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Song of the Day #547: ‘I Don’t Want to Hear it Anymore’ – Dusty Springfield

While I have Randy Newman on my mind, here’s a song of his written for Dusty Springfield and recorded for her classic Dusty in Memphis album. This is a whole different style for Newman, more of a Burt Bacharach song than anything you’d find on one of his own records.

Unlike some of Newman’s songs that were hits for other people (Three Dog Night’s ‘Mama Told Me Not to Come,’ for example), I can’t really imagine him performing this one. On the other hand, that’s often when you get the most interesting performances. I remember being very impressed with Paul Simon’s live solo version of ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water,’ a song he clearly wrote for the voice of Art Garfunkel.

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Song of the Day #546: ‘Fair’ – Ben Folds Five

If I had to name a modern heir to Randy Newman, I’d go with Ben Folds. Folds has a similar gift for storytelling, irony and humor and he’s able to pull off the smart-ass and the sincere with pretty much equal success. He’s not quite up to Newman’s caliber as a satirist — yet — but he’s in the same ballpark.

Musically, Folds is even more adventurous than Newman, finding inventive ways to make familiar instruments sound brand new. Ben Folds Five used a simple lineup of piano, bass and drums to produce some of the most exciting pop music of the 90s without ever really getting the credit they deserved.

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Song of the Day #545: ‘Shame’ – Randy Newman

And now for something completely different. I’ll back off the country for a bit here and turn my attention to a New Orleans jazz man… the fabulous Randy Newman.

Any legitimate list of great songwriters would have to have Randy Newman right up near the top not only for his excellence but for his versatility. This is a man who has written chart-topping pop songs for Dusty Springfield and Three Dog Night, music both fun and touching for children’s movies from Toy Story to The Princess and the Frog, biting satire about religion and politics and incredibly heartfelt love songs. Most songwriters would kill to be able to do just one of those things well.

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Song of the Day #544: ‘Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’ – Miranda Lambert

OK, so I came back to Miranda Lambert sooner than I thought. I’ve been playing this album a lot lately and I really like the juxtaposition between yesterday’s heartbreaking, vulnerable song and today’s frenzied, boot-to-the-teeth one. This is what’s commonly referred to as range, ladies and gentlemen.

There is a long tradition of country break-up songs, from the cry in your beer stuff to the twisted revenge fantasies. It’s nice to see the new generation picking up that torch and running with it, whether it’s Carrie Underwood slashing her name in her ex’s leather seats or Miranda Lambert having the presence of mind to leave her pistol in the car when confronting her former lover at a bar.

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Song of the Day #543: ‘More Like Her’ – Miranda Lambert

Brad Paisley has turned me country. Seriously, it’s getting out of hand. Next time you see me I’ll probably have a piece of straw between my teeth.

I recently went to Best Buy and spent the remainder of a birthday gift card on five country albums. Before that I’d probably bought a total of five country albums in my whole life. I bought two Brad Paisley CDs (I now own five total with an eye on picking up the other one soon), Carrie Underwood’s Some Hearts, Lady Antebellum’s self-titled debut and Miranda Lambert’s Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.

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