And my favorite album of 1972 is… Randy Newman’s Sail Away. This probably comes as no surprise to frequent readers of this blog, as I’ve featured almost all of its songs at one point or another.
I came across an interesting tidbit on the Wikipedia page for this album: Brian Wilson turned to it during the depths of his depression to lift his spirits and renew his creative spirit. I totally get that. Both the music and the underlying sensibility of Sail away are grounded and spiritually refreshing.
Sure, Newman can be cynical as hell, and delivers biting political and social satire on about half these songs. But he also serves up warm, whimsical numbers like ‘Simon Smith and the Amazing Dancing Bear’ and ‘Memo to My Son.’
Sail Away makes you smile as often as it makes you think. It makes you smarter. It makes you glad to be alive and in its presence.
It makes me happy to be born the same year it was.
You were in it, I was in it with you
Everyone that I knew
And everyone that you know was in my dream
I saw a vampire
I saw a ghost
Everybody scared me but you sacred me the most
In the dream I had last night
In the dream I had last night
In my dream
It started out in a barnyard at sundown
And everyone was laughing and you were lying on the ground
You said, “Honey, can you tell me what your name is?”
“Honey, can you tell me what your name is?”
I said, “You know what my name is.”
Last night I had a dream
You were in it, I was in it with you
Everyone that I knew
And everyone that you know was in my dream
I saw a vampire
I saw a ghost
Everybody scared me but you sacred me the most
In the dream I had last night
In the dream I had last night
In my dream
Meet Me In Montauk 
Great choice! And fascinating tidbit on Brian Wilson, which I think you will appreciate all the more after seeing Love and Mercy.
Nice choice! We just saw Love and Mercy so that is interesting about Brian Wilson and this song; hope you see the movie, it’s very good. Enjoyed this week’s blog on your birth year. I’m sure if you did mine it would be very boring 😉