If I had a gay bone in my body I would be absolutely in love with Rufus. What a voice.

Almost certainly my #1 favorite Rufus Wainwright song. His voice can be grating in large doses (listening to a whole album end-to-end), but this song is him at his very best. At about 4:21 (when the build approaches its peak) is among the most perfect musical moments that I know of. IMHO, of course. As for his music sounding like Radiohead, I do see that he is in the same vocal "school" as Thom Yorke, but he has far better control over his voice than Thom does and his melodic and compositional style (which is what really sets Rufus apart from the teeming masses of "singer songwriters") is completely distinct from that of Radiohead.

Jacksonstat wrote:I love it too!! It's like butta.

dreck, absolute dreck

I think he is saying that Rufus is gay... so in that case, yes, his sister and Rufus would indeed bat for the same team. shakylegs wrote:

Unfortunate that you mention his dad only in reference of tit man. And it's Loudon. Spelling while spewing is very important. Hope you never have a Hard Day on the Planet. Though in Austin, hard to not enjoy the music every damn day. Odyzzeuz wrote:

9.

Utterly dreadful. The poor man's Thom Yorke. Sounds like he's singing: "Go to hell". Indeed.

in a fluffy cloud, epic journey, life discovery kind of way - this song flippin' rocks

OK, that's it, I was forced to give it a "2" finally. This is pretty close to Broadway show tunes, the one style of music that I absolutely cannot stand. I would really say "1" but I'm willing to concede that others like it. Rufus's songs are too thin to sustain the extravagant treatment he gives them. I mean they might actually be good songs, but they're orchestrated and sung like they were the second coming of "Ode to Joy" or something.

ChicagoEmily wrote: Something tells me that Rufus and your sister don't bat for the same team. If you know what I mean.

daedalus wrote: Or......NOT a tit man, as it were! lol! Still, I was introduced to Rufus by my younger sister who bats for his team, and although I have to admit it took a half a dozen listens to "Want One", I eventually began to really like it! Its the kind of music that has to grow on you. This track is one of my favorites. Thanks Bill

His voice at the beginning made me want to hurt someone...then the music rescued me from my baser instincts. Great music...his voice is disposable.

Make it stop.... I want to get off the ride now....

I see I'm in the minority here, but can't help myself, I just love his voice

rufus should have paid more attention on career day.

ScottN wrote: Not true! More cowbell helps all songs! (But this is a 10 nonetheless.)

Rufus is a tit man. Or so his dad sings. :) Know that story? His dad is Loudin, who sang a little known song years and years ago when young Rufus was still nursing. That was the title of the song. Off the ''Unrequited'' album. I like Loudin better. :)

Would someone please get Rufus some cheese to go with that whine?

Marr wrote: Yep. Count me as one who LIKES it.

I like mom and dad, and I wanted to give Junior a chance, but the boy's just too bombastic for me.

ongaku wrote: Precious and pretentious. What a double dose of too much. RW direct from the Adam Duritz school of emotive singing. Even more cowbell won't save this one!

Posted 18 years ago by ScottN    [ Reply ]

ongaku wrote: Good lord! I can't even tolerate him long enough to have any idea what the lyrics are like. As soon as I hear his voice, I turn the speakers down.

ajman wrote: Dan Savage once said that the "deepest pit of gay hell" was right next to "Rufus Wainwright's colon" I couldn't agree more... whine on you crazy twink.

MmeAllumette wrote: Sign me up! What an awful song!

ajman wrote: Go, or go ahead :)

Wow. So lush. Love the build-up.

i love this. haven't heard it in a while, which makes me want to go dig the album out again. and by the way, it's Want One, not the one pictured above, which is Want Two. i have yet to get the 2nd one.

Oops! Time to switch stations...!

ongaku wrote:You know.. I was kind of thinking it was some of Coldplay/Queen/ELO in a mosh. very nice.. very nice indeed.. makes me want to hear the rest of the cd, and several tracks are good like this.. then I'd buy.. another strike against Bill you do realize bill is evil.. right? plays these 'toons and all of us get that mantra to go buy good music.. that bastard

Ok a complete Radiohead copy but its a really good song! First time ive heard it and im going to buy it, very nice indeed.

willmcnaught wrote: Exactomondo! and a little more of this

jeremyleo wrote: I completely agree. Prior to 2 years ago, when my very alternative sister gave each of us a copy of this album for Christams, I was like, "Rufus who??" And I have to tell you, the first time I heard it, I was like, "WHAT is THIS? Opera meets the circus?" But after spin #6, it really began to grow on me. This tune definitely picks up at the end- thanks! I MUST note, however, that my favorite track on this album is "Vibrate".....

I here this and it makes me want to run out and record an album where I sing lead,which would be better than Rufus's vocal....PH

Ouch.

I saw him live here and he was spectacular. Opened on a white piano with spotlight singing a french song. Definitely unique. Very talented.

Sasha wrote: I saw him w/ Tori & he was painful to listen to.... not my fav.

Christ I'm old ! I remember going to a Loudon Wainwright IIIrd gig where he was singing a song about his newborn sons appreciation of organic feeding... It went by the title of "Rufus is a Tit Man" He sounds as though he's just been very well fed on this one. He's grown up - I'm still waiting for it to happen to me.

Cdog wrote: me neither, i suppose. jesus.

If you haven't seen his live performance on DirecTV's freeview, check it out...it's fantastic. Excellent tune.

namesbenny wrote: he used to support her on tour

Although I respect Rufus as a songwriter it usually sounds like he's lying on a couch, and close to passing out, when he's singing. With this tune he seems to wake up a bit. Quite nice.

Rufus is worlds from Radiohead, although he's an admirer. What RW and Radiohead do have in common is their unique ability to create soul-stirring tracks like this one.

This is probably my favorite song from Want One, which I think is wonderful overall. I just want sing along with it.

g-rod wrote: I believe they are father-son.

g-rod wrote: Loudon helped make Rufus.

Anyone know what connection, if any, Rufus has with Loudon?

I guess I'm not alone in thinking this was Radiohead :)

What is happening to love? I'd like to listen. Kiss me, tease me, I like it.

rgj13 wrote: Thank you. I can't believe sometimes how much RP listeners insist on not listening and instead making really bad and broad comparisons of everything they hear here to something else and therefore discrediting it. Rufus is Rufus and to say this sounds like Radiohead tells me that people haven't listened enough to either artist or have an inability to distinguish differences in music. And I would like to add that I think it's strange how plenty of people sang in this register before Radiohead, but it seems that everyone who has done it since Thom has been accused of copying him.

I find the emotion in his singing inspirational. Really. Shades of Neil Finn....

Tux wrote: Should we also take your wife...please?

Can't see Thom Yorke in a dress like Rufus is wearing on the cover of Want 2, can you?

rsfc_carp wrote: Radiohead? Wrong guy. Sounds similar, I can understand. This guy is NOT from Radiohead

Looking forward to seeing him tomorrow in the Glasgow Concert Hall. Last person I saw there was Ray Charles. Oh yes.

Is this Barry Manilow?

RADIORUFUS. All chanteuse, all the time...

It's hard to express the total disklike I have for Radiohead. Why the different name here? Contractual issues?

Is he intentionally trying to sound like a chanteuse, or is that really him? He sings like he's wearing lipstick.

Radio....? Rufus--That's right, Rufus.

This sounds pretty good. I saw him live with Guster and Ben Folds and wasn't that impressed musically (though his voice sounded great, especially when he sang with Ben Folds), but I think his albums take a few listens to sink in.

schmoooz wrote: word. i totally hear Thom is this.

When I'm in the right mood, Rufus is pretty great. I guess this one hit me at theright time.

For a moment I thought it was Ron Sexsmith (who I sometimes miss here). The same sort of timbre in the more laidback parts of this song. There are far worse new songs to be confronted with at the end of the year!

FI! NA! LLY! I may be a new listener, but I sure as hell thought I'd have heard Rufus before today. Bout. Damn. Time.

I thought it was RH until I looked. Is this the Thom York solo project we've been hearing?

There's some Fake Plastic Trees in there... It's a bit like Regeneration too, the album by The Divine Comedy, which sounds like it borrowed a lot from RH too on some songs... Imitation & flattery...

Tux wrote: Oooh dis!! (I didn't listen to the song, just saw the comment)

Hmmmm. A wide range of comments, from genius to drone. Someone gave me an album of his some 10 years ago, and I couldn't really get into it. I sense the talent, but the gestalt isn't satisfying. I get that there is a similarity to Thom Yorke's voice. In that we all like to associate one artist or work with another to better understand it, how about Rufus as the male Tori Amos? All I know is that no matter how much I may consider this to be lacking, it rules in comparison to the frickin' U2 that is on now. They are quickly becoming the bane to my radio existence. Thank you. Good night.

masterhead wrote: I gave this song a 2 because it is "pokkemuziek" probably because it tries to much to sound like radiohead which is bad. ChardRemains wrote: I've added it to the list. My mute list that is.

I don't understand the love affair with Rufus Wainsright--his voice is so flat and dry to my ear.

Wow. add this to the list.

tony620d wrote: Yes good name...I gave this song a 7 cause is trying to sound like Radiohead which is good...

I thought this was Neil Finn singing until I looked at the playlist. I LOVE this song!

As the son of Louden Wainwright and Kate McGarrigle, he has an impressive musical background. From being a piano prodigy in his youth, to travelling the folkie circuit with his parents, then entering the pop world a couple years ago with his hit April Fool, Rufus has definitely paid his dues. First and sophomore albums were much more restrained and piano oriented, with his second album "Poses" showing off his orchestration abilities,as well as his incredible musical skill at melody. An unabashed lover of Opera, the camp sometimes shows through. He also did some music for the Moulin Rouge film I believe. I saw him in concert in Winnipeg. He opened with him & piano and a spotlight and sang a french love song. He then played an amazing concert with a 6 piece band that rocked this song like I didn't think was possible live. I remeber the crowd being mostly college girls (much to my wife's chagrin), young art/musician types, a large 30-40 crowd, and strangley a 50+ group. There was even one old lady they WHEELED out in her wheel chair at the end of the concert saying "I love that boy, he is so amazing." Go figger. If you are someone who loves a good song structure and superb composition (most likely musicians) as well as great melodies, then you should check out his other albums. His voice and singing style is unique and I rather like that fact. Too much bland same 'ol - same 'ol around these days.

I'm about to throw up.

PolyPam wrote: Agreed. Comparing his stuff to either requires a level of generalization (as well as tone-deafness, perhaps) that renders the comparison meaningless, to me. (And I like both those other bands, a lot.) For much of the album, and certainly this song, he clearly has aims, interests and influences far different than either of those bands. Outstanding composition, but it's not for everyone. (Neither is anything else, as far as I can tell, so...well, so.)

Far too bombastic for my taste. Seems so self-inflating. The startling shifts in dynamics are not pleasing. The singer slurs the words too much, though not as much as Hootie and the Blowfish. The positive comment is that I never heard the singer go off pitch in the slightest. But this seems more like Las Vegas stage music than anything else, and I thought that this station avoided that. I guess you don't avoid anything . . . . Following this song with Delays' "Nearer Than Heaven" was a brilliant segue, though!

GolfRomeo wrote: Rufushead

Oh my god... this sounds like an Englebert Humperdink arrangement... He does have a nice voice, but.... no thank you... please.

"How to Disappear Completely," by Thom Yorke (subtitle: 'Change your name to Rufus') Regardless of influences or similarities, quite a good song!

mig7 wrote: Yep... Rufus Radiohead.

Exquisite restraint + brilliant bombast + 750-part dissonances and harmonies + beautiful descant ornament lifted from Ravel = Genius, definitely in my top ten

Wow, from top-ten to puke. What a range of comments. Sorry, Rufus fans, this feels like a drone to me.

Wow, from top-ten to puke. What a range of comments. Sorry Rufus fans, this feels like a drone to me.

Sorry. I like to consider myself very open-minded musically, but I just don't get Rufus. With the heavy orchestrations and his particular vocal styling, his songs all seem to have a similar flavor. Unfortunately, to me it tastes like vanilla ice cream and anchovies. With his musical genetics, courtesy of his dad Loudon and his mother Kate McGarrigle, perhaps I set my expectations too high.

I've hated this guy from the first time I saw the commercial of him singing "What are you doing New Years Eve." His marble-mouthed delivery seemed like a joke with no punchline. Then came his cover of "Hallelujah" which paled in comparison to Jeff Buckley's cover. All that being said, I find myself liking this song a lot.

This definitely goes on my list of top ten songs, ever. It's a perfect bit of operatic rock. So beautiful, so totally bombastic (but in a good way!). Love it a thousand times over.

This song is an example of pure musical and lyrical genious. By far the best song I have heard from 2003....obsessed with it since release. Want Two comes out some time in the next few months...which is simply not soon enough.

Nobody can surpass Rufus' unique blend of passion and theatricality. The whole album is brilliant by the way. More please!

PolyPam wrote: Reminds me of that movie Never Been Kissed, where "Rufus" becomes the new cool school word. Still, Rufus does sound like Thom Yorke...

Rufus is no Radiohead, Doves or anybody else... Rufus is Rufus , and what a brilliant thing that is!

My favorite album at the moment! Play any of the songs and I'll be happy.

This track is an epic! The entire album is brilliant in fact. Rufus is a genius, no doubt about that.

redeyespy wrote: Right on.

mig7 wrote: Perhaps, though sounded more like the Doves to me.

Radiohead.

Starts low, builds slowly until it explodes into ornate beauty. An overused term, I know, but Rufus is a genius at this crafty pop thing.