When I was four years old going on five, my family and I moved from the big city of Jacksonville, Florida to a much smaller, rural town of Middleburg. The changes that came from living in the shadow of tall buildings near an on ramp toward downtown to the sparse dirt roads and cow pastures dotted by the odd Jiffy food stores were shocking to us all — my older brother and I especially.
Exploring those roads in our station wagon which my dad referred to as the “family truckster”, we became familiar with another occurrence of country roads with which we’d become acutely aware of again and again: roadkill.
Without fail, each time the stench from a recently run over and decomposing carcass would infiltrate our vehicle and nostrils, my mom would start in with the lyrics of which we were now enacting:
Crossing the highway late last night, he shoulda looked left and he shoulda looked right.
He didn’t see the station wagon car, the skunk got squashed, and there you are.
You got your dead skunk in the middle of the road, dead skunk in the middle of the road, dead skunk in the middle of the road, stinkin’ to high heaven
Sometimes my brother and I would ask her where this crazy song came from and she’d say something like, “Oh it’s this old song, and it’s by this guy and it goes…” and she’d start again from the top goading us to sing along with her, which we did, shaking our heads and rolling our eyes a little.
BOOKS ISSUE 2017
Review: Loudon Wainwright III hilariously chronicles family life on Liner Notes
It wouldn’t be till years later, as an adult that I’d become aware of the song in its entirety, along with the man who wrote and performed it: Loudon Wainwright III.
Following his “novelty song” radio breakout, Loudon would go on to make some of the most fresh and poignant songs throughout the decades to come. Each with his own candidly expressive personal touch that makes it sound as modern and marketable as any song today. Attracting lifelong fans along the way (most notably Judd Apatow who includes him in his films and claims “In my head, Loudon Wainwright is Bono”), he lands in Ruth Eckerd Hall tomorrow, and I couldn’t pass up the chance to see him.
In preparation, here’s a quick list of songs that cover everything from youthful memories, biblical allusions, road weary isolation, drugs, fatherhood, political distrust, and some “out there” tongue-in-cheek songs that seem like they’d never get released today.
Listen to the playlist below and download it via Spotify.
This article appears in Mar 22-29, 2018.