Unlike most One Track Minds, this isn't a song about amazing muscianship, surprising chord changes or nifty little hooks. Rather, it's a tribute to the power of lyrics.
Of all the Great American Songwriters of our time, Randy Newman is perhaps the only one who could be considered a continuation of the line of classic songwriters from before our time. His deft combination of Broadway show tunes with contemporary pop follows a similar prescription for success enjoyed by Cole Porter, Rodgers & Hammerstein and George Gershwin.
And while I'm generally not the biggest fan of the albums under his own name, the dude was on a certifiable roll in the early seventies. Sail Away and Good Old Boys together make an unbeatable one-two punch in the history of popular music.
Even when Newman wasn't writing for movies or plays, as when he focused more on being a successful professional songwriter in his early years, the character sketches he always thrived on combined with traditional pop structures made it each song seem as if it was meant for one. The words conjures up vivid imagery and combined with the lush orchestration that often accompanies his tunes, he often gets an imaginary movie playing in your head.
What really gets the songs to demand attention, though, are the way he paints those characters. He can write a real pretty love song but he's more inclined not to elicit any sympathy from listeners; Newman is more interested in creating flawed, unseemly personalities doing unsavory things in order to make a statement on the duplicity and greed of modern society. And often, he does so by drawing historical references, as he was trying to do (I think) with "Louisiana 1927."
As a result, Newman's heavily sarcastic wit was often sharper than a brand new ice pick. Sometimes, though, he missed the mark to those only casually paying attention, as what happened back in left field hit of 1978 "Short People," a dig at bigotry that got confused for bigotry itself. But that wasn't the first time he took on the cause of pointing out the folly of racism.
In fact, "Short People" was pretty tame compared to "Rednecks," the song that first appeared at the beginning of the Southern-themed Good Old Boys.
The song was inspired by an episode on the Dick Cavett show Newman watched that had the just-elected governor of Georgia Lester Maddox on as a guest. Without making this too much of a history lesson in Southern politics, Maddox had a reputation as a segregationist that he was trying to shake off. Cavett didn't seem to want to let him do that. Maddox got mad and walked off the show.
Article comments
1 - Susan
Newman is a native Southern Californian. He was born right here (L.A.), November '43-- as he explains in Dixie Flyer, along with when and why he spent some time in New Orleans during his baby days. I highly recommend that song, too! (Along with everything by Randy Newman.)
2 - Pico
Thanks for the comment, Susan. I've found several sources that state Newman was born in New Orleans (although Wikipedia backs you up). Regardless, Newman does seem to have a good handle on the South and the rest of America, for that matter.
3 - Susan
Well, I've heard him say he was born in L.A. myself, but if you want written clarification, Timothy White writes about it in the bio he provided for the "Guilty" box set. The New Orleans cite is a common (and understandable, given his music style) mistake, but he's a native Angelino.