Loudon Wainwright III: No copies, please

NEW YORK, Aug. 26 (UPI) -- Loudon Wainwright III might seem an unlikely source for commentary on the file-sharing dilemma faced by the music industry, but on his new album, "So Damn Happy," Wainwright includes a protest song about downloading music from the internet.

"A PC's like a crowbar it's only a tool," Wainwright sings in "Something For Nothing," tongue firmly in cheek. "Music flows like water from a big public pool. I wanna get paid for my work but I'm a fool. Because trading and sharing is so awesome and cool."

Accompanied by his acoustic guitar and Dylanesque harmonica wheezes, Wainwright continues: "Those Metallica guys are all getting too fat. Free information, what's wrong with that? Something for nothing that's where it's at."

Wainwright objects to people downloading his work without paying for it by using his most effective weapon, sarcasm. "It's OK to steal," he icily concludes, "'cause it's so nice to share."

One of the great diarist songwriters from the 1960s, Wainwright -- who turns 56 on Sept. 5 -- was inspired to write the tune by real-life conversation.

"That came out of talking to 19- and 20-year-old sons and daughters of friends of mine," he said. "We would get into this argument. I'm not much of a victim, I suspect, of downloading, I don't think I'm hep enough for the young folks, although I suspect that occasionally someone will lift something. I would have these heated arguments with these young people about the ethical question of just taking something, taking work because you can.

"It just got my dander up. So when that dander goes up, quite often a song results. And that's really how it happened. I understand all the arguments, but I also think that this thing about the big bad record companies is a bit lame. What a convenient excuse that is. I signed that deal with Clive Davis or Neshui Ertegun. It's an arrangement that I had with those people.

"I see it as theft. It can be carried off and it's convenient for those who want the stuff and not pay for it. Call me old-fashioned. If you're the Grateful Dead you can say 'turn on your tape recorders.' I haven't said that, though. Although, how are you gonna keep people from doing it?

"I expressed my opinion in song. Oddly enough the guy that runs one of my Web sites, about 10 years ago I was playing this tiny club up in Westbury, Mass., the Old Vienna Coffee House, it's no longer in existence, and I saw this guy with a big smile on his face and a tape recorder, and I just lit into him.

"He was very apologetic and it turns out he is a massive fan and had hours and hours of my shows on tape. He was very contrite. He surrendered the cassette. We became very good friends and now he runs this Web site for me."

Wainwright spends much of his time in Los Angeles these days pursuing an acting career, but he was living in a Brooklyn Heights apartment that looked out at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. Like many other songwriters, the event took the measure of his inspiration.

"As a writer, anytime anything momentous occurs you think, 'Should I write about this or do I want to write about this or can I write about this?' When that happened, I still had my place in the Heights which overlooks the whole crime scene there, so I was thinking, 'OK what are you gonna do about this?'

"My initial answer was absolutely nothing, it's like trying to write a song about the Holocaust. But oddly enough about two weeks later I had to go to Washington for some reason and on the train I wrote a song which is called 'No Sure Way.' It's a song that describes a subway ride on the A train from High Street Brooklyn Bridge to Canal Street, what it felt like to go under Chambers Street and the World Trade Center. So I did write a song. I was obviously like everybody else hammered by the experience and came up with a song, although it surprised me that I did, because I certainly wasn't trying to. I can't even think about all the bad songs that were written about 9/11, some of which became huge hits."

"No Sure Way" was recorded during the live performances that make up "So Damn Happy" but was not included on the album because, Wainwright said, "it wasn't a piece in the puzzle that fit."

Indeed, the tone of the album is funny, whimsical (in "Heaven" smoking in bars is not banned) and framed by childhood recollections like "The Picture" and "Westchester County." The title song sums up Wainwright's dilemma - his love life is in shambles, his kids hate him, he's losing his looks and contemplating death, but for some reason he's feeling much better about it all than he thinks he should.

Maybe it's that burgeoning acting career. Wainwright got great reviews for his role in the Fox comedy series "Undeclared" and has a part in the upcoming Tim Burton Christmas film, "Big Fish." And more roles to look forward to.

"My agent tells me that I might get to be in 'CSI Miami' holding some bullet-ridden liver or something."