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Welcome to the Land of Dreams. The singer/songwriter for these times: Randy Newman. [1]
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Date: 2025-01-26
The other dark night of the soul, it occurred to me that the work of one particular musical artist really captures the darker side of this country: Randy Newman. Newman has a knack for creating deceptively simple melodies supported by his skill at the piano wrapped around lyrics that can be a gut punch.
(Speaking of music, I recently posted about we can get a handle on how we got to this point in America by looking at some classic Broadway musicals — but I digress. )
If you only know of Newman’s work from Pixar and Disney soundtracks, you might be surprised to find he’s responsible for some really dark takes on life. I’m going to pull up some music videos (assuming they haven’t been banned or pulled yet because they’re really subversive) with some quick comments. Enjoy a look at America and human nature from the man whose most recent album from 2017 is entitled Dark Matter. The videos below mostly date from earlier in his career, but they have taken on a new salience since November 2024.
Many people are still freaked out to discover that a fair number of the population would vote to put Donald Trump in the White House not just once, but twice. They’ve always been there, but it’s not something we are comfortable looking at or thinking about. We prefer to think America is exceptional, and that “It can’t happen here” — but the truth is America has always had stuff we don’t dare teach our kids about in school, and “it” has happened here again and again. Now we’re getting our faces rubbed in the ugly.
On to the music. Several of them have video while most are just the songs, but they’re all worth a listen IMHO. I hope they will be visible, because lately Youtube demands I sign in to prove I’m not a bot. What’s up with that?
This song is a near perfect take on what is wrong with America. Much of the problem is due to the massive accumulation of wealth and how it distorts everything. It’s hard to argue against it given what we are seeing now: ”It’s Money That Matters”.
Looking at the Tech Bros and the other billionaires fawning over Trump, it’s worth remembering what is really important to them. (Hint — it’s not the good of the country.) “It’s Money That I Love” The idolization of the rich, the mythology that they are job creators and good for the country is what they want us to believe — but the evidence to the contrary that piling up wealth is not a good thing for anyone ( including them) keeps mounting. What will be the breaking point, and when?
You’d think the people like Musk and Bezos with more money than God would not have a care in the world. Trump can’t get enough adulation. “It’s Lonely at the Top” captures the nihilism, the narcissism, and the hollowness of the “master of the universe” schtick.
About the MAGA crowd — this song “Rednecks” captures the resentment against elites and others who look down on them, with a North vs South vibe that calls out racist hypocrisy. If you want to talk about a real Hillbilly Elegy, try this song. WARNING — This song makes a lot of use of the “N” word, with a dash of anti-semitism.
Yeah, about that making America a “Christian Nation”. God is having a great time loving mankind in this song. “God’s Song” is brutal. If you wonder where the love, mercy and charity Christianity is supposed to provide has gotten to, well don’t forget how much Old Testament fire and brimstone seems to be what really appeals to those who claim to be people of faith — as long as it’s for other people. Republican Jesus is what you get.
On the Republican revisionist history that ‘explains’ why Blacks were so lucky to be shipped to America and had really great lives as slaves, “Sail Away” is a repudiation too subtle to be refuted.
Want a musical exploration of the kind of thinking that’s now driving foreign policy? “Political Science” captures what seems to be Trump’s world view:
.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
Some of you may remember this as a theme song for the tv show “Monk”. The series featured a detective with multiple phobias. It was a bit of a running joke, but it’s a song for our times when the real danger is not being paranoid enough. “It’s a Jungle Out There”.
Los Angeles is still burning; the devastation is heart-breaking. It’s worth a look at Newman’s “I Love L.A.” tribute to the city and the life styles that flourish there. While there’s a lot of irony in the song, it’s hard to believe there isn’t also affection amid the over-the-top enthusiasm. It’s a parody and a tribute at the same time, with a lot of iconic imagery.
(I’m sure there are some good stories about making this video and the related one “It’s money that matters” since both make use of the same car, models/actors, with L.A. as a backdrop. I wonder who wrote, directed, and produced it?)
This song by Newman is biographical. I’m including it because I love the opening and closing piano riffs — especially the closeout fading out into the sound of a passing train. It’s a celebration of travel by train, family coming together, with a touch of envy by Jews for the Gentile lifestyle around them in the Land of Dreams. My local NPR station occasionally uses those riffs to separate news stories. “Dixie Flyer” has a haunting quality to it.
Despite how dark Newman’s songs can go, he’s also capable of songs that can be uplifting, or incredibly poignant. “She Chose Me” is a heartfelt love song from a man who can’t believe it happened to someone like him.
Randy Newman is a paradox. He has had a long career, an extensive catalog of original music, and a perceptive eye for the world around him. For all of his use of the white keys on the piano, he’s not reluctant to play on the black keys, and sometimes in between. Other artists have scored hits with some of his songs, yet he, as the video below notes, has managed to evade developing a huge base of fans. He’s in his 80’s now; it’s more than past time to appreciate him and his legacy.
I am, unfortunately, Randy Newman is a half-hour BBC documentary/interview exploring the contradictions of Newman, his music, his world view, his life. (Some of the songs linked above get discussed in it.) You can’t avoid wondering how much of his music is shaped by being a Jew in America. Consider these lyrics from “Dixie Flyer”:
Her own mother came to meet us at the station
Her dress as black as a crow in a coal mine
She cried when her little girl got off the train
Her brothers and her sisters came down from Jackson, Mississippi
In a great green Hudson driven by a Gentile they knew
Drinkin' rye whiskey from a flask in the back seat
Tryin' to do like the Gentiles do
Christ, they wanted to be Gentiles, too
Who wouldn't down there, wouldn't you
An American Christian, God damn
Contrasting Newman’s life and work with another songwriter who has become an American Music Icon, Irving Berlin, whose vision of America is more accurate? There’s no question who had more popular appeal. Would a family of poor Jewish refugees coming from Russia, as Irving Berlin did, even be allowed in to America today? “Composer George Gershwin called him "the greatest songwriter that has ever lived",[8]: 117 and composer Jerome Kern concluded that "Irving Berlin has no place in American music—he is American music."[9]”
And so is Randy Newman and his work.
I hope you enjoyed this. If you have particular Randy Newman songs you like or think are worth bringing up, please do so in comments. I can only scratch the surface of his discography here.
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