Randy Newman

[Adam Blake]

Norman sent me this and it's wonderful:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OldToIF5 ... r_embedded

I recently found myself listening to Randy Newman's 1st album over and over, spellbound. I know the songs he wrote for others but I don't know his own back catalogue at all. Can anyone make some recommendations? I particularly like the strange orchestrations on the 1st album.

Thanks.

[Rob Hall]

I'd say that 'Good Old Boys' and 'Sail Away' were central to an appreciation of Randy Newman's work. I'm very fond of the orchestrations on 'Marie' in particular.

If you can find a copy of his early, woefully short, 'Randy Newman/Live' it gives a very good idea of just how good he was back then, and it features 'Tickle me' - I don't think he recorded it anywhere else and it's the other half of 'You Can Leave Your Hat On'.

'Little Criminals' is a patchy album, but when it's good, it's very good - 'In Germany Before the War' is just the most amazing, scary, song. This performance comes close to capturing power of the studio version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-34xJCI7MY but you should really check out the orchestration on the studio version.

[Adam Blake]

Thanks, Rob. I will see if they're up on Spotify.

[john poole]

Can anyone make some recommendations? I particularly like the strange orchestrations on the 1st album

The first album is unique amongst his work I think - reportedly sold only 4,700 copies when released - the record company took out an ad in "Rolling Stone" offering that anyone with a worn out copy could send it to them and they'd replace it with two copies - one for a friend (or am I thinking of Van Dyke Parks' "Song Cycle"?).

I've not heard it for a very long time, but I used to really like his second LP "12 Songs" with Ry Cooder
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtVRoFqBxbE

[NormanD]

How about his last two albums on Nonesuch - he and solo piano - which are re-recordings of some of his 'hits' - The Randy Newman Songbook - vols 1 & 2? No strange orchestrations however.

[Rob Hall]

Well, I like the two Nonesuch albums, but I know fans of RN who can't be bothered with them.

On the subject of songs he wrote for other people, he said of 'Lonely At The Top': "I wrote it for Frank Sinatra, but he didn't want to do it." If true, I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall when some Warner-Reprise flunkie played Randy's demo to the big man.

[garth cartwright]

I'd suggest that he has always been patchy - capable of a really great song like Baltimore and then of something really silly. There has often been a certain smugness to his songwriting I don't care for - Sail Away is ostenibly a satire on the slave trade (I'm waiting for his Train Journey about heading to Auschwitz) and Short People was a hit when I was a t school and the small kids got mercilessly tormented by bigger kids. I know, he wrote it as a satire of bigotry but it's a dumb satire. I think the Sinatra story is a myth - Frank never sang Tom Lehrer so why would he consider Randy?

The last album of his I gave serious listening time to was a 1990 effort which had 2 lovely piano-based songs about his memories of New Orleans (as a child) then went into mainstream rock overdrive (Mark Knoplfer produced). Even had a dumb song where Randy was writing in the voice of an aspiring rapper. The most recent Irma Thomas album has her singing I Think It's Going To Rain and even Irma can't make it work. Neither could dusty. Not sure why female singers are given this rather opaque tune.

I'm sure someone like Rob could gather a dozen or more really fine RN songs. I owned lots of his records at one point but very rarely feel the need to hear him these days. Critics like Greil Marcus love him but I am yet to be convinced of his greatness. Talented, sure, but like many a singer-songwriter there's only a few tunes I really care for.

[Jamie Renton]

Garth, you've pretty well summed up my view of Randy N.

Funny you should mention Tom Lehrer as this tune is, I think, almost worthy of him (as well as being a precursor to the tune Adam posted
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Du3WhHrrNgs

[Rob Hall]

I think the Sinatra story is a myth - Frank never sang Tom Lehrer so why would he consider Randy?

Read what I wrote again Garth. There is no story. It's a direct quote, and I strongly suspect that his tongue was firmly in his cheek when he said/wrote it. Do you want the reference? As for the rest of your note, I could go through it point by point and argue the toss with you on each, but life's too short. On the back of this thread I spent a few happy hours revisiting my Randy Newman CDs this morning, and thoroughly enjoyed myself; that's good enough for me.

[judith]

My female friends and I loved this song when it came out, it was so different from the usual fare. I have a fond memory of a group of young women being silly at a party, parodying strip tease en masse, and laughing so hard that...an Ari Up quote comes to mind. The males were rather confused as they can be when women get spontaneous, en masse, especially so when the women are making fun of sex.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXLYFQef7O8

[NormanD]

True, no point in arguing. Randy Newman is just there, and has been for several decades, and I knew his songs long before I ever knew his name.

I Think It's Going To Rain Today is a wonderfully well-constructed song, up there on The Songs Of All Time list. The least attractive version I've ever heard is probably the first recording of it by the old 1950s Italian-American crooner, Julius La Rosa. It went from download to delete in as many minutes.

Randy Newman's problem is his self-submerging in the world of Hollywood filmscore - incidental songs and musical accompaniment. His piano-led minor chords emphasise the necessary sad bits of otherwise drecky animations (ie Disney cartoons that make millions worldwide). He must have made enough money out of that lark (I'd bet he's smart enough to do it on a points deal rather than single payment) to stop now. But maybe he wants to be the Erich Korngold of our days?

His wiki entry is instructive:
Newman has been nominated for twenty Academy Awards, winning twice. He has also won three Emmys, five Grammy Awards, and the Governor's Award from the Recording Academy. Newman was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2002. In 2007, Newman was inducted as a Disney Legend.

A Disney legend? C'mon Randy. Get back to being The Singing Bush.

[garth cartwright]

Rob, Randy has spun the Sinatra story lots of times - I even recall one intv where he claimed Frank turned it down cos he feared it referred to his toupee. Thing is, I think Randy is pulling legs - I don't believe Frank would ever have considered that or his other songs. He certainly didn't go looking for other contemporary songwriters and Randy was no Jim Webb as far as serving up hit songs. And you're welcome to stick up for Sail Away and such - forums are for such debate. I look forward to your comments.

Norman, you are right about the Disney thing - he earns a fortune from schlocky soundtracks. Disagree on Rain. Just don't feel that song.

[Adam Blake]

Amazed to see comparisons with Tom Lehrer. Could a professional smartarse like Tom Lehrer have written or sung a song as truthful and naked as this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTcfrdh4krk

The best version of "I Think It's Going To Rain Today" is by Judy Collins, from what is surely her best album - "In My Life". Here is a rather wonderful live version, from The Smother Brothers Show in 1967.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ftrKSMOqxg

She makes seamless artistry out of the rubato sections ("Lonely...lonely") and keeps a rather enthusiastic pit keyboard player in check by sheer elegant musicality.

Thank you for all your comments on Newman. I understood that he was born into a Hollywood musical family and had been on the fringes of the business since childhood. Hardly surprising then that he has retreated into lucrative filmwork. His past achievements alone would seem to rate him amongst the very best 20th C. American songwriters.

[MurkeyChris]

I'm no Newman expert, but living with a curate, one of my naughty pleasures is the delicious 'God's Song':

I recoil in horror from the foulness of thee
from the squalor and the filth and the misery
How we laugh up here in heaven at the prayers you offer me
That's why i love mankind

I know it from John Martyn's wonderful and hugely underrated covers album, The Church with One Bell:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5SnOKf7zwc

[AndyM]

............living with a curate.............

And one who wants to watch Downton Abbey. You seem to be caught up in a P G Wodehouse novel, Chris, and I can't say I'm not envious!