Drop the Big One
Robert Hilburn writes the authorized Randy Newman biography
A Few Words In Defense of Our Country: The Biography of Randy Newman
by Robert Hilburn (Hachette)
POP SONGWRITING SWIMS in clichés, most of which wash over us unredeemed. Some songwriters use them as pivots or hooks to nail down otherwise abstract emotions ("You'd have to stop the world just to stop the feeling…" sings Chappell Roan). Others punch them up, twisting them into thought puzzles ("You're a mess, but you're my mess…" claims Taylor Swift). To rock's master satirist Randy Newman ("Sail Away," "Short People"), platitudes hold gunpowder. A typical Newman irony lashes a dark thought to a picturesque melody—the bite grows bitter when sweetened by tuneful melody ("We're rednecks—we don't know our ass from a hole in the ground…"). Many of his best songs slide across a recurring subtext: all the things we assume to be true, he suggests, rest on flimsy, subjective "realities." It's scary to think what Newman might have sold us had he gone into advertising.
"I love musicians, and I always have," Newman says. "They're people who've accumulated tens of thousands of hours alone in a room getting good at what they do—much like snipers do."
Ever since he wrote and sang "Sail Away" in 1972, a seductive melody sung by a slave trader holding out promise to human chattel, Newman has figured as a major voice; for most critics, he ranks alongside Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, and Leonard Cohen. The previous year, "Brown Sugar" by the Rolling Stones had such a malicious slaveship groove that it slipped by almost without notice; "Sail Away" heaved with supernatural cant, and you misheard it at your peril. Its beauty was lashed to its offensiveness. Finally, alongside Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, and Leonard Cohen, Newman earned a giant cosmic giggle for "Short People," his first hit in 1978, which inspired singalongs to the hook "Don't want no short people 'round here…" Steve Martin even did a bit where he "got really small…" "Short people got no reason to live," went the opening line, overstating the prejudice to inflate the cartoon racism. Some still missed it, which made it all the more enjoyable. That was a time when satire and irony found plenty of ears in the mainstream audience. Nobody's suing the Republican nominee for using that song as a rally fanfare in 2024.
In Robert Hilburn's attentive biography, A Few Words in Defense of Our Country, the "Short People" episode gains punch mostly through its larger context, which takes Newman's story from a broken home and unheralded genius on through to his popular Pixar soundtracks and late-period masterpieces like "Putin" (2016). In this larger—not to say epic—frame, Newman carries forward his career as if he had already imagined how a writer, solo performer, and then film composer might mold his ambitions to mock any idea of a "normal" career. At each phase, Hilburn quotes both Newman and childhood friend/producer Lenny Waronker, alongside the many musicians and directors who collaborated with him. The book paints a respectable if guarded portrait of a complicated and self-contradictory figure who knots clichés for spite…
playlist
Our Kenny Jones Quandary: how does he turn in such solid, reliable backbeats for one of the better UK beat bands, the group with one of the best box sets going, only to turn flat and uninteresting when recruited by Pete Townshend for the Who in the late ’70s? Eight discs here, so look for the compressed playlist soon. Completest may love hearing them creak through two different versions of “I’m Losing You” that don’t get off the ground, or listen to Stewart’s encrusted stage patter (with one exception: how he commands Ron Wood to “Slow down” after his shimmering waterfall guitar intro to “Stay With Me”).
noises off
Next month: Dylan’s 1974 tour across 27 CDs, never too many versions of “Most Likely You Go Your Way and I’ll Go Mine”
riley rock index: obits, bylines, youtube finds, reference sites, pinterest, beacons.ai, random deep link
Frankly, I was disappointed in the book. Because of the complexity of Newman's persona and the ballsy content of his songs, I was expecting a whole lot more. Hilburn pretty much skims the surface and seems way too fascinated by Newman winning or not winning Oscars for his movie tunes, which I think even Newman doesn't care about. It's worth reading if you are a big Randy Newman fan, like me, but it's not a particularly memorable book. Hilburn's book on Johnny Cash is a vastly more insightful and informative read.
Looking forward to reading this - enjoyed Hilburn's biographies of Paul Simon and Johnny Cash.