Randall Stuart Newman (born November 28, 1943) is an American singer, songwriter, arranger, pianist, composer and conductor known for his non-rhotic Southern-accented, if not, African-American accented singing style, early Americana-influenced songs (often with mordant or satirical lyrics), and various film scores. His hits as a recording artist include "Short People" (1977), "I Love L.A." (1983), and "You've Got a Friend in Me" (1995) with Lyle Lovett, while other artists have enjoyed success with cover versions of his "Mama Told Me Not to Come" (1966), "I Think It's Going to Rain Today" (1968) and "You Can Leave Your Hat On" (1972).
Born in Los Angeles to an extended family of Hollywood film composers, Newman began his songwriting career at the age of 17, penning hits for acts such as the Fleetwoods, Cilla Black, Gene Pitney, and the Alan Price Set. In 1968, he made his formal debut as a solo artist with the album Randy Newman, produced by Lenny Waronker and Van Dyke Parks. Four of Newman's non-soundtrack albums have charted in the US top 40: Sail Away (1972), Good Old Boys (1974), Little Criminals (1977), and Harps and Angels (2008).
Since the 1980s, Newman has worked mostly as a film composer. He has scored nine Disney-Pixar animated films, including all Toy Story films (1995–present), A Bug's Life (1998), both Monsters, Inc. films (2001, 2013), and the first and third Cars films (2006, 2017), as well as Disney's James and the Giant Peach (1996) and The Princess and the Frog (2009). His other film scores include Cold Turkey (1971), Ragtime (1981), The Natural (1984), Awakenings (1990), Cats Don't Dance (1997), Pleasantville (1998), Meet the Parents (2000), Seabiscuit (2003), and Marriage Story (2019).
Newman has received twenty-two Academy Award nominations in the Best Original Score and Best Original Song categories and has won twice in the latter category, contributing to the Newmans being the most nominated Academy Award extended family, with a collective 92 nominations in various music categories. He has also won three Emmys, seven Grammy Awards and the Governor's Award from the Recording Academy. In 2007, he was recognized by the Walt Disney Company as a Disney Legend. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2002 and to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013.
from this album in RP library
Is there anyone more annoying in music than Randy Newman?
Many.
Kanye West, for starters.
I accept as your truth that you never could stand him. As if it matters. The only time I saw him perform I guess he was heavily into cocaine. Sniffed a lot. Maybe that would be a reason to dislike him, for some. However, reality is more nuanced. He is a really good song writer. This song says more about an old American city that has suffered from the sort of hollowing out of industry, post-slavery sociological problems (Maryland was indeed a slave state), urban flight, racial discord, poor educational and other opportunities, etc. (and that's a lot of etcs.) than any single song I know. As a society we pretty much pay a modest amount of attention to the degradation of the urban centers, express some periodic concern, then move on to something/anything else. But the problem persists and festers. That is what this song is about, from my perspective.
A somber and soulful masterpiece.
I hear people talk about Randy Newman like he's a great songwriter !?!?!
Where's the proof?
If you don't get it try just moving on and not being a dick about it.
Many.
Kanye West, for starters.
I hear people talk about Randy Newman like he's a great songwriter !?!?!
Where's the proof?
In his body of work.
I'm just about to finish season 4. Imagine my delight when this song came up on Radio Paradise as a timely volunteer. I love Randy and I love him more when he writes, "And they hide their faces, And they hide their eyes, 'Cause the city's dyin', And they don't know why..." I think Randy knows 'why'.
Reminds of when I was a teenager and the talk show said, "Intelligence isn't something you're born with and if you don't have now you can get it" and "Follow the money". I was in the short line for the draft and the second round gasoline rationing/price hikes landed on us. I didn't read much in those days and I didn't have many informed friends or relatives, but I knew three things for sure; "we are being fucked"; "I am going to find out how" and "by whom". It didn't take long, surety takes a while longer, but it grows like a virus when I commit to knowing and seeing.
Get my sister Sandy, And my little brother Ray, Buy a big old wagon, Gonna haul us all away, Livin' in the country, Where the mountain's high, Never comin' back here, 'Til the day I die.
Thank you for playing ... brightens my day!
(Odd, given the lyrics.)
His father was a doctor. You must be referring to an uncle.
Yes, I believe he was referring to Randy's uncle Alfred Newman, the composer and conductor who scored those films (not the cover model for Mad Magazine).