Loudon wainwright III, “missing you”
from, last man on earth, 2001
“He don’t stay out anymore
No more coming in past four
Most nights he turns in ‘round ten
He’s way too tired to pretend
Sure, you might find him up at three
But if he is it’s just to pee
Sometimes he’s awake ‘till two
But that’s just cause he’s missing you
He’s lying there and missing you
He don’t sleep late anymore
Up like a farmer half past four
And when that sleepy sun pops up
He’s halfway through his second cup
When his day’s work is done ‘round two
That’s when he starts in missing you
Quarter to three, it’s time to nap
He always says, No nap, I’m crap
His motto is, No nap, I’m crap
Guess he’s just set in his ways
He does the same damn thing most days
And there’s seven twenty-fours a week
With lots of down time so to speak
But he hardly glances at a clock
Since his routine is carved in rock
Man’s a machine, what can he do
Keep going on just missing you
Keep right on going missing you
And his teeth falls out, so does his hair
But in his dreams you’re always there
A jewel in his unconscious mind
A miracle, a precious find
But in the end he’s all alone
He wakes up and his jewel is gone
There’s a heaven and he knows it’s true
But he’s back on earth just missing you
And it’s hell on earth
Missing you
Back where he started
Missing you
”
Music moves our moods. Loudon Wainwright III can, in one song, take you from sittin’ on top of the world to being down in the lowest of dumps.
Want to understand LWIII? Good luck with that. This is an excerpt from a 2005 Guardian article on his daughter, Martha:
“Martha Wainwright came up with an effective way of dealing with having a singer-songwriter father who substituted looking after his family by writing about them in songs… ‘Especially as he always makes himself come across as funny and charming while the rest of us seem like whining victims, and we can't tell our side of the story. As a result he has a daughter who smokes and drinks too much and writes songs with titles like “Bloody M F A. * (swears edited!)
From Last Man on Earth 2001
-Neil Glassman-
If you are a fan of Mr. Wainwright I would highly recommend this book/cd retrospective of his bespeckled career called “Years in the Making,” 2018
Mr. Wainwright
“When a parent dies, the whole house of cards comes down”