Rufus Wainwright
Broken Record with Rick Rubin, Malcolm Gladwell, Bruce Headlam and Justin Richmond
Pushkin Industries
4.5 • 4.3K Ratings
🗓️ 27 November 2018
⏱️ 52 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Elton John has called Rufus Wainwright “the greatest songwriter in the world today.” Broken Record’s Bruce Headlam sits down with Rufus in Los Angeles, where Rufus performs breathtaking solo versions of his songs “Poses” and “In My Arms” from his earliest albums. He also offers a new song, a lullaby for his young daughter. In conversation, he frankly discusses his crazy early life and the inspiration for his music, his move into opera and his relationship with Leonard Cohen, who is, among other things, the grandfather to Wainwright’s daughter. He also discusses his newest single, “Sword of Damocles,” which was inspired by Donald Trump and Carrie Fisher, and his upcoming tour, “All These Poses,” featuring songs from his first two albums. And after a four-year break, Rufus and his sister Martha are once again presenting their Christmas show “Noel Nights” at New York City’s Town Hall of December 16th. For more information, check out rufuswainwright.com.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Pushing. |
| 0:07.0 | Hey, man, you can't be from the city in Iraq. |
| 0:14.0 | Yeah, that's crazy. |
| 0:15.0 | I can't listen to it. |
| 0:16.0 | I can't listen to it. |
| 0:17.0 | I can't listen to it. |
| 0:18.0 | I can't listen to it. |
| 0:19.0 | I can't listen to it. |
| 0:20.0 | Even when Kanye's music is that good, just don't build people up this high. |
| 0:25.0 | On an all-new season of making from WBZ Chicago, the rise and fall of Kanye West. |
| 0:32.0 | Listen wherever you get your podcasts. |
| 0:40.0 | My name is Malcolm Gladwell. |
| 0:41.0 | Welcome to Broken Record. |
| 0:44.0 | Today on the show, he's called the greatest songwriter alive by Elton John Noles, Rufus |
| 0:51.3 | The writer and performer has transformed his love of pop, cabaret and even opera into a series of extraordinary albums. |
| 0:58.3 | They explore his own life and the world around him from his sexuality to his famous musical family. |
| 1:04.3 | Rufus sat down with Bruce Hadlam at sunset sound in Hollywood just four days after he premiered his latest opera, Hadrian, in Toronto. |
| 1:13.3 | And just as he was preparing for a new tour. |
| 1:17.3 | He showed up at the studio with his guitar, a beat up Gibson acoustic and a terrible cold. |
| 1:23.3 | But Rufus with the cold is better than most of us healthy. |
| 1:26.3 | Before we play his interview with Bruce, I just want you to hear Rufus playing one of his gorgeous songs at the studio's piano. |
| 2:18.3 | He'll act picking up roses that's never been such grave a matter is cool. |
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