Attempted Mustache

Infobox Album |
Name = Attempted Mustache
Type = Album
Artist = Loudon Wainwright III


Released = 1973
Recorded = Ray Stevens Sound Lab, Nashville, Tennessee
Genre = Folk
Length = 38:38
Label = Columbia Records
Producer = Bob Johnston,
Bruce Dickinson (1998 reissue production)
Reviews =
*Allmusic Rating|4|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:8x6cmpzd9f3o link]
*Robert Christgau (A-) [http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?id=838&name=Loudon+Wainwright+III link]
*"Rolling Stone" (favorable) [http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/loudonwainwrightiii/albums/album/260308/review/5945520/attempted_mustache link]
Last album = "Album III"
(1972)
This album = "Attempted Mustache"
(1973)
Next album = "Unrequited"
(1975)

"Attempted Mustache" is the fourth album from Loudon Wainwright III. It was recorded in Nashville, Tennessee with producer Bob Johnston and was released in 1973 on Columbia Records.

Track listing

#"The Swimming Song" – 2:26
#"A.M. World" – 2:31
#"Bell Bottom Pants" – 2:27
#"Liza" – 2:47
#"I Am the Way (New York Town)" – 3:12
#"Clockwork Chartreuse" – 3:37
#"Down Drinking at the Bar" – 3:55
#"The Man Who Couldn't Cry" – 6:16
#"Come a Long Way" – 2:45
#"Nocturnal Stumblebutt" – 3:45
#"Dilated to Meet You" – 2:02
#"Lullaby" – 2:55

Personnel

All songs written by Loudon Wainwright III except:
*"I Am The Way (New York Town)", new title and lyrics by Loudon Wainwright III, based on "New York Town", music by Woody Guthrie
*"Come A Long Way" written by Kate McGarrigleMusicians:
*Kenneth Buttrey - drums
*Johnny Christopher - acoustic guitaar, electric guitar
*Tommy Cogbill - bass
*Ron Cornelius - acoustic guitar, electric guitar
*Mac Gayden - acoustic guitar, electric guitar, slide guitar
*Reggie Young - acoustic guitar, electric guitar
*Hargus "Pig" Robbins - piano, organ
*Doug Kershaw - fiddle and cajun exclamation
*Loudon Wainwright III - acoustic guitar, banjo, vocal
*Kate McGarrigle - banjo, vocal

Release history

*LP: Columbia KC 32710 (U.S.)
*LP: CBS 65837 (UK)
*CD: Edsel EDCD269
*CD: Sony-Legacy 65257 (1998)

Miscellanea

*Both "The Swimming Song" and "Lullaby" appear in the Noah Baumbach film "The Squid and the Whale".
*"The Swimming Song" features both Wainwright and his then-wife Kate McGarrigle on the five-string banjo. McGarrigle taught Wainwright how to play this instrument.
*A humming version of "The Swimming Song" was used as a signature tune on the Swedish TV program "Boktipset" (The Book Tip).
*Wainwright went to elementary school with Liza Minnelli.
*The 1998 Robbie Williams song "Jesus in a Camper Van" has a lyric from the song "I am the Way". Robbie William's agents contacted Wainwright after the single was released and Wainwright decided not to take legal action. However, "I am the Way" is a parody of the Woody Guthrie song "New York Town" and Ludlow Publishing owns the copyright for the lyric. They would soon after take legal action against Williams. In 2002, Ludlow Publishing won a settlement of 25% of the single's profits.
*Johnny Cash covers the song "The Man Who Couldn't Cry" on the record "American Recordings"
*The album was recorded within a span of five days. Though Wainwright reportedly enjoys the songs on the album, he feels some of them were a bit rushed, as many of the songs were recorded in a single take.