The Wit and Wisdom of Rufus Wainwright

Yet another reason to love British rock monthly The Word: This month’s cover story about Rufus Wainwright reveals that the singer-songwriter is, if nothing else, the most bitchily quotable pop star around. If it’s not enough that he refers to Kate McGarrigle as his “plain but fabulous Canadian mother,” there’s more after the jump.

“Tiergarten” . . . is one song that benefited from [Neil] Tennant’s input. Originally it was “a slow, slow, slow, slow ballad,” recalls Wainwright. “This dirge-like piece. And it was gonna be with harps only and no drums, this languid thing. And Neil immediately told me that he was bored. And I said, well, I don’t want Neil to be bored. Vicious When Bored: Neil Tennant!”

“Someone’s been working out,” [the author’s wife] says approvingly. When I ask him later if those hoofer’s legs belong to a secret gym bunny, Rufus replies as only Rufus can: with a would-be Wildean flourish. “Well,” he purrs, “I spent a lot of time running away from things.”

“I was quite bereft at the whole idea of being true to your artistic muse in an atmosphere where it’s all about success and indestructibility. I just needed to feel a little bit of decay or something! If it wasn’t me that was gonna be fucked up I guess it had to be the city”–pause–“so I went to Berlin.”

The Word [wordmagazine.co.uk] Earlier: Project X: The Word On The Word