No Tomorrow - Loudon Wainwright III

No Tomorrow - Loudon Wainwright III 
3:01
Older Than My Old Man Now, 2012

Written by Loudon Wainwright

The ultimate carpe diem, live for today song.  It's pretty explicit about the message; no subtext here.  After LW3 imagines a drunkard, a spendthrift, and a man wondering where the time went, he just comes out and says it.  "Tomorrow might get it but there's no way to know / So live for today, there's no tomorrow."  Loud-O has always written about mortality, but at the time of this album he was 65 and living in the moment (like his dog!) probably seemed like a great idea.  It's clear he had a lot of life left from this song, however; his vocal is as spry, playful and strong as ever as he sings, bellows, tosses out asides, and holds the notes with youthful energy.

I'm Going To Give It To Mary With Love - Loudon Wainwright III

I'm Going To Give It To Mary With Love - Loudon Wainwright III

3:16

I'd Rather Lead a Band, 2020

Written by Cliff Edwards, 1933

Assisted by Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks, Wainwright takes on this song, which, like all the others on the album, is from the early American songbook.  This one's a winking, risqué-for-the-time song of sexual innuendo ("I'm going to let her take it right in the hand / 'Cause I know that she'll stroke it so grand")  Later, of course, he tosses out the joke: "I'm talking about a necklace!" Wainwright, with his long history of describing himself as a cross between a goofy dad, a hopeless husband, and a ladies' man who can't help himself, is the perfect voice for this novelty song.

Christmas Morning - Loudon Wainwright III

Christmas Morning - Loudon Wainwright III

3:36

Social Studies, 1999

Written by Loudon Wainwright

A wry view of what Christmas really means by the master of deadpan skewering of social mores.  The song begins with a typical, perhaps overly hokey, description of Christmas morning, with presents and stores being closed.  It's almost a tender scene, via Wainwright's never-quite-serious pen: "He got a tie and she got a book / They weren't supposed to peek but they took a little look."  But soon the song turns to the problem of the homeless, bigotry, and war, juxtaposing society's indifference or hostility with the ostensible ideal of Christmas.  "And the Prince of peace was born on a Christmas Day / In the little town of Bethlehem not so far away / From where a multitude has gathered in a warlike way / On Christmas morning."

Dead Skunk - Loudon Wainwright III

Dead Skunk - Loudon Wainwright III

3:05

Album III, 1972

Written by Loudon Wainwright III

I came to LWIII's music through other albums and other songs, not through his one hit, this novelty number.  He's a lyricist with introspective, brutally honest songs, when he's not penning insightful, witty lyrics, and that's what I love him for.  This one, which I finally got around to hearing, is like Shania Twain's would-be paramour: it don't impress me much.  The title says it all; it's about a dead skunk in the road.  It's not a metaphor.  It's not meant to be a life lesson.  It's just a song about roadkill.  That's nice, I guess?