a small randy newman poll

jesus, pretty much impossible to answer that. god's song hits me right now, but all 3 kill me.

i finally took the advice from your old rednecks thread, a couple months ago, and bought good old boys. i think its my favorite record ive ever heard, but i still voted god's song.

Good Old Boys better album, Sail Away better song

that's cool, ethan... kinda makes my day to hear that actually.

loving it so much

thank j0hn d for sending me sail away, i never heard it before tonight

knew god's song cuz jeezy sampled the etta james cover back when he was still an unsigned dude!

good old boys is one of my favorite records, my dad used to play randy newman all the time

http://www.artistshousemusic.org/videos/randy+newman+on+the+art+of+songwriting

Atlanta 11 Alive Interview

Newman is also well known for covering controversial issues such as race and politics through his music, speaking openly and critically about the problems of racism in America and corruption in politics. Newman doesn't shy away from giving opinions, but offers a disclaimer. "I'm hesitant to listen to a celebrity including myself because our lives are so very different from reality."

But if you ask him about politics...

"I think it's an aberration. This administration is an aberration. I don't think we'll have people in office like this again that worry you so mortally."

If you ask about race: "Race has been neglected and forgotten. It's the great problem and the great crime that's been committed."

randy newman otm. that's why the last verse of "rednecks" is so great, it indicts and implicates everybody, including him.

tipsy otm - that's why Rednecks beats the holier-than-thou damnation of God's Song. But I can't figure out if I like it more than Sail Away. Rednecks is so catchy it makes you want to sing along with the chorus (talk about everybody being implicated) but Sail Away doesn't need to be a singalong to destroy you.

'sail away' still wows me every time i hear it. it sounds like the national anthem or something. i still haven't heard 'good old boys.' i like a lot of songs on 'sail away' more than 'god's song,' even though i just put that on an emo mix for my parents. i think 'he gives us his all his love' hits the same nail harder on the head because it's a little more sympathetic and poisonous at the same time. sometimes i think 'sail away' is my favorite record i've ever heard.

"simon smith and the amazing dancing bear" is O_O

i gotta say, all three songs are fuckin masterpieces, but sail away is still head and shoulders above the other two

i think it kinda makes sense that god would be holier-than-thou, kind of by definition

Good Old Boys better album, Sail Away better song
True.

Voted Rednecks but it could have been Sail Away.

he's great, but I haven't listened to these albums in maybe 15 years.

Good Old Boys better album, Sail Away better song

-- gabbneb, Tuesday, 18 March 2008 04:22 (9 hours ago) Link

^^^

I went with "Sail Away". I love how the strings are all queasy sounding, like you're on the ship and it's rocking back and forth; and like you feel as the listener, thinking about slavery.

My parents lived right down the street from Lester Maddox when I was in HS, and we drove past it every day. Near the end of his life I remember he had this massive hand-painted sign in his yard written about his wife (maybe she'd died)? It made him more human to me. So I can relate to "Rednecks". Great song.

I've never appreciated "God's Song" and usually just skip it. It seems like it comes from a much uglier place than even his most bitter work. "He Gives Us All His Love" is a much more attractive reflection on the same theme.

Morbs, you didn't hear "Louisiana, 1927" after Hurricane Katrina, when it became kind of an anthem for a while?

I've heard songs since then -- I went to see him at Summersatge maybe 5 years ago? -- but haven't played the LPs recently.

Of course. In fact, I willfully misunderstood you just so I could mention that song.

i think it kinda makes sense that god would be holier-than-thou, kind of by definition

Well yeah! Unless you go in for pantheons. But I meant, in that song Newman gets grating with what I take as smug superiority, damning as an idiot anyone who believes in God.

louisiana 1927 is my favorite of his i think

Good Old Boys better album, Sail Away better song

notm

Sail Away is one of the most perfect records I have, I think every single song is greatness. I love Good Old Boys too, but it's just a bit slick for me in places (and I've never really liked Louisiana 1927 that much)

tried to get into good old boys, and even though i understand what Mr. Newman is doing i still get offended by the subject matter too much to want to listen.
12 Songs = absolute masterpiece

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

I go w/"Sail Away," I think it's just seamless and rich and deep and brutal, but the earth-scorching final reply of God in "God's Song" starts off with "I burn down your cities: how blind you must be/I take from you your children and you say 'How blessed are we'" which whether you'd prefer more subtlety/less anger/whatever is just a devastatingly well-crafted couplet

also that clip of Newman on songwriting is fuckin' gold, good looking out E.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

all the love on this thread :D

randy newman is someone we can all agree on.
i did not see this thread, but prob would have voted sail away.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAFhcYGEDSM

I've never appreciated "God's Song" and usually just skip it.

how can you "skip" the last song on an album?

these songs are all great but "davy the fat boy" is his best song and scariest performance.

"win a teddy bear for the girlfriend
or something for the wife
YOU'VE GOT TO LET THIS FAT BOY
IN YOUR LIFE!"

whoa I guess I said that I skip "God's Song". Being pedantic, it's because I have the version with extra tracks so there are other songs afterward to skip to. I think it's a moment where a very dark album drops into despair, and that's a dark place I don't like to visit often.