Song · Rufus Wainwright
“Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk” by Rufus Wainwright
From the album Poses (2001)
“Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk” by Rufus Wainwright appears on 10 radio countdowns from 4 stations between 2001 and 2025. It was first released in 2001 on the album Poses. Its best result is #56 on the WYEP 913 Songs That Matter from the Last Decade. In the combined RockLists rankings it is #1,468 indie & aaa song of all time and #273 of the '00s.
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Rufus Wainwright opens his second album, Poses, with "Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk", a 2001 song about decadence, desire and the little habits that quietly end up running a life, and he brings it back as a reprise to close the record, so the same craving bookends the whole thing. Pierre Marchand produced, recorded and mixed it.
AllMusic's Matthew Greenwald heard Gershwin and Brian Wilson in its pop bones alongside a heavy pour of French cabaret, and found its slippery key changes and sour chords intoxicating. Giles Dunning's video, put out by DreamWorks that year, finds Wainwright at a piano in a warehouse and wandering the streets of New York City, set to the reprise with its added percussion.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 1681 | WFPK | WFPK 2001 Greatest Songs of All Time | 2000 |
| 2009 | 56 | WYEP | WYEP 913 Songs That Matter from the Last Decade | 913 |
| 2009 | 71 | WYEP | WYEP 913 Essential Songs | 913 |
| 2009 | 879 | WXPN | WXPN 885 Desert Island Songs (2009) | 885 |
| 2013 | 710 | WXPN | WXPN 885 Greatest Songs of the New Millennium (2013) | 885 |
| 2019 | 615 | WYEP | WYEP Big Spring Countdown 2019 | 1017 |
| 2019 | 615 | WYEP | WYEP Labor Day Weekend Countdown 2019 | 1099 |
| 2022 | 342 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the 2000s | 907 |
| 2024 | 346 | WXPN | WXPN The 885 Greatest Songs of the 21st Century (2024) | 885 |
| 2025 | 839 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the 21st Century | 909 |
Also listed as: Cigarettes & Chocolate Milk; Cigarettes And Chocolate Milk.
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