I've always been a real classical junkie for that kind of music. I'm a big Cole Porter fan. The subject might be sad and terrible, but there's always that tinge, that little silver lining. I don't want it to be a total downer. I want it to be hopeful in some way, that juxtaposition of happy and sad.
Words are the toughie ones.
Wainwright's love songs have a universal quality that could apply to any hopeless romantic, regardless of gender or sexual preference. Although his songs are not openly gay, he is. I came out to myself when I was 14. I came out to my family when I was 18. But I was always traipsing around.