A national treasure

Randy Newman is a treasure, and absolute national treasure. His songs are among the most well-crafted masterpieces of the past forty years. They flow across easy, soothing melodies while commenting in the most satirical means possible on all sort of topics: religion, politics, history, stereotypes. Rarely - if ever - has commentary come on so relaxing a bed.

Most people know Randy Newman from his movie music, for which he has won Oscars for Best Song. Here are two of his well-known movie songs, as an intro for today.


- "Good News"


- "You've Got a Friend in Me"

He has also done a number of songs based on historical tales, some of which shine a spotling on our less upstanding parts of history.


- "Louisiana (1927)"


- "Sail Away"


- "Christmas in Capetown"

His other songs aren't without comment, but they aren't exactly historical perspectives, either.


- "Political Science"


- "I Love LA"


- "Story of a Rock n Roll Band"


- "God's Song"


- "A Few Words in Defense of Our Country"


- "I Love L.A."

His most well-known non-movie song really got him into trouble - as the subtitles on this video explain


- "Short People"

His highly casual style has lead us, however, to some parodies, most famously from Family Guy


- Family guy

If you're intrigued, go searching YouTube for "Rednecks", "Christmas in Capetown", and "My Life is Good" - all of which push the line of sattire and include a few words that I'm going to decline to link to here on my school blog.