Tag Archives: Randy Newman

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Song of the Day #1,053: ‘Suzanne’ – Randy Newman

I’m starting up week two of my Randy Newman theme, and for those of you joining us at the midway point, this is where I showcase Newman’s dark side. I spent last week on the more sensitive and romantic songs, demonstrating exactly how effective the man is at playing it straight. But now comes the fun stuff.

Representing Randy Newman’s sophomore album, 12 Songs in week one was ‘Rosemary,’ a jaunty serenade. Today’s featured track takes another woman’s name as its title but creates a very different mood.

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Song of the Day #1,050: ‘Losing You’ – Randy Newman

If Randy Newman fans hoped Bad Love would be the first in a long string of new releases, they were sorely disappointed. It was a full nine years before Newman released another studio album, 2008’s Harps and Angels.

Harps and Angels picks up pretty much where Bad Love left off, mixing sarcastic talking blues tracks with gorgeous piano-and-strings ballads. It also provided Newman with his first opportunity to comment on the Bush era, and his ‘A Few Words in Defense of Our Country‘ did the job quite well (“the leaders we have, while they’re the worst that we’ve had, are hardly the worst this poor world has seen”).

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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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