Wiki Spotlight: Randy Newman
Randall Stuart Newman (born 28 November
1943) is an American songwriter, arranger,
singer and pianist who is notable
for his mordant pop songs and for
his many film scores. He is a graduate
of the University of California, Los
Angeles.
Newman is noted as a lyricist of
considerable sophistication. He
frequently writes songs from unusual
perspectives, often utilizing an
unreliable narrator. For example,
"Sail Away" is a slave
trader's come-on, "Birmingham"
is written from the perspective
of a man – "a roller in a steel
mill" – who loves his ordinary
life in Birmingham, Alabama, while
"Political Science" complains
of worldwide hatred of America and
proposes a final solution in a brutally
ironic way. His many place-name
songs, which are often archetypal
examples of ambivalent Americana,
include "I Love L.A.",
"Baltimore", "Louisiana
1927", and "Dayton, Ohio
– 1903". His first major hit
was the song entitled, "Short
People", wherein he was thought
to have complained about midgets,
but is actually complaining metaphorically
about racists and bigots. "Short
People" was also Newman's highest-rated
hit ever. Newman's deceptively simple
songs mask complex craftsmanship,
and he is a skilled arranger. As
a singer, Newman's drawl is reminiscent
of that of blues artists like Sonny
Boy Williamson and of New Orleans
rock-and-roll singers like Chris
Kenner. This is most likely caused
by the fact that a portion of his
childhood was spent in New Orleans.
His film scores include Ragtime
and The Natural, and he scored the
first four Disney-Pixar films; Toy
Story, A Bug's Life, Toy Story 2,
and Monsters, Inc. He also scored
the 1996 film James and the Giant
Peach and the 2006 Disney/Pixar
film Cars. In the aftermath of the
Hurricane Katrina catastrophe, Newman's
Louisiana 1927, about the inadequate
government response to an earlier
hurricane-induced flood in the American
south, became a sort of spontaneous
anthem, played heavily on a wide
range of American radio stations
in both Newman's original and an
Aaron Neville cover version of the
song...
More: Wikipedia about Randy Newman
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