A Conversation with Rufus Wainwright  (continued)

PM: I hope my next question is not too crass. Are you the biggest success in your talented family by this point?

RW: [laughs] Well, this album so far, we found out it's number two today in England.

PM: Really? Congratulations!

RW: I'm number two on the charts, I'm right behind Linkin Park.

Over here I think it's number ten on iTunes, and it's sort of climbing every day, so it's a little slower here. But I don't know, I think that-- yes.

[laughter]

RW: But I've used a lot of their auras and names, and influences to get where I am today. So I'm inextricably linked.

PM: Yeah, for sure. So before I get the hook, would you share, please, what you're reading, and to whom you may be listening?

RW: Well, right now I'm listening to Bright Eyes, his new album, which is great.

PM: How interesting.

RW: Yeah, I think he's really incredible. I'd love to work with him someday. And I also of course am always--I'm in a big Wagner kick right now as well--like the Ring Cycle and all that.

And I'm reading Susan Sontag's Illness as Metaphor, which is an interesting book about illness.

PM: Amazing. So since your label hasn't come back on the phone yet, I want to ask you to comment please, if you would, on the line from, "Do I Disappoint You?" "I'm tired of being the reason the road has a shoulder."

RW: Oh, yeah, yeah. By that I mean, the kind of person who, while driving, won't pay attention to the street--

[laughter]

RW: --and goes crashing off the side.

[laughter]

PM: And what about the feelings expressed on "I'm So Tired of You"--"going to a town, I'm so tired of you, America"--

RW: Right.

PM: --are you getting a lot of attention about that sentiment?

RW: Yeah. That's causing quite a stir. In fact, I did a TV show the other day in the morning in London where I got to perform it for Gordon Brown, which was kind of insane, he was on the show, too, and then that was in the headlines. But I didn't intend to write that song, it just popped into my lap one day, fully formed, and I'm just kind of going with it. Even if you're a conservative in this country, you can't help but be somewhat disgusted by what's been happening over the last few years.

PM: Absolutely.

RW: I'm just stating the truth. And I do think it's an American right and also an American quality to be critical of the government and to express yourself freely.

PM: Because we can and we do.

RW: We can and we do. And I don't intend to feel this way always. I still live in the U.S. I love New York, and I love all of the United States. But we have to--I don't know, I have to just get that out and move on.

PM: Absolutely.

PM: Thank you so much for your time, Rufus. It's always a pleasure.

RW: Thank you.

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