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LOUDON WAINWRIGHT III
Social Studies
Hannibal
The best political songs combine passionate commitment and analytic
command, laced with streaks of black humor, as in prime Mekons or
Gil Scott-Heron. Liberal detachment can sound just as smug as the
self-righteousness so many protest singers run aground on. So if
this collection of the occasional songs Loudon Wainwright III
occasionally composes for NPR enjoys the advantage of his perpetual
cleverness, it suffers the disadvantage of his perpetual
bemusement. Not that most of them aren't effective once, or even
twice. But today's news dates tomorrow, nobody's jokes are
surefire, boomer self-mockery equals boomer self-regard, and God
help us there's a stupid Y2K single. Basically, anyone who believed
for more than a night that "Bill was way too cool to be true" is
too resigned to the capitalist order to get beyond the quiet
desperation Loudon's people have wallowed in since his dad worked
for Life. Most complex achievements: "Tonya's Twirls," about class
and gender, gentility and beauty; and "Pretty Good Day," in which
the artiste gets up in the morning.
Rolling Stone, 1999
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