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We need to talk about Randy.
Mate played his "Sail Away " album to me in 72 so I bought it for "You can leave your hat on " - (much) later covered by Tom Jones
I bought the concept album "Good Old Boys" from which the song below is taken (see warning*) in '74 and was surprised to learn that Randy Newman had already written hits "pop" for Cilla, Gene Pitney amongst many others and I recognised Simon Smith & Bear immediately. Never dreamed he'd go on to have loads of hits, some controversial, write over 20 very famous film scores, win Grammy's galore and his first album alone was covered by Barbra Streisand, Helen Reddy, Bette Midler, Alan Price, Van Dyke Parks, Dave Van Ronk, Judy Collins, Cass Elliot, Art Garfunkel, the Everly Brothers, Claudine Longet, Dusty Springfield, Tom Odell, Nina Simone, Lynn Anderson, Wilson Pickett, Pat Boone and Peggy Lee,
Check out his amazing bio here
I'd recommend the album, but....
..this song is "challenging" as it's a concept album written from the perspective of a dumbass redneck.
(he didn't write for Buzz Lightyear all his life)
With this song Newman managed to piss off liberals who were too dumb to understand that this is art in 1974 set in the 3rd person and he pissed off the rednecks who were smart enough to realise what Newman was actually saying about them.
So here's the warning* - the redneck character use the n-word frequently. If you can cope with that have a listen as the lyrics are poignant and there's a twist. If you can't cope with that try the lovely "Mr President (have pity on the working man)" or any of the other well-written songs on the album
Mate played his "Sail Away " album to me in 72 so I bought it for "You can leave your hat on " - (much) later covered by Tom Jones
I bought the concept album "Good Old Boys" from which the song below is taken (see warning*) in '74 and was surprised to learn that Randy Newman had already written hits "pop" for Cilla, Gene Pitney amongst many others and I recognised Simon Smith & Bear immediately. Never dreamed he'd go on to have loads of hits, some controversial, write over 20 very famous film scores, win Grammy's galore and his first album alone was covered by Barbra Streisand, Helen Reddy, Bette Midler, Alan Price, Van Dyke Parks, Dave Van Ronk, Judy Collins, Cass Elliot, Art Garfunkel, the Everly Brothers, Claudine Longet, Dusty Springfield, Tom Odell, Nina Simone, Lynn Anderson, Wilson Pickett, Pat Boone and Peggy Lee,
Check out his amazing bio here
I'd recommend the album, but....
..this song is "challenging" as it's a concept album written from the perspective of a dumbass redneck.
(he didn't write for Buzz Lightyear all his life)
With this song Newman managed to piss off liberals who were too dumb to understand that this is art in 1974 set in the 3rd person and he pissed off the rednecks who were smart enough to realise what Newman was actually saying about them.
So here's the warning* - the redneck character use the n-word frequently. If you can cope with that have a listen as the lyrics are poignant and there's a twist. If you can't cope with that try the lovely "Mr President (have pity on the working man)" or any of the other well-written songs on the album
