Kevin Courrier, Randy Newman's American Dreams (ECW Press, 2005)
Randy Newman was born in New Orleans in 1944. He writes songs, plays the piano, and conducts orchestras. His uncles are well known and respected composers of film music, and Randy followed them into the family business. He's had a couple of hit singles, won a few Grammys and even (after 16 nominations) an Academy Award! But what do we really know about him? Well, essentially . . . these are the facts. Sure he's been married twice, has kids by both wives, lives in LA, has suffered from writer's block and Epstein-Barr, and is too tall to be writing songs about how "Short people have no reason to live!" but what of his secrets? He must have them, otherwise how could he write such pithy, ironic, pointed lyrics?
If secrets are what you're looking for, look beyond Kevin Courrier's new book Randy Newman's American Dreams, because they simply aren't in there! Instead, Courrier provides a detailed and fascinating study of the work Newman has completed over his career. His last book was a study of Frank Zappa's ouevre called Dangerous Kitchen which GMR recommended, and the new book is every bit as good as that one!
I saw Randy Newman in concert in Toronto a couple of times. He was hilarious. His stage persona was dry, sarcastic, and self-mocking. I remember that, although the two visits were over a year apart, he wore the same clothes both times. The same shirt, in fact, that he would wear for two different television appearances! Now, I have a favourite shirt too, but my wife tends to monitor my sporting of that shirt, and I simply wouldn't be able to get away with appearing at the same venue in the same shirt! But for Randy Newman . . . it seems strangely appropriate.
Newman is influenced by his uncles, but also by Aaron Copland and Charles Ives, by Scott Joplin, by Fats Domino; he loves the harmonies of The Eagles and the pure tones of Linda Ronstadt. His music is an amalgam of blues and ragtime, with rich orchestral support, and a stinging bottleneck guitar solo. It is American from top to bottom, perhaps the most American music one can imagine. Courrier assists the reader in tracking down the sources and influences of this music by providing an in-depth survey of each recording, from the pop songs Newman wrote as a staff writer for a California publishing company through his own series of albums (from 1968's Randy Newman Creates Something New Under the Sun through 2003's The Randy Newman Songbook Volume 1), including the soundtrack work which has kept bread on the Newman table for many years.
Taking as his model the work of Greil Marcus (who also wrote about Newman in his classic collection Mystery Train) Courrier aims high. And he hits fairly close to the mark, when all is said and done. He is obviously a fan but he doesn't allow that to blind him to weaknesses in Newman's writing, and many of his opinions caused this reader to go back to the recordings for another listen. More often than not, I found myself agreeing with him. There are weak tracks mixed in with the brilliant ones.
The chronological critique is highlighted by appropriate sound-bites from interviews Newman has given over the years. Newman comments on a particular song which gives perspective to Courrier's critical assessment. This is especially helpful in the section dealing with the soundtrack work: one can sense the frustration which comes from trying to create these cues for visual images, with directors and producers hovering nearby.
The format Courrier chooses is an interesting one. He sets a foundation wherein Newman will be viewed as a masked creator, one who doesn't want to let his real self show through. "Inheritor of the Mask" deals with his family legacy; "A Life Before the Mask" looks at the early pop songs; "A Life Behind the Mask" is where it becomes really interesting. Here Courrier introduces a character called "the untrustworthy narrator" who appears in Newman's best work as the lead voice in the songs. Courrier claims that when Newman doesn't use this "untrustworthy narrator," he isn't able to maintain the separation required to say the kind of "spiky" things he has to say. Newman himself confesses, "I like untrustworthy narrators and things where the audience knows stuff that the narrator doesn't know. I love that kind of stuff. You don't see much of it in songs. You see it in literature a little bit." So he uses a narrator who is saying things which are not like the things normally said in a song. And whether or not the "singer" believes what he is saying (as the narrator) in the song is for the listener to understand himself.
This approach has landed Randy Newman in hot water. His biggest hit "Short People" was accepted as an ironic comment on bigotry by many until it was discovered that Randy is over six feet tall. Then, to many, it just seemed nasty. But Newman does this all the time. He takes the side of a racist Southerner, as he sings "we're Rednecks, and we're keeping the niggers down." But these lyrics have to be seen in the context of the song to be fully understood, and Newman is almost always being ironic.
Regarding the orchestral music Newman composed for films, Courrier seems more critical about his successes. Too much schmaltz, without the benefit of the narrator equals a more hit and miss approach, Courrier thinks. As well, the act of writing movie songs for animated films (for Pixar and Disney) has Newman reaching for a lower common denominator. Still, Courrier points to successes like Newman's song score for the "Meet the Parents / Meet the Fockers" series where he recorded some solid blues covers.
Intelligent and well written, Courrier's text provides a solid foundation for understanding the work of this American Dreamer. Randy Newman's songs may not be for everyone, and Courrier also discusses the good and bad cover versions which have been done. I found Randy Newman's American Dreams a fascinating volume which brought me back to the original recordings both as a means to check out some of Courrier's opinions, and to simply enjoy the lifework of this fine musician. I highly recommend it!
