# Who loves Randy Newman?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-loves-randy-newman/88521
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [October 19, 2001, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-loves-randy-newman/88521 "2001-10-19T23:57:45Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Candlemas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candlemas)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2001, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-loves-randy-newman/88521/1 "2001-10-19T23:57:45Z")
And I’m not talking about those movie scores and Disney tunes he does…sure, those are nice, but I’m talking about his ALBUMS.
I’ve got to say - - I LOVE RANDY NEWMAN!!!
I always have and always will. He is my single favorite of all time. But for as much as I love the guy, everyone I meet can’t stand him. Most people I meet actually despise him and refuse to be in the room while a Randy Newman album is playing.
Please tell me if you love Randy too! I’m feeling very alone here.
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### Author:  [@Stellablue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stellablue)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2001, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-loves-randy-newman/88521/2 "2001-10-20T00:29:56Z")
We’re rednecks
We’re rednecks
And we don’t know our ass from a hole in the ground
Yes I love Randy Newman
I loved you the first time I saw you
And I always will love you Marie.
Ah yes!
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### Author:  [@Odieman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odieman)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2001, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-loves-randy-newman/88521/3 "2001-10-20T00:39:35Z")
yup…I am a big Randy Newman fan…I know not cool to admit but I am…I saw him in concert in 1904…just him and his piano, it was the funniest concert I have been to.
I just want you to hurt like I do
I just want you to hurt like I do
I just want you to hurt like I do
Honest I do, honest I do, honest I do"
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2001, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-loves-randy-newman/88521/4 "2001-10-20T00:44:19Z")
I love Randy Newman, and have ever since “12 Songs.” My housemate in grad school, a self-confessed hillbilly, used to sing “My Old Kentucky Home” all the time:
Turpentine and dandelion wine
I’ve turned the corner and I’m doin’ fine
Shootin’ at the birds on the telephone line
Pickin’ em off with my gun of mine
I got a fire in my belly
And a fire in my head
Goin’ higher and higher
Until I’m dead
I was privileged to see him perform live in 1975, just after the “Rednecks” album came out.
On of my favorites has always been “You Can’t Fool the Fatman”
Sittin’ with the fat man
Tryin’ to get a loan
Talkin’ about horses
And the women that we’ve known
Spittin’ on the sidewalk
Squintin’ into the sun
Greetin’ all the people
Smilin’ at everyone
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### Author:  [@upperdeckfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/upperdeckfan)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2001, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-loves-randy-newman/88521/5 "2001-10-20T00:51:12Z")
“Sing a song of long ago, when things were green, and the days rolled quietly, the air was clean and you could breathe, and folks were nice to you…”
Personally, I really do like the songs he’s done for disney and others. I wish they’d release a collection of all those.
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### Author:  [@Violet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Violet)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2001, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-loves-randy-newman/88521/6 "2001-10-20T01:19:06Z")
“Short People” and “I Love L.A.!” 🙂
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### Author:  [@Booker57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Booker57)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2001, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-loves-randy-newman/88521/7 "2001-10-20T01:27:50Z")
[QUOTE]
\*Originally posted by Odieman \*
yup…I am a big Randy Newman fan…I know not cool to admit but I am…I saw him in concert in \*\* 1904 \*\*…just him and his piano, it was the funniest concert I have been to.
Why Keith, I had no idea you were that old 🙂
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### Author:  [@El\_Zagna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Zagna)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2001, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-loves-randy-newman/88521/8 "2001-10-20T01:29:38Z")
I first heard of Randy Newman in 1969 or thereabouts. I was sitting in on a class at the University of Texas called “English and the Electronic Media” and the teacher (Dr. Kruppa, IIRC) was discussing Newman’s and Leonard Cohen’s lyrics. I’ve loved them both (RN and LC - not Kruppa) ever since.
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### Author:  [@MrO](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrO)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2001, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-loves-randy-newman/88521/9 "2001-10-20T01:43:33Z")
Like him a lot. I think a lot of people have trouble with his sarcasm–it’s amazing how many people take his lyrics at face value.
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### Author:  [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2001, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-loves-randy-newman/88521/10 "2001-10-20T01:47:01Z")
Yeah, 1974’s GOOD OLD BOYS is one of my favorite albums.
Not the entire album, actually, just the aforementioned “Rednecks,” plus “Louisiana 1927,” and “Kingfish.” The rest of the record I can take or leave. Well, “Birmingham” is pretty good.
But those three songs are SO GOOD, it still counts as one of my favorite albums.
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### Author:  [@Bill\_H](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_H)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2001, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-loves-randy-newman/88521/11 "2001-10-20T04:09:37Z")
One of the greatest lyricists out there. Many probably don’t get the irony. A couple of my fave verses:
> [@](#):
>
> The other afternoon my wife and I
> Took a little ride into Beverly Hills
> Went to the private school our oldest child attends
> Many famous people send their children there
> This teacher says to us "We have a problem here
> This child just will not do a thing I tell him to
> And he’s such a big old thing. He hurts the other children
> All the games they play, he plays so rough
>
> Hold it teacher
> Wait a minute!
> Maybe my hears are clogged or somethin’
> Maybe I’m not understanding
> The English language
> Dear, you don’t seem to realize
>
> My Life Is Good
And how about
> [@](#):
>
> I talked to a man lived up on the county line
> I was washing his car with a friend of mine
> He was a little fat guy in a red jumpsuit
> I said “You look kind of funny”
> He said “I know that I do”
>
> "But I got a great big house on the hill here
> And a great big blonde wife inside it
> And a great big pool in my backyard and another great big pool
> beside it
> Sonny it’s money that matters
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2001, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-loves-randy-newman/88521/12 "2001-10-20T05:18:05Z")
Moving this to Cafe Society.
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### Author:  [@Dragon\_Phoenix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragon_Phoenix)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2001, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-loves-randy-newman/88521/13 "2001-10-20T08:53:52Z")
I like him, especially the song \*In Germany before the war \*. Beautiful!
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### Author:  [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2001, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-loves-randy-newman/88521/14 "2001-10-20T14:57:11Z")
We give them money - But are they grateful?
No, they’re spiteful and they’re hateful
They don’t respect us - so let’s suprise them
We’ll drop the big one and pulverize them
Asia’s too 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
* * *
A more sarcastic comment on US foreign policy isn’t possible. The man is a genius.
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### Author:  [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2001, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-loves-randy-newman/88521/15 "2001-10-20T15:01:26Z")
> [@](#):
>
> **I saw him in concert in 1904**
Would you like to come over for tea
With the missus and me?
It’s a real nice way to spend the day in Dayton, Ohio
On a lazy Sunday afternoon in 1903
Randy Newman is amazing. Those sweet little sentimental melodies, juxtaposed with scathing sarcasm, satire, amd political commentary. Fabulous.
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### Author:  [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)
#### Post date: [October 20, 2001, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-loves-randy-newman/88521/16 "2001-10-20T15:49:47Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Americans dream of gypsies, I have found
> Gypsy knives and gypsy thighs
> That pound and pound and pound and pound
> And African appendages that almost reach the ground
> And little boys playing baseball in the rain
“Sigmund Freud’s Impersonation Of Albert Einstein in America”
A couple of the songs already mentioned in this thread are on “Little Criminals”, which contains:
Short People
You Can’t Fool the Fat Man
Little Criminals
Texas Girl at the Funeral of her Father
Jolly Coppers on Parade
In Germany Before the War
Sigmund Freud’s Impersonation Of Albert Einstein in America
Baltimore
I’ll Be Home
Rider in the Rain
Kathleen (Catholicism Made Easy)
Old Man on the Farm
It’s probably a good one to pick up if you’re interested in Newman.
BTW, did you know that piano and guitar snippet that “Car Talk” uses in the middle of their show is from a Randy Newman album? The guitar sounds like Mark Knopfler because it is - the song is “Dixie Flyer”, from a Newman album called “Land of Dreams”, which Knopfler produced and played on. I need to pick that one up sometime - Newman-written material with Knopfler guitar work is a potent-sounding combination.
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### Author:  [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2001, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-loves-randy-newman/88521/17 "2001-10-22T06:07:40Z")
I’m not a die-hard Newman fan, but between “I Love L.A.” and “When She Loved Me” (from _Toy Story 2_), I can definitely say I appreciate the guy.
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### Author:  [@Jane\_D\_oh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jane_D_oh)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2001, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-loves-randy-newman/88521/18 "2001-10-22T13:12:59Z")
There’s a red moon risin’ on the Cuyahoga river,
Rollin’ into Cleveland thru the lake…
Burn on, big river, burn on.
Yep! gotta love him.
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### Author:  [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2001, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-loves-randy-newman/88521/19 "2001-10-22T13:55:10Z")
Git 'em Dan.
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### Author:  [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2001, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-loves-randy-newman/88521/20 "2001-10-22T17:27:40Z")
I heard the song “Real Emotional Girl” once and then searched for years to find it (this was before the web, of course).
I also love “I Love L.A.” and “You’ve Got A Friend In Me”.
Randy Newman is cool.
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