This came out in 2003 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
“I just want to be my dad,” melodramatic balladeer Rufus Wainwright wished on his last album Want One. If I were Rufus, I’d want the same thing — especially after listening to So Damn Happy, the latest charming effort from his wry folksinger pa Loudon Wainwright III.
In comparison to the tortured artistry of his son, daddy Loudon has always made it look easy — something he does again on this easygoing, hour-long live disc. Aided and abetted by old cronies like Van Dyke Parks and Richard Thompson, Wainwright delivers a laid-back set divided between oldies like Westchester County and newer fare. And as he applies his razor-sharp wit to everything from Napster (“Go ahead and download me, see if I care”) and the hereafter (“There’ll be lots of drinking in heaven”) to the practical problems of aging (“Time flies when you f—k around and then you look like s—t”), it’s no wonder he claims “The worst thing is I’m so damn happy.” If Rufus really wants to be like dad, there’s lesson No. 1.
