Words and Music by Randy Newman

Wednesday is books and writing. But what's this? Music? Playlists? Bonus round. But also this is about about a book. And it's about words. And it counts. Boy, does it count!

One of the people I’ve written about the most over at my Off The Tracks site, is Randy Newman. I don’t really remember exactly when I fell hard for his music. But it happened. And I’m sure glad it did.

Though, just lately, I’ve needed a bit of a break. I sold a few of my Randy records (just the least essential – still keeping the absolute classics). And I haven’t listened to him much at all across the last couple of years.

That’s because I had a ticket to see him in early 2020. And chief among the disappointments of that year for me was Randy Newman cancelling. It was a claim of bad health, but he was also at the Oscars the same night he was meant to be here, and so a scheduling conflict, and an easy choice for him to make. Just turning up at the Oscars (he didn’t win that night) would have made him more money.

A few weeks later nearly everything was cancelled – and I’m not just talking about gigs. So it didn’t matter. I got over it. But also, I’d put the Newman records back on the shelf for a bit. And I probably needed to.

Does this happen to you? You build up to the big shows – do heaps of listening – and then when it’s over you take a wee break. If it’s one of your heroes you’ll be back, but you need to give yourself a breather…

I’d talked about Randy Newman on Radio New Zealand in the build-up to his eventual non-show in New Zealand. That was my final radio feature of 2019. I’d spent a lot of time across the 2010-2020 decade listening to Randy Newman; more than I had across the 2000-2010 decade (and that had been a lot anyway).

I love his soundtracks, and I love his sardonic singer/songwriter albums from the 1970s. I like his lesser-known works too – but the very best of his material just utterly slays me.

A few weeks ago I did a quick Google search in the hope there’d be a book of his lyrics. No such luck. There isn’t a whole lot out there about him – a couple of books about particular key albums (I’ve read them), a critical biography that is very much a hagiography (I still had to have it and read it). But then, on good ole TradeMe, I found Words and Music of Randy Newman. A songbook from 1975. I had to have it. And a “Buy Now” button gave me that instant gratification hit.

It’s the sheet music to 21 of his early triumphs, songs from his first three albums and a small handful of the pre-1970 songs that he wrote for other people. The lyrics are in there as well of course – and really that’s what I was buying it for. Okay, there’s some cool quotes about Newman, there’s photos and a foreword by his publisher. All gold for mouth-breathing fans like myself.

I’ve been flipping through this book over the last few days. Treating it like a magazine. Treating it like a bible. Treating it like the lyric book I need.

About a decade ago when I was one of Facebook’s frequent flyers, I would start the day by updating my status with a quote from a Randy Newman song; a little lick from the lyrics, extract from a favourite song. I’d include a YouTube link of the actual song in full and in that weird way of social media rituals – no one really cares but it might mean the world to you for a bit – I had started the segment: Randy Newman Song Lyric of the Day. For weeks, months even, I went through his catalogue, highlighting just a wee grab of his genius at a time.

I burn down your cities-how blind you must be
I take from you your children and you say how blessed are we
You all must be crazy to put your faith in me
That's why I love mankind
You really need me

from  “God’s Song (That’s Why I Love Mankind”) for instance.

Or

I saw a vampire
I saw a ghost
Everybody scared me but you sacred me the most
In the dream I had last night

from Last Night I Had A Dream.

There was always a new way in with Randy Newman songs. A tune you’d heard dozens of times, just a track on the album – never a standout – would suddenly kick you in the guts. And if you’re a fan you’ll know that there’s his brilliant singing and playing and arranging – and there are amazing musicians like Ry Cooder and Jim Keltner in support. So it’s safe, safe hands and enormous talent.

But for me, Randy Newman is simply the greatest musical short story teller.

His lyrics are the micro-fictions I need. The flash-fiction and prose-poetry I crave.

Once or twice I’ve even aspired to it. But that’s some foolishness right there. How could you ever come close.

Randy Newman has New Orleans in his blood and Ray Charles at his fingertips. He has Jellyroll Morton there too. And that would all be enough anyway. But then the lyrics just grind at your soul.

Because in the age of the bedsit confessional, the cardigan-wearing singer/songwriter with their heart on their sleeve, Randy Newman was all about the darkness that resides in humanity. The drunk losers singing about the things they screwed up (“I'm drunk right now baby/But I've got to be/Or I never could tell you/What you meant to me” – from Marie) or about the way they think they find their bravery (“You know you know how it is with me baby/You know, I just can't stand myself/And it takes a whole lot of medicine/For me to pretend that I'm somebody else” from Guilty).

That line that closes Guilty.

Man. That just absolutely gets me every time.

That’s a life’s work right there – that song.

And the thing with Newman is you don’t have to have his versions. If you really don’t like his voice or his style with a song, then you find one of the covers. Sometimes he was the guy covering the songs, giving them to someone else first. Bonnie Raitt recorded Guilty before Randy did. And Bonnie’s version might be better. A line call for me – but you see, you always have options.

So, as I was working through this folio of songs – I found a new way back in to this music I love so much; this music that’s been with me for 30 years or so.

It's often about the words – and in the case of Randy Newman that’s always what (first) pulls me back in. So reading this book of the early masterpieces made me assemble a playlist of just those songs.

It would be rude not to share it. And I don’t want to be rude.

I’d tell you all another time that you have to hear his debut and that you need 12 Songs and Sail Away too. But maybe you just need to try this here playlist – these songs from this book.

It's not really a Greatest Hits. It’s a mix of some of the big obvious tunes with a lot of lesser, but still brilliant album cuts. It doesn’t even make it up to my favourite Randy Newman album. Which is kinda lol. But I love that. Keeps that album out on its own – where it belongs.

Newman writes characters – sings them too. A bold move then, and possibly an insane move now. But to just say it’s about character work is to miss the point. I’ve always thought he told us a lot about himself – in little snippets, the cracks in the fence – through the telling of these tales. He kept himself off the page. But did he? I feel like we learn about our favourite authors just by reading them, we don’t always need to read about them.

This was my wee tribute attempt from a few years back – I tried to set it up in the style of a Randy Newman lyric, with a nod to a particular song:

Randy Newman puts it down 
in three or four verses, max. 
Your life, and my life too. 
And all the people outside of our lives. 
 
Randy Newman sings in a cartoon voice 
– but it’s his voice! And now he writes the  
music for cartoons, but in a way he always did. 
Great music. Lovely music. Sad music. Sometimes happy music too. 
 
Randy Newman’s lyrics are like the best –  
funniest, saddest, darkest, weirdest – short stories 
when you see them there on the page. You feel the  
rage that he felt. And that some listeners (and non-listeners) felt. 
 
Randy Newman’s music has meant the world to me. 
On more than one occasion. It’s been a support-player 
in my life. And it’s been the soundtrack to my life. And 
his life is in there too. You have to squint. But it’s there. He put it all there for you.

I’m so glad I found the Words and Music book on TradeMe when I clearly needed it most. It’s got me back listening to one of the most profound influences. One of my absolute heroes.

I’ve still got the ticket to his show that I never got to see. I used it as a bookmark while saving favourite pages and re-reading these already familiar lyrics.