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Rating: Not many artists can make me cry with a song: Randy Newman is one of them.
It happened just a few days ago, while I was listening on YouTube to a version of "Feels Like Home" sung by Chantal Kreviazuk; the piece originally appeared on "Faust," and was sung by another fascinating lady, Bonnie Raitt. However, it is not "Faust" that I want to talk about today; the premise was necessary to assert that only geniuses can make me cry with a piece (Tom Waits, for example), and that Randy Newman truly is a genius, so his entire work deserves attention.
I do not know the first 2 albums of RN but I recently procured the third, "Live," recorded over 3 evenings in September 197_, in front of a sparse but attentive and knowledgeable audience, as evidenced by some audience members requesting songs that were still unreleased on records at the time.
The short album's setlist (just 32 minutes for 14 tracks, including banter between songs) includes tracks from the first and second albums, two unreleased songs, and two that would later be part of the great masterpiece "Sail Away" of 1972, namely "Last Night I Had A Dream" and "Lonely At The Top"; remember that the second was written for and then rejected by Frank Sinatra, perhaps due to the disenchanted and sharp sarcasm that permeates its lyrics, a common trait in RN's early work.
Indeed, it is on sarcasm and the amused derision of the public and private ugliness of his fellow countrymen and others that RN builds his poetics, sparing neither the U.S. administration, nor slave owners, blacks, Chinese, rednecks, fat kids, preachers, ignorant masses, nor even himself.
The music accompanying the lyrics is often cheerful and vaguely "vaudeville", presented in brief sketches that in many cases do not exceed 2 minutes in length, but still allow time to understand that the first to feel compassion for his characters is the musician himself.
Together with the lyrics and music, the narrating voice creates a surreal atmosphere, with its mocking and almost satyr-like tone, perhaps not pleasant on first listen but certainly functional to the goal; a bit like Dylan, Newman does not have a beautiful voice, but he is certainly the best at presenting his own repertoire.
Among the tracks, the aforementioned "Lonely At The Top" definitely stands out, a true summation of Newman's work up to that point and the first sign of the great things to come.
Tracklist and Lyrics
05 Living Without You (02:28)
The milk truck hauls the sun up
And the paper hits the door
The subway shakes my floor
And I think about you
Time to face the dawning gray
Of another lonely day
Baby, it's so hard
Living without you
It's so hard
Baby, it's so hard
Baby, it's so hard
Living without you
Ev'ry one's got something
And they're out tryin' to get some more
They got something to get up for
Well I ain't about to
Nothin's gonna happen
Nothin's gonna change
Baby, it's so hard
Living without you
It's so hard
Baby, it's so hard
Baby, it's so hard
Living without you
08 Lover's Prayer (02:00)
Don't send me no young girl to love me With their eyes shinin' bright All the young girls are afraid of me Send me a woman tonight Don't send me no hand-holdin' baby 'Cause I been with babies before Don't send me nobody that's crazy Don't send me no young girls no more I was entertaining a little girl in my rooms, Lord With California wines and French parfumes, Lord She started to talk to me about the War, Lord I said, "I don't want to talk about the War." Don't send me nobody with glasses Don't want no one above me Don't send nobody takin' night-classes Send me somebody to love me Please answer my prayer Please answer my prayer Please answer my prayer
12 Cowboy (02:32)
Cold gray buildings where a hill should be Steel and concrete closin' in on me City faces haunt the places I used to roam Cowboy, cowboy - can't run, can't hide Too late to fight now - too tired to try Wind that once blew free Now scatters dust to the sky Cowboy, cowboy - can't run, can't hide Too late to fight now - too tired to try
14 Lonely at the Top (02:34)
I've been around the world
Had my pick of any girl
You'd think I'd be happy
But I'm not
Ev'rybody knows my name
But it's just a crazy game
Oh, it's lonely at the top
Listen to the band, they're playing just for me
Listen to the people paying just for me
All the applause-all the parades
And all the money I have made
Oh, it's lonely at the top
Listen all you fools out there
Go on and love me-I don't care
Oh, it's lonely at the top
Oh, it's lonely at the top
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