A Few Words in Defense of Our Country : The Biography of Randy Newman

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

"Randy Newman is our great master of American song and storytelling."--Bruce Springsteen



"At last, the biography that Randy Newman has long deserved. The emotional precision, the humor and sweep, the truths and secrets behind his remarkable body of work . . . it's all here in Robert Hilburn's heartfelt and indispensable account of America's finest songwriter. Leave it to Hilburn to pull back the curtain on the incredible life of Newman, a shy genius who clearly trusted him enough to point him in all the right directions. It's more than a great read, it's an invitation to re-visit Randy Newman's work with renewed appreciation for the man who uniquely defined the American Experience just when we needed it most."--Cameron Crowe



"[A] penetrating biography. . . . While the book posits Newman as a writer of sociopolitical import, its emotional narrative is driven by the more personal aspects of his story: a complex family legacy, childhood struggles with strabismus (crossed eyes) and a lifelong tendency toward sadness and isolation."--Bob Mehr, New York Times



"An illuminating and masterful achievement."-- Booklist ​(starred review)



The definitive biography of songwriter Randy Newman, told with his full cooperation, by acclaimed biographer and longtime Los Angeles Times music critic, Robert Hilburn



Randy Newman is widely hailed as one of America's all-time greatest songwriters, equally skilled in the sophisticated melodies and lyrics of the Gershwin-Porter era and the cultural commentary of his own generation, with Bob Dylan and Paul Simon among his most ardent admirers. While tens of millions around the world can hum "You've Got a Friend in Me," his disarming centerpiece for Toy Story , most of them would be astonished to learn that the heart of Newman's legacy is in the dozens of brilliant songs that detail the injustices, from racism to class inequality, that have contributed to the division of our nation. Rolling Stone declared that a single Newman song, "Sail Away," tells us more about America than "The Star-Spangled Banner." And yet, his legacy remains largely undocumented in book form--until now.



In A FEW WORDS IN DEFENSE OF OUR COUNTRY , veteran music journalist Robert Hilburn presents the definitive portrait of an American legend. Hilburn has known Newman since his club debut at the Troubadour in 1970, and the two have maintained a connection in the decades since, conversing over the course of times good and bad. Though Newman has long refused to talk with potential biographers, he now gives Hilburn unprecedented access not only to himself but also to his archives, as well as his family, friends, and collaborators. Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, John Williams, Linda Ronstadt, Don Henley, Bonnie Raitt, Chuck D, James Taylor, and New York Times' Pulitzer-winning columnists, Thomas Friedman and Wesley Morris, among others, contributed to the book. In addition to exploring Newman's prolific career and the evolution of his songwriting, A FEW WORDS IN DEFENSE OF OUR COUNTRY also dives into his childhood and early influences, his musical family that ruled Hollywood movie scores for decades, the relationships that have provided inspiration for his songs, and so much more.



As thought-provoking and thorough as it is tender, this book is an overdue tribute to the legendary songwriter whose music has long reflected and challenged the America we know today.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Prologue (1) (xiii)
• Prologue (2) (xix)
• The Newman Roots
• A Friend Named Lenny and
• An Eye Problem
• The World Isn't Fair
• The Teen Years and
• Some Early Songwriting
• "They Tell Me It's Summer"
• "Golden Gridiron Boy" and
• Metric Music
• A Creative Awakening
• Roswitha and
• A New Publisher
• Lenny, Mo, and
• Warner Bros. Records
• A Classic Debut Album
• "Love Story" and
• "Davy the Fat Boy"
• 12 Songs
• Harry Nilsson and
• The Troubadour
• The Bitter End
• Bob Dylan and
• A Novel Movie Idea
• Another Classic Album:
• Sail Away
• Good Old Boys and
• The N-word
• Ragtime
• Saturday Night Live and
• Mounting Pressure
• "Short People" and
• Some Bruised Feelings
• A Bad Joke and
• Rough Times
• Films and the Stage
• Ragtime and Faust
• Trouble in Paradise:
• Another Epic Album and
• The Marriage Ends
• The Natural
• La Película Loca and
• Peter Asher
• Land of Dreams
• Parenthood
• Avalon and
• A Backyard Wedding
• Faust
• The Album and
• The Stage
• Toy Story
• "You've Got a Friend in Me" and
• John Lasseter
• More Movies
• "When She Loved Me" and
• All Those Oscar Nominations
• Bad Love and
• Finally, an Oscar
• Nonesuch Records
• Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Part One
• Katrina
• "A Few Words in Defense of Our Country"
• President George W. Bush and
• The New York Times editorial pages
• Harps and Angels
• A Song for President Obama and
• Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Part Two
• Dark Matter
• The Streak Continues
• The Hollywood Bowl
• An Historic Night
• The Family
• Toy Story 4
• Marriage Story and
• The Pandemic
• Afternoon Visits
• With Lenny and the
• Hope for More Music
• Acknowledgments (457)
• Appendix (461)
• Additional Notes (469)
• Bibliography (487)
• Lyrics Permissions (491)
• Index (499)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

Biographer Hilburn (Paul Simon) serves up an affectionate tribute to Randy Newman, the singer-songwriter and film score composer best known for "I Love L.A." and "You've Got a Friend in Me." Born in 1943 into a musical family (uncles Alfred, Lionel, and Emil composed scores for Hollywood films), Newman developed an early love for classical piano. He shifted his focus to pop music as a teen before becoming a professional songwriter as a young adult. Capturing the full sweep of Newman's career, Hilburn examines how his self-conscious wit and predilection for character-driven storytelling, combined with his "Jewish intellectualism, political liberalism and a healthy dose of contrarianism," resulted in lyrics that critiqued the moral state of American society. For example, 1983's "Song for the Dead," which is narrated by an American soldier stationed in Southeast Asia who must bury his dead comrades, interrogates the sacrifices made to support the Vietnam War. Throughout, Hilburn astutely analyzes how Newman uses literary devices like the unreliable narrator to probe the absurdities of "a strange and tragic period in history." In the process, Hilburn makes clear, Newman broadened the boundaries of what pop music can do. The result is an intimately detailed portrait of a vital American songwriter. (Oct.)

Booklist Review

As a songwriter, Randy Newman's range is wide and eclectic, from the politically incorrect and surprising hit, "Short People," to Toy Story's amiable "You've Got a Friend in Me." Biographer and music critic Hilburn (Paul Simon, 2018), who had full access to Newman, people close to him, and his archives, asserts that the multitalented, Academy Award--winning artist uses a blend of intellectualism and political liberalism mixed with satire and irony while combining the craft of George Gershwin and Cole Porter and the social commentary of Bob Dylan. He doesn't write love songs; instead, he composes songs about "things that need to be noticed, places like ghettos and slums that should shame everyone." Newman has addressed racism ("Rednecks"), urban decline ("Baltimore"), the Great Mississippi Flood ("Louisiana 1927"), and slavery ("Sail Away"). He has an impressive pedigree: his uncles wrote hundreds of Hollywood musical scores. In this account of a long and fruitful life, Hilburn documents Newman's eye problems (strabismus), which led, Hilburn surmises, to his empathy for underdogs; his early songwriting years, which included the Three Dog Night hit, "Mama Told Me Not to Come"; his mainstream success; and his film soundtracks (Avalon, Cars, The Natural, Ragtime) up to the present. All in all, an illuminating and masterful achievement.