Sep 28th '06 by amrit @ 10:56am 9 Comments

This track comes from Plague Songs, an album commissioned by the arts organization Artangel and comprising contributions from stalwarts and Stereogum faves including Stephin Merritt, Brian Eno (and Robert Wyatt), and Rufus Wainwright. Each artist was asked to pen a song inspired by one of the ten biblical plagues in the Book of Exodus as part of a film and a larger, public art project in the British city of Margate. Getting flamboyantly-gay Rufus on board may have drawn ire from the faithful, but maybe they’ll forgive him after a listen to his velvety vibrato.

Rufus Wainwright – “Katonah (The Death Of The Firstborn)” (MP3 link removed)

It’s vintage Wainwright, sounding much like the half-time, guitar-based tunes he penned while in rehab that appeared on the awesome Want One. But instead of being about boys, his father, and Britney Spears, it’s about the Bible. Where else do you go after covering Judy Garland?

Plague Songs is out 10/2 in the UK, 11/7 in the States.

Tags:  
Moby Addicted To Internet, Hates Soap
New Paul Westerberg - "Love You In The Fall"
Rufus Wainwright - Zap2it
Rufus Wainwright | Clash Music Artist Profile, Bio, Tickets, Site ...
Rufus Wainwright pay tribute to Judy Garland at Royal Opera House ...
Rufus Wainwright – April Fools
Rufus rocks the opera
Yup that’s pretty much it. Oh yeah, except for the music — some of it’s nice if you like that kind of thing.” Rufus Wainwright does in fact like that kind of thing, and now he tosses his hat into the arena alongside Puccini, Verdi and Wagner.
Heads Up: Shakespeare with Wainwright
What are we talking about? A Shakespeare-inspired evening at the Barbican, featuring the UK premiere of singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright's musical setting of five Shakespeare sonnets. Elevator pitch The expense of spirit as Wainwright meets the Bard.
Comments (9)
  1. rachel  |   Posted on Sep 28th, 2006

    i love Rufus alot but i really only like him when he rocks a bit more. His crooner stuff like this doesn’t do it for me so much….

    Reply
  2. mrbenning  |   Posted on Sep 28th, 2006

    Thanks a ton for this track. Its stuff like this that makes me visit this site way too often.

    Reply
  3. thepants  |   Posted on Sep 28th, 2006

    i think the faithful might be more offended by the lead track’s repeated usage of the f-bomb RIGHT after quoting scripture.

    Reply
  4. 1  |   Posted on Sep 28th, 2006

    really good track, sounds a bit more like Want two rather.

    Reply
  5. Jules  |   Posted on Sep 28th, 2006

    Thanks a lot for this track – I love Rufus. And that might be Martha on backing vocals. Awesome, I love her even more!

    Reply
  6. Word  |   Posted on Sep 28th, 2006

    no, that is NOT Martha Wainwight on backing vocals. it is Rufus’ half-sister, Lucy Roche. they have performed the song live numerous times together

    Reply
  7. jenny  |   Posted on Sep 28th, 2006

    Thanks for the Mp3!
    *stoked for new album*

    Reply
  8. Stephanie  |   Posted on Sep 29th, 2006

    People tend to get distracted from his gorgeous voice by his songwriting, but Rufus can take any material and make it better just by covering it. He’s just amazing.

    Reply
  9. chris  |   Posted on Nov 2nd, 2006

    A truly amazing song, I love it. I also think it is cool that he made a song about jack johnson, who many of us from the Katonah knew…

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Login

You must be logged in to post, reply to, or rate a comment.

%s1 / %s2