Loudon Wainwright III - 10 Songs For The New Depression

Bad news delivered via the funny bone

The credit crunch may not have been a light-hearted state of affairs for most of us, but it’s provided rich pickings for musical satirists. Both Richard Thompson (reviewed on the opposite page) and The Divine Comedy have already wrung a few laughs out of financial woes this year, and now Wainwright devotes an entire album to odes about the economic downturn.

Accompanied only by his own acoustic guitar, he pores over the heavyweight press to put an idiosyncratic spin on the serious issues of the day. Times Is Hard imagines Woody Guthrie performing at Barack Obama’s inauguration and warning that there’s still trouble ahead, while Cash For Clunkers is an Appalachian whine outlining the US government’s dubious plans to bail out the motor industry. Thematically, Loudon is harking back to the topical musical responses for which Tom Lehrer was famed in the 50s and 60s, though there’s less mirth evident in the ominous Fear Itself.

Two older tunes augment Wainwright’s eight originals; On To Victory, Mr Roosevelt dates from the 30s, and pokes fun at seedy Texas politician W Lee O’Daniel (also lampooned in O Brother Where Art Thou?), while Hezekiah Jenkins’ The Panic Is On was written just before the Wall Street crash of 1929. Loudon is, however, at his most effective when homing in on the hardships of individuals, such as on House, a paean to one man’s negative equity.

3 stars 3 stars 3 stars

Proper | PRPCD 069

Reviewed by Terry Staunton
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