submissions

Randy Newman – Rednecks Lyrics	12 years ago
I just wrote a well thought out 3 paragraph comment about this song song and I accidentally deleted it. It was pretty damn good too. But that's that. My thunder was stolen and I just can't bring myself to type it again. Maybe later....

submissions

Randy Newman – I Love L.A. Lyrics

12 years ago

My quick theory is this. No doubt it will need revision and more thought, but the main character of the song seems to be some sort of L.A. Yuppie (maybe) who is living in a serious bubble and wearing a dark pair of rose tinted glasses. For example, he seems ecstatic that he saw a bum down on his knees and he is also thrilled by the fact that he has a big nasty redhead by his side. He seems to believe that every person in the city of L.A. is happy 24/7. I've loved and listened to Randy Newman for years and this was a song that never really put a good conclusion together about its meaning. Now that I've thought about it a bit and wrote some stuff out, I'm going to have to go with the theory that this guy is an ass. Just like the ass in "Rednecks", "Memo to my Son", "Short People", "Birmingham", "Guilty", "I Just Want You to Hurt Like I Do" and several others. That's one of the things I love about Randy is he uses some of his songs to call out and expose unpleasant folks. He even, at least for me, has given me cause to reevaluate my approach and/or attitude towards a few issues in my life. Newman can be very brash and also quite blatant at times, but you can always count on him to present the truth.

submissions

Randy Newman – Louisiana 1927 Lyrics	12 years ago
That happened way back in 1927. You would think that our culture would have evolved beyond that sort of thing. However, as several of you pointed out, history repeated itself once again. Its unfortunate how little has changed. And YES, Randy Newman is an under appreciated and misunderstood songwriting genius.

submissions

Randy Newman – Burn On Lyrics	12 years ago
Yeah the whole section about Cleveland being the city of lights and the city of magic is so wonderfully over the top. What makes it even better is how truly beautiful the music is and Randy's deadpan and sincere delivery. I love the song and the album "Sail Away" is by far one of my all time favorites. It is truly a masterpiece.

submissions

Randy Newman – Short People Lyrics

12 years ago

Also you are correct ereed6 Randy Newman has stated that the song was written from the perspective of a crazy person. Very cool you knew that. I still don't think that negates the fact that the song is making a point on discrimination. When I talk to a racist or sexist person, I often walk away thinking that they are lunatics. They are irrational, they lack a clear concept of reality, and project paranoid thoughts onto individuals who are of no threat to them. Sounds like a crazy person to me! From a song writing perspective the character singing the song would have to be crazy. No sane person would believe those things. But it becomes this crazy person's beliefs that ultimately become a perfect critique on discrimination.

submissions

Randy Newman – Short People Lyrics

12 years ago

This song is clearly about the absurdity of taking any group of people, be it short, tall, black, white, male, or female people and then applying a set of negative connotations to the group that "ALL" of them posses. To use a group like short people is yet another stroke of genius on Randy's part. How many people do you know who hate a person simply because they are short? None? That is why it works so well as an illustration when he claims things like all short people "have dirty little minds" and "they're going to get you every time". Its so ridiculous and thus illustrates how extremely idiotic any sort of discriminatory labeling of a group of people is. Sadly, most people don't seem to posses the critical thinking skills required to understand many of Randy's songs. This has always given me mixed feelings about his songs. On the one hand, the fact that their meaning is lost on so many people is part of what makes them so dear to me. On the other hand, it can be frustrating because I think America would be such a better place if the messages of his songs were somehow communicated to the masses in a way they could understand them and ideally embrace them.

submissions

Randy Newman – Sail Away Lyrics

12 years ago

This song is a prime example of why Randy Newman is a genius and why his audience (which includes me) is so small. I know this sounds negative but most Americans do not have the ability to recognize good satire when they hear it. In addition, most Americans don't posses enough historical knowledge to use when hearing a song like this. I love how Randy Newman seems to play the character of a salesmen attempting to persuade the African people to come to America. I agree with Mycology 101's point though that the song actually expands beyond that perimeter. It sounds to me as if Randy Newman's sales pitch is going out to the whole world and the pitch is based on America's tendency to believe that our country is by far the most superior. He jabs at the idea of how free we think we are versus how free we actually are. The song is rife with sarcasm (in America youu just sing about Jesus and drink wine all day) that gives the song a second layer of depth. !st and foremost the song is a song about how slavery, but it also expands to critique the fallacy of "the American dream". Newman actually expands on the concept of our tendency to blindly embrace the idea that our way of life, the American way of life, is superior to everything else on a song that appears on that same album called "Political Science".

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