Randy Newman's American Dreams

Like one of the other reviewers of this book, I was more glad of its actual existence than bothered by any of its flaws. Those flaws are as otherwise described; namely a tendency on the author's part both to focus on other, not always relevant, artists, and to assume that his own interpretation of the meaning of any given Newman song is necessarily the "correct" one. The former is frequently not a flaw at all - I was perfectly happy, for example, with the number of pages devoted to Harry Nilsson, partly because Nilsson was another exceptional artist, and partly because he was relevant to the book. But 3 pages about a Procul Harum song based on "The Beehive State" was something I skimmed past. This is mainly a matter of personal preference, which is my main problem with Courrier's book. Consider, for example, Courrier's interpretation of "My Life Is Good". This, he says, is "a savage attack on yuppie values". Really? I'd always enjoyed the idea that it was Newman actually admitting, or even celebrating, his own indifference or selfishness, or at least suggesting that such traits are worth consideration beyond mere condemnation. The Randy Newman whose songs I enjoy is someone who explicitly does not tell you what to think. The author of "Rednecks", "Sail Away", "Political Science" etc is, to me, someone whose keynote is ambiguity, and the deliberate portrayal of supposedly unpalatable sentiments in a sympathetic light. Similarly, the track "Masterman and Baby J", about which Newman said, "I wanted to write about rap bragging. It's amazing how much of it there is", becomes, according to Courrier, an attempt to "dramatize how the despair and disenfranchisement of black urban poetry has led to an incendiary and poetic form of musical expression". No evidence is presented for this assertion, and it's perfectly possible to believe (as I do) that Newman simply doesn't like rap bragging. Courrier is, however, savvy enough to recognise and appreciate the complexity and importance of "Good Old Boys", namely that it represents Newman's giving the working class Deep South a decent hearing on its own terms, and that the opening track "Rednecks" was a satire that chose to avoid the easy target its title implied, and instead to lampoon the complacency of Northern liberals, and their own attitudes towards the Southern States. He's also good on details; I didn't know that the edition of the Dick Cavett show that spawned "Rednecks" had Gore Vidal as a guest. Merely learning this gives you a clue as to why the song was written. Also, he's clearly a fan, and this is ultimately why the book's values outweigh its flaws. It makes you want to listen to Randy Newman; in particular the pages about his first album (which I've often overlooked in favour of "Sail Away" and "Good Old Boys") had me listening to it again and recognising further virtues. The title track of "Sail Away" warrants several pages in its own right, which are again educational as well

Music is one of the most difficult art forms to write about clearly and fairly. Sometimes it's not enough just to listen to every recording in an artist's career. The insights may be hidden or disguised by the artist so that they don't reveal anything about themselves. So it is with Randy Newman, one of the best contemporary songwriters and musicians to come from the United States. In this book, Randy Newman's American Dreams, author Kevin Courrier goes "under-cover" to discover who the "real" Randy Newman is and what his songs reveal about himself and his country. To this end, Courrier has written a well researched treatise on Newman's music and his times. The book is thick with information about popular music not only about Newman but about Frank Sinatra, Jackie De Shannon and Harry Nilsson. It is a triumph of musical biography laced with good stories about singers, record labels and Newman himself. I highly recommend this to anyone interested in taking the time to learn about one musician's art and how he's been treated by the music business.