stuck with white wine, we stayed away from Red” “that’s when I got nervous when the glow got hot” “I’ll have a drop of red when I’m with a woman that I want to talk to bed” “thank god we stuck with white wine and stayed away from (Red)” I fell in love with this song when I first heard it but I now realize it’s about sexual tension with his mother O_O it pairs up nicely then with Surviving Twin on the same album which is open about his Oedipal relationship with his father”

5. Rufus Is a Tit Man (Unrequited, 1975)

“Rufus and his Loudon do have their differences, especially in relation to Rufus’ sexual orientation. But i think this song is more a representation of a father’s love for his child as well as an observation of Kate’s relationship with Rufus being a maternal one..”

4. Motel Blues (Album II, 1971)

“One of Loudon’s classics. It shows the fragile side of a musician on tour, longing for companionship and believing that he deserves more than he is entitled to. There is the lure of the spotlight on one hand, and the reality of being an artist on the other.”

See more: Cher Songs Ranked

3. Daughter (Golden Slumbers: A Father’s Love, 2005)

“Love was redefined when my daughter was born changing my life forever. Listening to the words of this song I believe father Wainwright shared a similar experience. He sings it much better than I.”

2. Dead Skunk (Album III, 1972)

“A long time ago, a friend created a cassette tape for me to play when traveling. This song was on that cassette. Just a little wacky, but I love that type of thing. I can’t go anywhere without this song on my traveling CD. It makes the journey shorter and a lot more fun.”

1. The Swimming Song (Attempted Mustache, 1973)

“You should buy it. I did. I haven’t regretted it once, even when it peed on my carpet one time. It was still getting used to its new surroundings so it is understandable. Those things happen. This song is great. It will make you happy, and feeling happy is pretty nice, especially if you were feeling sad earlier because your carpet had gotten peed on. This is just the song you need. It’ll fix ya up good.”