I remember standing up naked in the bathtub and singing it out, then writing the song afterwards. I was in the bath, kind of humming along to myself and not really thinking about it, and "you will believe in love, and all it's supposed to be" just kind of shot into my brain.
Wainwright: I remember when that chorus came into my mind. Songfacts: What about the lyric to "April Fools"? I think he has three or four kids now and a kind of fulsome life, which is good, because he was very much under threat when we were young in terms of drugs and alcohol. He ended up moving back home to Nova Scotia, where he's from. On that first album, there's the song "Danny Boy," it's the same guy. Songfacts: What became of the person you wrote "Baby" about? "Baby" is a master class in string arrangement, the work of Van Dyke Parks, who pegged Wainwright's talent early on and facilitated his record deal. Wainwright's debut album is haunted by Danny, a handsome drug addict Rufus fell for who is the subject of "Baby," one of his most enduring songs. So there was me dressed in that outfit, walking through the streets of LA and on the beach as the pandemic was taking hold of the country. It was raining, cold, and windy, which in Los Angeles, isn't common. But thankfully, we got a lot of footage on that day, and it was a very ominous day. We had scheduled two days to do the video, but after the first day was done, it was fairly obvious that the world was shutting down and we had to let everybody go. Wainwright: That video, in my mind, will go down as one of the great triumphs of the COVID-19 period, for me, personally, because we shot it the day before lockdown. Songfacts: The song's video is quite striking. But I've often channeled his dramatic sensibilities, at least subconsciously, so, I can see how there can be a connection. Wainwright: I love Queen, but honestly, I'm not so intimately familiar with their catalog. Songfacts: Lyrically, the song reminded me of early Queen, particularly Queen II and Sheer Heart Attack. And of course, with what we're dealing with today, all the gods have to gather in these moments! So, we're definitely in a "baroque" period. Then there's this wonderful scene where hate personified rises out of the ground and tries to expunge love from her heart. So, at a certain point, she summons hate. The opera is about a sorceress who wants to rid love from her heart because it's too cumbersome, shall we say, and it gets in the way of her evil-doing. It was just an amazing evening at the theater.
It was a bit slow-going at first, but at a certain point, it all sort of clicked. We went to La Scala for the first time - which is the world's most famous opera house - and we saw this opera called Armide by Gluck - it's a baroque opera. Rufus Wainwright: Almost 20 years ago, my mother and I - Kate McGarrigle - were in Italy, in Milan. Greg Prato (Songfacts): I read that "Devils And Angels (Hatred)" was inspired by an opera you once saw. Fortunately, he's happy to provide them, as he does here with some of his most intriguing songs. Like the best operas, Wainwright's songs benefit from Playbill-like synopses to provide background.
After seven albums, Rufus went into "pop exile" in 2013 and made two operas before emerging in 2020 with Unfollow The Rules, produced by Mitchell Froom. When his dad, who had a hit with "Dead Skunk" the year Rufus was born (1973), passed along his demo tape, Rufus landed a deal with DreamWorks Records, which got him the Shrek placement in 2001 and had him cover "Across The Universe" that same year for the film I Am Sam. He and his sister Martha, also in the family business, were raised by their mom in Montreal after their parents divorced. Rufus is the son of Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle, both singer-songwriters of great consequence who passed on their genetic gifts without binding him to a legacy of a Dylan or Lennon. It's inflected his work since his first, self-titled, album was released in 1998 after a polar-opposite musical style - grunge - had come to pass. He's always loved it: the orchestrations, the tragic drama, the costumes. His mark of distinction, what sets him apart from the Sufjan Stevens of the world, is opera. Those who found Wainwright through "Hallelujah" discovered a catalog of daring, elegant, and mysterious songs. At this point, he's married to the song in an almost literal way (more on that later). "It got a little bit annoying, because everybody demanded it, constantly," he says, although since Leonard Cohen's passing, Rufus has put it back in his setlists.
Hallelujah rufus wainwright lyrics movie#
Rufus Wainwright's sublime rendition of "Hallelujah," first heard on the soundtrack to the movie Shrek, is by far his most popular recording.
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