How much do you know about Rufus Wainwright Lyrics?

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. "Maybe I've been here before/ I know this room, I've walked this floor/ I used to live alone before I knew you"

Answer: Hallelujah

Featured on the 'Shrek' soundtrack. 'Hallelujah' was originally recorded and performed by Leonard Cohen. A haunting and beautiful song.

2. "Playing with prodigal sons/ Takes a lot of sentimental valium/ Can't expect the world to be a Raggedy Andy, while running on empty/ You little old doll with a frown"

Answer: Cigarettes & Chocolate Milk

Featured on 'Poses'. This is a fun song, describing some of Rufus' vices and going deeper into his issues that he must deal with. The lyric that I used, mentioning 'prodigal sons' is undoubtedly a reference to Rufus' own famous parents, Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle, and the expectations that he likely had to live up to while growing up.

3. "I don't know this sea of neon/ Thousand surfers, whiffs of freon/ And my new grandma Bea Arthur"

Answer: California

Featured on 'Poses'. This song is about how beneath the glitz and glamour of California lies an emptiness and unfamiliarness that Rufus had to deal with when he got there. The mention of Bea Arthur is a reference to the homesickness that Rufus felt when he first arrived, and how he would watch 'The Golden Girls' and think of Bea Arthur as his surrogate grandmother.

4. "Sure, you were swift/ When the handsome Greek boys dropped by with gifts"

Answer: April Fools

Featured on 'Rufus Wainwright'. This song seems (to me) to be about Rufus' unwavering belief in love, but how it never seems to come his way. It was written in a kissing booth on Valentine's Day when no one came to kiss Rufus.

5. "If you bring along your needles/ Then I'll bring my sharpened pencils/ And draw one more comic tragedy"

Answer: Baby

Featured on 'Rufus Wainwright'. This is a heartbreaking song about a junkie Rufus met and who he had a brief affair with. The song describes his feelings for this young man, but how Rufus felt helpless in aiding the junkie in overcoming his addictions.

6. "If drinkin' coffee's your idea of really cool/ You can't expect no crazy chick to notice you"

Answer: Instant Pleasure

Featured on the 'Big Daddy' soundtrack. This upbeat, peppy song has a very blatent, yet somewhat unsettling message. It is basically contradicting the romanticism of Rufus' other songs and saying that all Rufus needs is physical relationships and no true love.

7. "I don't want to hold you and feel so helpless/ I don't want to smell you and lose my senses"

Answer: Foolish Love

Featured on 'Rufus Wainwright'. This song describes Rufus always falling for someone he should not fall in love with, as he knows it will never work out.

8. "All the sights inside Paris/ Pale inside your iris/ Tip the Eiffel Tower with one glance/ Stained glass cathedrals with one glint"

Answer: Tower Of Learning

Featured on 'Poses'.

9. "The yellow walls are lined with portraits/ And I've got my new red fetching leather jacket"

Answer: Poses

Featured on 'Poses'. This haunting piece satirizres the rampant commercialism of modern day society and how it is causing us to forget about real important issues. The lyric that most affects me in this song is 'There's never been such grave a matter as comparing our new brand-name black sunglasses.' This lyric, to me, completely sums up the frightening materialistic weasels that members of today's society have become.

10. "I had no radio show/ Nor did I have homemade clothes/ Homemade curtains of the same material"

Answer: Beauty Mark

Featured on 'Rufus Wainwright'. This lovely song is about Rufus' mother. It has a simple message and no deeper meaning. It basically discusses the differences they share, but how she loves him unconditionally, and this song expresses Rufus' appreciation for that.

11. "But beware, my heart can be a pin/ A sharp silver dragonfly/ Trying to get my mansions green"

Answer: Grey Gardens

Featured on 'Poses'. This song is combining two of Rufus' favourite movies 'Grey Gardens', about Jackie Onassis, and 'Death of Venice', featuring the character of Tadzio. This song basically is a work of Rufus' imagination, wondering what would happen if they met.

12. "People meditate and that's just great, trying to find the inner you/ People depend on family and friends and other folks to pull them through"

Answer: One Man Guy

Featured on 'Poses'. This song was originally written and performed by Rufus' father, Canadian singer/songwriter Loudon Wainwright III. I am not sure if the lyrics are representative of Rufus himself; however, the narrator of the song is discussing how he is a lone wolf and can only afford to be true to himself.

13. "You gave me all your love in one day/ You gave it all and almost faded away"

Answer: In My Arms

Featured on 'Rufus Wainwright'. This song is about the same junkie from 'Baby'. It focuses on more of the same- Rufus' feelings of helplessness towards this man.

14. "Guess that can explain the rain, waiting walking game/ Schubert broke my brain to start with"

Answer: Imaginary Love

Featured on 'Rufus Wainwright'. This song describes how Rufus has always had these insanely romantic fantasies about how his love life would be, and how his love affairs are not nearly as perfect and romantic as he once imagined (and continues to imagine) them to be.

15. "The summer sun sets a vicious circle/ When shadows held the world in place/ But today I felt a chill in my apartment's coolest place"

Answer: Barcelona

Featured on 'Rufus Wainwright'. This song is about how you always want to go away somewhere to forget about your ills and worries, and how Rufus went to Barcelona to do just that.

Source: Author erlandau

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor bullymom before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

How much do you know about Rufus Wainwright Lyrics? | Quiz

I will give you a line from one of Rufus' songs, and you will tell me which song it is.

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