Song Stories: Dead Skunk

When Wil and I started the This Wreckage ‘zine over 30 years ago now, the idea is that we would have people submit material that we would throw in each issue as is and put it out to the world.  What we didn’t realize going in is that most people do not want to actually share things like that.  We struggled in finding material to achieve our albeit ambitious goal of a monthly issue. 

However, in a small way, I’d like to float out a similar request we used to do every issue, but with more of a singular focus.  I am hoping that anyone who reads this would be willing to send some kind of story of a certain song that means something to them.  This could mean a short story, an essay, a drawing, a photograph, a poem, a few words, I don’t know.  One of my favorite things is to tie music to pretty much every waking minute of my life.  It’s a problem really.  There are hundreds of songs that evoke a lot of emotions for me for a variety of reasons based on their being nearby at the time.  I absolutely love hearing and reading other people’s stories along these lines.  I don’t care the genre or the artist, or my personal history, if any, with the song, I find these stories endlessly fascinating.

I’m hoping to encourage any and every one who might be willing to send some of their stories to me via messenger, or via email: tangledrec@hotmail.com.  I would like to share them here, on this site, if given the permission.

Please ask any questions you may have.

Jamie Trigg has been kind enough to tell a fun story.  Here it is:

I have an infinite connection with a silly little folk song called “Dead Skunk” by a guy called Loudon Wainwright III. It was only in the last decade or so that I knew of Loudon’s recording of the song. I knew it as the second to last campfire song each night at Camp Colman where I spent most of my summers from age 11 through High School. Simply known as “Skunk” on the nightly Song/Skit list, it was always the second to last song (the last being our Camp-specific end of day song called “Tell Me Why / Ties that Bind”). Skunk, a silly song about the odiferous smell of an ex-skunk permeating a car as it drove down the midnight highway, was always our last few minutes of light-heartedness before we’d scamper back to our cabins in the dark, tell a couple ghost stories, and turn in for the evening. It marked the end of many a fun-filled day at Camp and, despite its somewhat morbid subject matter, always puts a smile on my face - even today.

Loudon Wainwright III "Dead Skunk"