Randy Newman: Good Old Boys

For those of you who don't know... this blog is about to come to an end. I'll be going to Europe and putting this site on an indefinite hiatus. So before that happens I needed to post a few tracks from Randy Newman's 'Good Old Boys.' It's one of my very favorite albums even though I've only been listening to it for about 4 years. I hated Randy Newman before that as I explained here. But then my eyes were opened. I probably owe this to my parents but also to the fact that I was getting really into arranging/composition at the time... so when I heard this album for the nth time I started noticing that aspect of it. Since then I've let the light of Randy Newman penetrate my cold, dark heart. To those of you out there who detest him all I can say is, I understand... but boy are you missing out.

It's not really possible for me to pick my favorites from this album because I love all the songs so much... I'll post some tracks here and highly recommend getting the full thing!

Randy Newman - Rednecks (1974: Good Old Boys)

 - Here's Newman's hillbilly-bashing anthem... overtly sarcastic, satirical, mordant lyrics. Not many people would be brave enough to sing this... but he does it so well everybody wants to sing along!

Randy Newman - Guilty (1974: Good Old Boys)

 - This and 'Mr. President' (which you can hear here) are tied for my favorite tracks. The orchestra on this song kills me. I remember taking a composition lesson and the teacher asked me to bring examples of the kind of stuff I wanted to learn. I brought in this song and she said, 'oh that's so simple' and was uninterested in it. I think she was missing out. It may be simple but when those dissonant chords come in at 0:40 I'm really not interested in anything else... music, film, drugs, girls, life, death, time... it all falls away. And the drum fill at 2:08 is my favorite drum fill ever. I don't know who the drummer is exactly... but it's either Jim Keltner (who was often the drummer for John Lennon, George Harrison, Yoko Ono, Ringo Starr, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, even Fiona Apple on 'When the Pawn'.... seriously, this guy is a hero) or Andy Newmark (who also played with John Lennon and George Harrison as well as Sly and the Family Stone, David Bowie, Eric Clapton, etc.). The drumming on the album is a work of genius... it doesn't really stand out but if you really listen you'll understand. And if you can figure out who played drums on the specific tracks you'll get 100 P&P Points as well as my undying love. Don't even get me started on the other musicians on this album!

Randy Newman - Birmingham (1974: Good Old Boys)

 - As some readers may remember... I/we listened to this song about a billion times when traveling through Birmingham. He paints such dazzlingly brilliant pictures with his lyrics and the music is so beautiful... I rarely like American Copland-esque harmony... but I love the way he does it on this record.

Randy Newman - A Wedding in Cherokee County (1974: Good Old Boys)

 - It's songs like this... simple, poignant, beautifully performed... that prove that there never has been and never will be anyone like Randy Newman again. If you're reading this you're still alive... so enjoy him while you can!