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Song of the Day #1,049: ‘I Miss You’ – Randy Newman

Five years after Trouble in Paradise, Randy Newman released 1988’s Land of Dreams, another album I inexplicably don’t own. That one wasn’t as universally acclaimed as his 70s work but I’m sure it’s worth a listen. And following Land of Dreams, Newman went silent.

Well, maybe that’s not the way to put it. The man wrote scores and songs for 12 feature films over the next 11 years, including his celebrated work on The Natural, Avalon and the first two Toy Story films. But he didn’t record another album of his own songs until 1999, when he released Bad Love.

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Song of the Day #1,048: ‘Real Emotional Girl’ – Randy Newman

I’m jumping ahead 11 years to Randy Newman’s 1983 album Trouble in Paradise. Newman released three other albums between Sail Away and this one — Good Old Boys, Little Criminals and Born Again — but for some inexplicable reason I don’t own them.

Writing this blog, I sometimes run into these blind spots in my music collection. How can I not own nearly half of Randy Newman’s studio albums? I’m not even talking about the immense body of work he’s put together writing for the movies, just his proper solo albums. This injustice must be remedied!

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Song of the Day #1,047: ‘Memo to My Son’ – Randy Newman

In 1972, Randy Newman released Sail Away, his most enduring masterpiece. He’s done some amazing work in the 40 years since, but I can’t say he’s ever topped it.

The title track sets the stage beautifully. Against a majestic piano tune and soaring strings, Newman sings America’s praises from the perspective of a slave trader. “Ain’t no lions or tigers ain’t no mamba snake, just the sweet watermelon and the buckwheat cake. Everybody is as happy as a man can be. Climb aboard little wog, sail away with me.”

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Song of the Day #1,046: ‘Rosemary’ – Randy Newman

Of the artists I hold most dear, Randy Newman has gotten the least exposure on the blog to date. I’ve featured only three of his songs over the past few years.

I plan to remedy that over the next two weeks.

Initially I planned to do a traditional 5-day theme week on Newman, but in combing through his albums I was struck by how well he conveys such disparate moods and emotions. Deeply felt, earnest love songs sit next to scathing, cynical diatribes and it’s all quintessentially Randy Newman.

So I’ve decided to showcase that range by presenting one week of sensitive Newman followed by a week of acerbic Newman.

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Song of the Day #1,045: ‘Seem to Recall’ – Ron Sexsmith

Ron Sexsmith has borrowed from Bob Dylan the tendency to put his strongest songs at the end of his albums. Sexsmith usually ends his records with a romantic ballad (I mentioned Brad Paisley recently as an expert modern-day writer of love songs, and Sexsmith shares the talent).

‘April After All,’ the closing track on Other Songs, is particularly lovely, the sort of song that could have become a standard if Sexsmith was around 50 years ago.

‘Seem to Recall,’ the last song on Whereabouts, is my favorite track from that album. It’s about looking back with longing and regret.

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