If you ask Wikipedia, this is a novelty song. But I don't think that's fair. It's a song that celebrates a very common experience on which we do not adequately reflect. There's a big deal about how many animals we kill every year on the highway; and it's a big deal for the skunk. Passing one of these corpses on the road, a motorcyclist at least is inclined to reflect that it's but for the grace of God, as they say, that we go there.
So good for Loudon Wainwright the Third, which is a very august name for someone singing about dead skunks on the highway. He's from North Carolina, originally, but apparently a hippie family that was mostly about yoga. His business, that.
Cool song. Vaguely remember when it first came out.
ReplyDeleteAround these parts, as well as WNC, you'll see the most dead skunks in the middle of the road right around Valentine's Day up through late March, early April during their mating season.
Sometimes they don't stink if they were just hit a glancing blow and not smashed by being run over.
I like lots of Loudon Wainwright songs, but I can do without this one. He called it "a mistake that hit AM radio." His father, Loudon Wainwright, Jr., used to write an interesting column in either the WSJ or the NYT, decades back.
ReplyDeleteTry "Motel Blues" and the medley "I Know I'm Unhappy/Suicide Song/Glenville Reel." Of those four, only "Glenville Reel" is cheerful, but it's a doozy, and even "I Know I'm Unhappy" and "Suicide Song" are funny, though depressed.
So, this is literally the only song of his I’ve ever heard. I looked him up before posting this, and he and his whole family sound miserable. But especially down in Georgia, I’ve often had my attention called to and held by a dead skunk in the middle of the road.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I try not to listen to songs about suicide. Charlie Daniels was right about that.
ReplyDeleteBut especially down in Georgia, I’ve often had my attention called to and held by a dead skunk in the middle of the road.
ReplyDeleteGeorgia doesn't have a lock on dead skunks in the middle of the road. Iowa and Illinois--at least Upstate Illinois where I lived a fair amount of my childhood--has plenty of dead skunks in the middle.
Eric Hines
Well I won't fight you for the title, but let me just assert that Georgia has plenty.
ReplyDeleteI sang that in church youth group. My batch all turned out a bit . . . off-kilter. I'm sure there is 0 connection.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, every so often, on my way to work I encounter a skunk that lost a vehicular argument. Which is still less pungent than the ones that moved in under my place of employment.
LittleRed1
...less pungent than the ones that moved in under my place of employment.
ReplyDeleteMy older brother had a cat in upstate Minnesota. The cat's name, to the chagrin of the local vet, was You Stupid Cat and was well-loved, never mind the name. The name was earned. Brother lived in the woods just outside of town, and the cat encountered skunks, disputed with them, and was dismissed by them in the usual way. Not once. Repeatedly would he dispute and be dismissed.
I had a cat in Las Cruces who also disputed with a skunk, but she learned after the first encounter.
Eric Hines
Out of an interest in names, I looked it up and apparently a 'wainwright' is a wagon maker, synonym for cartwright.
ReplyDeleteSo his ancestors have a long history with rolling down the road, I guess.