Never been a huge fan of Rufus Wainwright, but he's absolutey the right man for "Everybody knows".
I transscribed it before, but will do it again: the preface he wrote for the "loose" Chinese translation of "Beautiful Losers":
"Dear reader,
Thank you for coming to this book. It is an honour and a surprise to have the frenzy thoughts of my youth expressed in Chinese characters. I sincerely appreciate the efforts of the translator and the publishers in bringing this curious work to your attention. I hope you'll find it useful, or amusing.
When I was young, my friends and I read and admired the old Chinese poets. Our ideas of love and friendship, of wine and distance, of poetry itself, were much affected by those ancient songs. So you can understand, dear reader, how privileged I feel to be able to grace, even for a moment and with such meager credentials, on the outskirts of your tradition.
This is a difficult book, even in English, if it is taken too seriously. May I suggest that you skip over the parts that you don't like, dip into it here and there, perhaps there will be a passage or even a page that resonates with your curiosity. After a while, if you are sufficiently bored or unemployed, you may want to read it, cover to cover.
In any case, I thank you for your interest in this odd collection of jazzriffs, popart-jokes, religious kitch and muffled prayer. An interest which indicates to my thinking a rather reckless though very touching generosity on your part.
"Beautiful Losers" was written outside, on a table set among the rocks, weeds and daisies behind my house on Edra, an island in the Aegian Sea. I lived there many years ago, it was a blazing hot summer, I never covered my head. What you have in your hands is more of a sunstroke than a book.
Dear reader, please forgive if I have wasted your time."
Again I am slightly irritated by Bono who is just verbally prancing around, while the Edge is a 100% sincere.
I hated Rufus Wainwright's rendition of "Hallelujah" in "Shrek" (of all places), but with this live-performance I forgive him. Almost. I'm not a saint.
Produced by (among others) Mel Gibson.
