Yes, this is a reissue of an album where the best-known song is called “Cryin’ These Cocksucking Tears.” No, it isn’t a comedy album. I’m as surprised as you are. Lavender Country is, or was, Patrick Haggerty’s project. As you may have guessed by now, it was the first country album released by an openly gay singer. Since it’s from the ‘70s, it’s country in the sense of “music that you can listen to around your grandparents if they’re cool with gay people” instead of “pop music but without the fun bits,” so you can retain your hipster cred by listening to this. The lyrics are witty (anyone who refers to the joy of giving blowjobs as there being “milk and honey flowin’ when you’re blowin’ Gabriel’s Horn” can’t be that bad), and even though Patrick Haggerty’s in possession of an inherently funny voice, his music never actually strays into unintentional comedy territory.
And the album isn’t entirely funny. “Waltzin’ Will Trilogy” excoriates the practice of administering shock treatment to gay people, and “I Can’t Shake The Stranger Out of You” achieves the trick of being convincingly sexual while being about the emptiness of casual sex.
Of course, “Cryin’ These Cocksucking Tears” is the most notable song on the album. Any song enlisting a passionate female country singer to belt out that she’s “crying these cocksucking tears” has to be. But what’s most important to remember about the album, is that far from being a winking joke, it’s actually pretty good. (Paradise of Bachelors, paradiseofbachelors.com) Topher Duguay