I first became aware of Randy Newman as a songwriter with Joe Cocker's cover of Guilty on I can stand a little rain which I wrote about here. I then started to search out his albums which weren't that easy to find in 1975.
Sail Away was the first album of his I bought, second hand from Silvio's in Cuba Street. I still have it and it is still in excellent condition even though over the years it has had a lot of play.
A terrific selection of musicians make up the band including Ry Cooder and Jim Keltner.
Not quite as caustic as the follow Good Old Boys up it still had a few items of biting commentary notably the title song, God's Song (That's why I love Mankind) and Political Science. It also has the oddball Simon Smith and the Amazing Dancing Bear (I first heard that on the Alan Price Show - The Price To Play) and You Can Leave Your Hat On which Joe Cocker made his own, turning Newman's sadistic, sleezy and almost nasty song into something almost sexy.
Filled with good one liners that, much to my family's disgust come out from me at the most inappropriate and annoying times. Lines like "In America you get food to eat, don't have to run through the jungle or skuff up your feet", "Outrageous, Alarming, Courageous, Charming", "We may not be perfect but heaven knows we try"
The lyrics Political Science still seem relevant 40 years later,
Sail Away was the first album of his I bought, second hand from Silvio's in Cuba Street. I still have it and it is still in excellent condition even though over the years it has had a lot of play.
A terrific selection of musicians make up the band including Ry Cooder and Jim Keltner.
Not quite as caustic as the follow Good Old Boys up it still had a few items of biting commentary notably the title song, God's Song (That's why I love Mankind) and Political Science. It also has the oddball Simon Smith and the Amazing Dancing Bear (I first heard that on the Alan Price Show - The Price To Play) and You Can Leave Your Hat On which Joe Cocker made his own, turning Newman's sadistic, sleezy and almost nasty song into something almost sexy.
Filled with good one liners that, much to my family's disgust come out from me at the most inappropriate and annoying times. Lines like "In America you get food to eat, don't have to run through the jungle or skuff up your feet", "Outrageous, Alarming, Courageous, Charming", "We may not be perfect but heaven knows we try"
The lyrics Political Science still seem relevant 40 years later,
No one likes us-I don't know why
We may not be perfect, but heaven knows we try
But all around, even our old friends put us down
Let's drop the big one and see what happens
We give them money-but are they grateful?
No, they're spiteful and they're hateful
They don't respect us-so let's surprise them
We'll drop the big one and pulverize them
Asia's crowded and Europe's too old
Africa is far too hot
And Canada's too cold
And South America stole our name
Let's drop the big one
There'll be no one left to blame us
We'll save Australia
Don't wanna hurt no kangaroo
We'll build an All American amusement park there
They got surfin', too
Boom goes London and boom Paris
More room for you and more room for me
And every city the whole world round
Will just be another American town
Oh, how peaceful it will be
We'll set everybody free
You'll wear a Japanese kimono babe
And there'll be Italian shoes for me
They all hate us anyhow
So let's drop the big one now
Let's drop the big one now
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