Newman makes point with music

Font Size:

By Daniel Durchholz, St. Louis Post-Dispatch | Wednesday, April 30, 2008 12:23 PM CDT | () comments

(Contributed photo) Randy Newman will be holding two benefit performances for the Englert Theatre in Iowa City.

It’s not likely that Randy Newman would ever be mistaken for a member of the YouTube generation. But the singer-songwriter-pianist recently had something timely to say in the form of his song “A Few Words in Defense of Our Country.” So he posted it online.

“It was the type of song that, after you recorded it, you badly want someone to hear it,” Newman said by telephone from his home in Los Angeles. “I hardly ever write about what’s going on currently because there’s too much change.”

The song addresses the President George W. Bush administration, the U.S. Supreme Court and the “end of (the American) empire.”

“We’re adrift in the land of the brave and the home of the free,” Newman sings, blending humor and sadness.

“It was a good thing to be able to do,” he said about posting the song. “You get to hear from people, and it’s amazing how some of them didn’t ‘get’ it.”

Irony and moral ambiguity are among Newman’s greatest strengths as a songwriter. But, for the most part, they’ve sunk his commercial fortunes. Too often, those who hear songs such as “Rednecks” or “Short People” — the latter being his only Top 40 hit — simply don’t understand that he’s kidding, sort of.

“In the pop music business, they’re not used to irony,” he says. “They are (if it’s) on television, but they don’t expect it in their rock ’n’ roll much.”

Still, Newman is recognized as one of the finest songwriters of the rock era. And he’s hit it big in Hollywood, too, with scores for “Ragtime,” “The Natural” and “Toy Story,” among others. Newman was nominated for numerous Oscars before finally winning one for the song “If I Didn’t Have You” from “Monsters, Inc.” — and received a standing ovation. He responded to that gesture in typical, Newmanesque fashion.

“I don’t want your pity,” he said.

Here’s the rest of the recent interview:

Q: In your new song, “Defense,” you say our current leaders aren’t as bad as the Caesars or the Spanish Inquisition. That’s damning them with pretty faint praise.

A: That’s as much as I could do.

Q: You usually write characters, not straight-up commentary. Could you put yourself in the head of Condoleezza Rice or Dick Cheney? What would that song be like?

A: I don’t know if they know they’re liars. I’m sure Cheney still thinks he’s right about his whole (Middle East) philosophy. And Condoleezza Rice may think she’s told the truth. But, no, I couldn’t make a song out of that.

Q: Where did your interest in characters and unreliable narrators come from?

A: I got bored writing regular lyrics, love songs. I was writing a song in 1965, and I was looking for a rhyme with an “air” sound and wrote “bear.” I ended up writing “Simon Smith and the Amazing Dancing Bear.” It wasn’t a “Eureka!” moment. But I figured, “I love it when you get a narrator.” You know “The Alexandria Quartet,” the (Lawrence) Durrell books? You think you’re getting the truth in the first one, and in the second one it’s a different version of the truth. It’s like the old “Rashomon” kind of thing.

Q: You’ve put out plenty of records over the years, but you’re not terribly prolific.

A: No. It’s shameful.

Q: Being an undisciplined writer is not a characteristic that would endear you to Hollywood.

A: I’m not undisciplined there. You can’t be. You have to work whenever you’re awake. If they give me an assignment for a song, I’ll write it. If they give me enough information, I’ll do it faster than I want to tell ’em.

Q: When you finally won an Oscar, did the win ameliorate all the losses?

A: I never minded when I lost, except when I lost to something that I thought was really bad. But it never bothered me because I know it’s not an accurate gauge of merit.

Q: You did the score for George Clooney’s “Leatherheads,” but you were in the movie, too. What was that like?

A: It only took about five seconds to see I’m a bad actor. Acting, it’s hard, I think.

Q: You’re not going to give up your day job?

A: The offers haven’t exactly been rolling in. I never knew I had gray hair before. There are no mirrors in my house.

Q: It’s been 30 years since “Short People,” and whenever a story comes up on that topic, your name is attached. I recently read a piece about a guy who is inserting silicone implants under people’s scalps to make them taller. Sure enough, the writer worked your name in.

A: It’s unbelievable. You know, my obituary will mention the Oscar and “Short People.” It’ll be in the first sentence no matter what I do. It’s a better song than the one I won the Oscar for, really.

If you go

Who: Randy Newman, in two benefit performances for the Englert Theatre

When: 8 p.m. Monday, May 5, and Tuesday, May 6

Where: Englert Theatre, 221 E. Washington St., Iowa City

How much: $150, $100 and $65

Information: (319) 688-2653 or Englert.org on the Web

Also on the Web: RandyNewman.com