Ten Best Songs of 2008 – #9
A full nine years after his last studio album, Randy Newman provided a breath of fresh air in 2008 with his excellent Harps & Angels. Blending his caustic wit and gift for irony with a few very tender moments, he delivered an album even better than 1999’s Bad Love and on par with his great 70s work.
Harps & Angels contains many great songs, but I was most delighted by his summation of the Bush years, ‘A Few Words in Defense of Our Country.’ Having spent the entire Bush administration off the record, so to speak, Newman manages to express his disgust and dismay in a few short minutes.
Originally printed in the New York Times as an op-ed piece, the lyrics are pointed and hilarious. Newman talks more than sings them over his trademark New Orleans jazz piano and, well, I’ll leave the rest to him…
In defense of our country
Whose people aren’t bad
Nor are they mean
Now the leaders we have
While they’re the worst that we’ve had
Are hardly the worst
This poor world has seen
Take the Caesars for example
Within the first few of them
They were sleeping with their sister,
Stashing little boys in swimming pools
And burning down the city
And one of ’em, one of ’em
Appointed his own horse to be Consul of the Empire
That’s like vice president or something
Wait a minute, that’s not a very good example is it?
But wait, here’s one,
The Spanish Inquisition
It put people in a terrible position
I don’t even like to think about it
Well sometimes I like to think about it
Just a few words in defense of our country
Whose time at the top
Could be coming to an end
We don’t want your love
And respect at this point is pretty much out of the question
But times like these
We sure could use a friend
Hitler
Stalin
Men who need no introduction
King Leopold of Belgium, that’s right
Everyone thinks he’s so great
Well he owned The Congo and he tore it up too
He took the diamonds
He took the silver
He took the gold
You know what he left them with?
Malaria
A President once said,
“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself”
Now, we’re supposed to be afraid
It’s patriotic in fact and color-coded
And what are we supposed to be afraid of?
Why of being afraid
That’s what terror means, doesn’t it?
That’s what it used to mean
You know it kind of pisses me off
That this Supreme Court is going to outlive me
A couple of young Italian fellas and a brother on the Court now, too
But I defy you, anywhere in the world,
To find me two Italians as tightassed as the two Italians we got
And as for the brother, well
Pluto’s not a planet anymore either
The end of an Empire is messy at best
And this Empire is ending
Like all the rest
Like the Spanish Armada adrift on the sea
We’re adrift in the land of the brave and the home of the free
Goodbye
Goodbye
Goodbye
Meet Me In Montauk 
Well, sometimes I like to think about it.
Nobody is better at throwing a truly funny line such as that into a song that is so tough and uncompromising. What I love about Randy Newman is how intelligent and critical he is, and how little he seems to care about being accepted. I can’t think of another musical artist who regularly takes shots at the establishment (whether political or celebrity). He’s like the George Carlin of music. And that’s a pretty wonderful thing in my book.
This is certainly a standout from a very good album by one of my favorite artusts. I’m not sure I would agree that this album as a whole is better than Bad Love, with its standouts of Shame, Every Time It Rains, etc. And, Amy might argue that, from the new album, Feels Like Home wins top prize.
To me, you simply have to listen to both In Defense and Home to truly appreciate the genius of Newman. Anybody who can write such truly sardonic, witty and biting songs, and then turn around and write a truly remarkeable love song, gets my utmost respect and admiration.