Sunday Diva/Three From The Hip:
Rufus Wainwright
In my big gay church there is a wing dedicated to The Divas Who Represent. They're not all flashy or cocks of the walk - in fact, some never officially came out of the closet during their lifetime - but they are all extraordinarily gifted, sharing their songs, music, and insights, allowing the world at large to learn, in the most subtle of ways, what it's like 'being green'. Thanks to their gifts and their bravery, they help make the world a little more gay every time their voices are heard. And that's been their true super power all along... their voice; they were heard. They mattered. And, whether they liked it or not, they represented!
One such undefinable, musically nomadic songsmith?
Rufus Wainwright.
Resistant to the notion of being a common pop star, this diva has always set the bar much higher. Though, there was one pop star cliché he didn't avoid. But after a visit to Minnesota, he found his bearings and has never made that mistake again.
He's had so much to draw from... just look at his musical heritage. And then there's his talent for distilling sonic sap from a variety of musical trees; time and time again he's managed to astound and amaze.
Of course, such versatility comes at a price. It's a sort of mask, concealing and protective, one sometimes wonders... exactly what is he serving up?
But then, that's the marvel of Rufus Wainwright.
One never know who'll be popping up in the musical stream of things. All those facsimiles?
That's what makes him so fascinating.
The gospel according to him?
Well, here are three from the hip, dropping from his lips.
The topic? Defining Rufus.
"I basically have needed to go to the piano and give voice periodically to, you know - I'm always afraid to describe it as a kind of therapeutic process, but nevertheless it was a type of unloading that had to occur due to my personal life with my mother's health or just my professional trials and tribulations."
"To me, songs come of their own volition - and with an open-ended philosophy."
"I am always writing; if you want to survive in this business, you need to keep working, keep creating and never stop the output."
"Why be in music, why write songs, if you can't use them to explore life or an idealized vision of life? I believe a lot of our lives are spent asleep, and what I've been trying to do is hold on to those moments when a little spark cuts through the fog and nudges you."
"I'm definitely a fan of juxtaposition. Using the most beautiful line to say the most horrific thing - I think one of the main things in songwriting is definitely friction between the words and the melody."
"I am regarded as a usurper, as an imposter and dilettante, because I do technically come from the wrong side of the tracks in musical terms."
"Everything I do, I feel is genius. Whether it is or it isn't."
"I'm a big fan of the Pre-Raphaelites. Millais, Edward Burne-Jones, and I realized recently that my music is Pre-Raphaelite in a certain way, in that it reinvents an older era and romanticizes it, puts it in this gilded frame."
"I'm very much a romantic. I'm highly attuned to an older sensibility, which I believe is alive and well. We're not that far ahead of the Romantic Age in society."
"I'm very much a romantic. I'm highly attuned to an older sensibility, which I believe is alive and well. We're not that far ahead of the Romantic Age in society."
"I like to sing to Verdi, I like singing to Sibelius, and Mahler maybe."
"When I'm in the classical world, I really treat it as exactly classical and I don't try and spruce it up or jazz it up or make it easier for the masses."
"I am undefinable. I don't fit into any particular category."
"I am undefinable. I don't fit into any particular category."
"Writing an opera and premiering in England, you could say I was going right into the eye of the storm and I came out successfully. A little tattered and bruised, but so what, I made it."
"Premiering a new opera is probably one of the hardest things in the world to do, and opening nights of any opera are always pretty stressful."
"In retrospect, I'm really shocked at how far I put my heart out there on the line with 'Prima Donna'. I seem to have this knack for being able to accomplish that."
"When I wrote the opera, I made a deal with myself that for at least an hour a day I would work on it, even if it meant just sitting on my piano bench, staring into space and thinking about it. It's about keeping it regular, like your bowel movements - let's get real: it's your bodily artistic movements! It comes from the same place."
"Prima Donna is my kind of love song to opera but it's not the full experience."
"I am under no illusion that I will ever be the greatest opera composer in the world, with Wagner and Verdi and Strauss before me. I think my work could fit very nicely into musicals, though."
Going To A Town - Rufus Wainwright
Out Of The Game - Rufus Wainwright
Heading For Home - Rufus Wainwright feat. John Legend
And one last parting shot...
"I've written songs for Shirley Bassey, Marianne Faithfull, and Linda Thompson. I sort of focus on these wonderful, aging divas. But maybe that's because I think I'm Christina Aguilera."
"The artist who gave me the most inspiration and direction, especially as a singer - and I absolutely consider myself a singer, 100 percent - is Nina Simone. She's my ultimate pianist-singer-type person."
"For better or worse, I've always been curious musically. Whether it's opera or Judy Garland or pop, I've deliberately sought those things out. I've never wanted to do the same things over and over. Some think I've accomplished what I set out to do, and others consider me a dilettante."
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3 comments:
He has a cross border connection, raised in Montreal his middle name denotes his Folky crown up here. I do like when he sings A la Claire Fontaine, an old and pretty French Canadian tune.
I adore him and his music. I might even have had sexual fantasies of us already too. Just saying.
very cute!
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