Attempted Mustache

Following the surprise success of novelty hit \"Dead Skunk\" on Loudon Wainwright\'s first full-band production, *Album III*, he headed to Nashville to cut *Attempted Mustache* with producer Bob Johnston (Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, et al) and some hotshot country musicians. There\'s not much country flavor to the album; like its predecessor it alternates between solo acoustic tunes and band-backed folk rock. While Wainwright never had another hit after \"Dead Skunk,\" a number of the songs had lives beyond *Attempted Mustache* -- \"Swimming Song\" was covered by Kate & Anna McGarrigle (Kate was Wainwright\'s wife at the time), Lucy Kaplansky, and others, and was featured in the film *The Squid and the Whale*; Johnny Cash cut absurdist parable \"The Man Who Couldn\'t Cry\" on his landmark *American Recordings* album; and the Kate-penned \"Come a Long Way\" showed up on the McGarrigles\' second LP. But the song bearing the most portent was \"Dilated to Meet You,\" a wry greeting to the baby Wainwright and McGarrigle were expecting, who of course turned out to be future singer/songwriter star Rufus Wainwright.