Older Than My Old Man Now

Despite having a privileged upbringing and earning the respect of his peers (and Judd Apatow, who\'s used Loudon\'s music in his films), Loudon Wainwright III can never shake his dark side. His humor has always been laced with a melancholia and emotional fragility that gives depth to even his most glib observations. At 65, he has outlived his father (a *Life* magazine journalist) and now sets about observing what his senior status has brought. He brings his family together to sing along, plus a variety of guests. \"I Remember Sex\" with comedian Barry Humphries (better known as Dame Edna Everage) is a worthy laugh, but the real joy here is in the somber reflections of \"In C,\" the title track (which begins with Loudon reading the his father\'s words and his son, Rufus, adding vocals), and \"The Days That We Die,\" which also starts with his father\'s eloquent words. Loudon comes from literary stock, and it\'s always shown in his work, which has become even more affecting as the years pass.

It’s a good thing Loudon Wainwright’s Older Than My Old Man Now is so funny, because otherwise it would be unbearably sad. Older Than My Old Man Now is a concept album about death and decay that posits the inexorable march of time and the inevitable embrace of the grave as two-thirds raucous comedy and one-third…

Loudon Wainwright Jr., a noted columnist and editor for Life Magazine, died in 1988, just four days shy of his sixty-sixth…

Check out our album review of Artist's Older Than My Old Man Now on Rolling Stone.com.

Loudon Wainwright III's Older Than My Old Man Now deals primarily with the inevitable: mortality, but not without his trademarked brand of cranky, wiseacre (and sometime just plain mean-spirited) sense of humor.