Randy Newman
Sail Away

The Jewish/Los Angeleno Randy Newman has the merit of being a great composer and lyricist, but the simultaneous misfortune of having a voice, and a face, of a niche artist, somewhat nerdy. In America, he is considered one of the greats and has received all kinds of accolades. Here in Italy, when he comes once in a while, two hundred people go to see him.

Also because rock is a very secondary component of his music. His calm "pop," ironic to the point of being corrosive, depressed or amusing, arranged with an orchestra or entrusted solely to piano and voice, owes much more to the black masters of rhythm & blues as well as to the great soundtrack composers than to the Beatles and their successors.

In short, his music often smells of "old," of the fifties if not the forties. It is neither spectacular nor powerful, much less ingratiating. However, it is witty, personal, deep, and sometimes irresistibly melodically and/or poetically. The numerous cover artists of his (Three Dog Night, Joe Cocker, Beth Hart, Ray Charles(!), Ry Cooder, Nina Simone, Tom Jones, Marshall Tucker Band…) know something about it, who, by adding voices, personality, and charisma appropriate to the ingenious scores he created, have well supported their careers…and consequently also enhanced his bank account.

This is the third album of his career, we are in the early seventies with Newman already almost thirty. In the style of Lucio Battisti (or even Elton John) of those times or a little earlier, several of the songs present had already been released on the market interpreted by colleagues. Randy retrieves them and adds others, including the one that gives the album its title and that is responsible for the definitive takeoff of his career.

"Sail Away" is a very bitter depiction of the hypocrisy of a slaver who urges natives to board and leave the jungle, tigers, and lions to cross the ocean with him and arrive in America, where "every man is free to take care of his home and family," and where "everyone is more than happy."

"You Can Leave Your Hat On," placed penultimate in the lineup in a "Yesterday" style on the Beatles' album "Help," is the perfect example of how arrangement, interpretation, dramatization, and widespread distribution through a successful movie can affect the success of a song. No one could have imagined, in 1972, that this piece in a still distant future would become the absolute and unrivaled epitome of a striptease. In this original version, Newman's subdued voice, the rock blues riff played by anonymous guitars instead of the powerful brass section… nothing here can be connected to the body of that magnificent woman (and actress) named Kim Basinger who offers herself to the contemplation of the guy in the movie and to all of us glued to the screen.

And these are the two celebrities of the album. I prefer to skip the rest because it’s much less immediate and distinguishable, and it would be lengthy to elaborate on the lyrics, causing an abnormal expansion of the review.

With Randy Newman, the Woody Allen of songwriters, you either appreciate him or get bored. He's not for every day, but he's a great talent. Among the great American soloists along with Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon, David Baerwald, Billy Joel, Bruce Cockburn, Dan Fogelberg (according to my taste, of course).

It is essential to associate reading the lyrics, always incisive, with listening to his music, a fundamental component of Randy Newman's excellence.