mission freak!

We’re officially 12 days removed from the Iowa Caucus, and with a trip to Chicago, some major car trouble, and a house sitting gig at a place with no TV or internet, I’ve been somewhat out of the loop of the aftermath of our tiny state’s “first in the nation” hullabaloo. In the 30 minutes I spent crawling the web this afternoon, I have to say I’m glad. A close call in New Hampshire, racial politics, name calling, excluding candidates from televised debates–it was all a little much for me to handle. But in my internet searching, I also stumbled across an op-ed in the New York Times from a year ago. The byline was credited to one of my favorite songwriters, and sure enough, the whole piece was simply the lyrics from his newest song. Despite the statuettes from his late-career Disney escapades, it was a reminder that the great Randy Newman can still pack a punch.

With 1969’s audacious and hilariously titled debut, Randy Newman Creates Something New Under the Sun, Newman launched a career based on gorgeous melodies, quirky song composition, and even quirkier lyrics that relied on wordplay as well as political and sexual humor. His left-of-center sensibilities attracted him to another slightly off-kilter musician: The Beatles’ favorite singer, Harry Nilsson. Just a year after Newman’s first major release, the almost-superstar Nilsson recorded a covers album: Nilsson Sings Newman. Nilsson’s unrivaled vocal control (before his ruptured vocal chord classic Pussy Cats) makes his versions outclass the originals, if not outshine them. Both albums (and Pussy Cats, for that matter) rank near the top of my all time favorites. Along with Newman’s Sail Away, all of these albums accomplish the rarest of feats: they could work for dinner parties, for heart-on-sleeve mixtapes, or for anti-war rallies.

Fast-forward 30 years, and Newman has recorded a bunch of albums as well as become a regular on-stage at the Oscars. In some ways this made me happy, as a bunch of old and much more famous songwriters started gracing the stage instead of “hot young talent” (Eminem and Bjork were out, Bob Dylan and James Taylor were in).  Newman was getting his due, and it was nice to see him in the company of greats rather than as a dinosaur act among the young. Still, I was worried about the future as much as the past. Was this the legacy Newman would leave: an aging protester who decided to write children’s songs and cash the checks? I like Toy Story as much as the next guy, but this just didn’t seem right. And in thinking that, I was dead wrong.

At age 63, Newman still had all of his tools at his disposal: biting wit, keen observation, delicate fingers on the keys. He started playing “A Few Words in Defense of Our Country” in concerts in late 2006, and the song was such a critical and fan favorite that it was recorded and put out by Nonesuch, and released digitally in January of 2007. One year later, and the song is as rich and relevant as ever. In true Newman fashion, his “defense” of our adminstration is that it could be worse. His references are Hitler and Stalin.

In my despair over his later career, what I forgot to take into consideration was the fact that Newman–like another great American songwriter, Tom Waits–can only write two types of songs, but he can make a million of them. (Newman writes love songs and political songs; Waits, of course, writes love songs and demented circus-freak songs.) His “return to form,” then, was just a continuation (albeit a long overdue one) of some his most memorable material, notably 1972’s “Political Science.” This 2007 critique of the government is also open itself to some criticism, including his reference to Clarence Thomas as a “brother” and the bufuddling line “Even Pluto isn’t a planet anymore,” which is an analogy, I think, to Thomas’ not really being a “brother” anymore. It wouldn’t be a good Newman song, though, without a little controversy, and I’m more than willing to forgive him in an era of mostly forgettable anti-whatever diatribes (I’m looking at you, Messrs. Oberst and Young).

This leads us to the future, where Randy Newman, in four months time, will be playing a two-night stand at The Englert for a funraising gig for our venerable theatre that is seemingly in constant need of funding. Despite my reservations about the local money dumped on this place for three performances a year of Capital Steps while more worthwhile cultural events look for backing (ahem, Mission Creek), the mere sight of Newman’s name in lights in our little city is enough for me to shell out $65. So call it media fatigue, or post-Caucus depression, or just plain nostalgia, but Newman’s songs have cut through bullshit to reveal small and large truths about politics and our own hearts for going on forty years. I would much rather have him sing to me than listen to one more minute of CNN. Did I mention that this is the guy who wrote “Mama Told Me (Not to Come)“?

So start saving your money now; I know I am.

Download: Randy Newman - A Few Words in Defense of Our Country [2007]

Download: Randy Newman - Political Science (Let’s Drop the Big One) [1972]

Download: Randy Newman - Mr. President (Have Pity on the Working Man) [1974]