Going To A Town

"I'm so tired of America" Rufus Wainwright sings on this protest song. At the time, George W. Bush was seven years into his presidency and had escalated the war in Afghanistan.

"I had no intention of writing 'Going To A Town,'" Wainwright told Q magazine, October 2007. "It just came out in 10 minutes. I actually enjoy living in New York, enjoying the spoils of empire. That said, the political situation has become so horrific on so many levels that I don't think anyone can help writing about it."

The town Wainwright refers to in this song is Berlin, Germany, where he met his husband, Jorn Weisbrodt. He made much of the Release The Stars album there.

"The song is about going to a city that had already been destroyed and had learned its lesson about the horrors that humanity can inflict," Wainwright told Rolling Stone. "I felt like the US had no sense of the damage they were about to cause. People reacted very strongly to this song. I would sing it often and get boos."

Gay marriage, which was not yet legal in most of the US, was a hot topic around this time. In this song, Wainwright takes aim that those who use religion to argue against it:

“Tell me, do you really think you go to hell for having loved?
Tell me, enough of thinking everything that you've done is good
I really need to know, after soaking the body of Jesus Christ in blood”

In the music video, Wainwright interacts with three black-clad widows, inspired by The Three Graces of Greek mythology. Sophie Muller, who directed the singer's first video, "April Fools," helmed the clip.

This is one of Wainwright's most popular live songs; he's played in more than any other track from the Release The Stars album.
George Michael covered this during his Symphonica tour of 2011/12. Michael's version can be heard on his 2014 Symphonica album.