A Conversation with Rufus Wainwright (continued)

PM: Aside from your singular songwriting ability, one thing that truly separates you from the pack is your beautiful voice, and that fantastic vibrato. How and when did that come about?

RW: Well, I never really had any formal training. I had a month of vocal lessons once. But at the age of thirteen or fourteen, I became a massive opera fanatic. So I started to imitate the great singers. I mean, I'm basically a male Judy Garland. And my voice, well, it's kind of a jungle.

PM: Ordinarily I don't like that much vibrato. But the way you do it, it's very pleasing.

RW: Well, I try to make it somewhat…respectable.

PM: Along those vocal lines, I think one of the most impressive aspects of this record is the background vocals. Can we discuss some of your thinking or approach in this domain?

RW: I basically tap into a little bit of my megalomania, and turn on the tape machine, or the computer, in this case. The greatest thing about this record, really, is that I worked with Marius DeVries. He was completely willing, and actually enjoyed, for God knows what reason, recording me over and over and over again singing background parts with myself to create a Chinese wall of sound.

PM: So, when you've got so many tracks of background vocals, isn't that kind of a nightmarish mix?

RW: Well, we'd sort of whittle it down after a certain point. On songs like "I Don't Know What It Is," it was incredible how much information there was on that. And on this subject I've learned a lot from Lenny Waronker, that there comes a point where one must become ruthless about what's really necessary. So we cut a lot out. You definitely have to know how to edit yourself properly. You have to be able to let go of all kinds of things.

PM: I may lose you shortly, so I'd like to know what you're reading and to whom you're listening.

RW: Well, I'm listening to Beethoven, to Fidelio. [laughs] And I'm reading Big Lies: The Right Wing Propaganda Machine and How It Distorts the Truth by Joe Conason [editor of the New York Observer and salon.com columnist].

[At this point, Rufus' publicist politely broke in and asked us to wrap it up.]

PM: Rufus, what would you like to do that you have not yet attempted? Will you write an opera, or score a film, for instance?

RW: Yes, well I think I've spent enough time writing songs about my measly little life, and I'd certainly like to dissect some other people's lives.

PM: We've enjoyed immensely the songs about your measly little life, and we thank you for sharing some time with us today.

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