DAVID BIANCULLI, HOST:
That is FRESH AIR. I am David Bianculli. Some folks do not know Randy Newman’s title, however they do know his celebrated film songs, like “You’ve got Bought A Good friend In Me” from “Toy Story.” Some folks additionally know him because the man who wrote an enormous novelty hit about quick folks. And a smaller quantity are conscious of a giant physique of labor, together with darkish songs about relationships, racism, geopolitics, air pollution and faith that ranks among the many most interesting pop music to emerge from Los Angeles within the latter a part of the twentieth century. A brand new biography of Newman by Robert Hilburn takes its title from certainly one of Newman’s songs. It is known as “A Few Phrases In Protection Of Our Nation,” and rock critic Ken Tucker says it presents all these aspects of Newman’s life.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “LOUISIANA 1927”)
RANDY NEWMAN: (Singing) What has occurred down right here is the wind have modified. Clouds roll in from the north, and it began to rain. Rained actual arduous…
KEN TUCKER, BYLINE: Three of Randy Newman’s uncles had been Hollywood movie composers. And their ability and success was apparently, in response to this new biography, an enormous burden for a younger Randy Newman, who knew he, too, needed to be a musician, however doubted his expertise. He took refuge in music his uncles ignored – rock ‘n’ roll, particularly the tumbling piano hits of Fat Domino. Rock music gave Newman an escape route into each fantasy and social commentary, and shortly he was making up characters and inhabiting them.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “MARIE”)
NEWMAN: (Singing) You appeared like a princess the may we met, together with your hair piled up excessive. I’ll always remember. I am drunk proper now, child, however I’ve bought to be, or I by no means may inform you what you imply to me. I cherished you the primary time I noticed you, and I all the time will love you, Marie.
TUCKER: That is the achingly lovely “Marie” from the 1974 album “Good Outdated Boys.” In Robert Hilburn’s telling, Newman is torn between two impulses as an artist. He desires to have hits. Writing pop music, in any case, means it must be in style. And he desires to say one thing, to specific opinions on racism, sexism and the all the time fraught grandeur of the American dream.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “IT’S MONEY THAT I LOVE”)
NEWMAN: (Singing) I do not love the mountains. I do not love the ocean. I do not love Jesus. He by no means carried out a factor for me. I ain’t fairly like my sister, good like my dad or good like my mama. It is cash that I like. It is cash that I like.
TUCKER: That is the thrillingly bitter “It is Cash That I Love” from 1979. This biography spends its practically 500 pages attempting to get on the sources of Newman’s vary and ambition. Alongside the best way, the guide describes a recording business that now not exists. When Newman’s childhood pal Lenny Waronker turned a Warner Brothers govt, he was capable of signal Newman and nurture his good friend’s beautiful, however eccentric, indirect, however abrasive music for the close to decade it took to yield successful – “Brief Individuals,” in 1977. No report firm would do that these days, however what Warners ended up getting was excess of a novelty smash. They bought wealthy movie scores, character sketches of the exploited and the creepy and far prickly historic commentary.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “A FEW WORDS IN DEFENSE OF OUR COUNTRY”)
NEWMAN: (Singing) Only a few phrases in protection of our nation, whose time on the prime could possibly be coming to an finish. We do not need your love. Respect, at this level, is just about out of the query. However occasions like these, we positive may use a good friend.
TUCKER: That is the track that offers this guide its title – 2008’s “A Few Phrases In Protection Of Our Nation.” What I used to be struck by again and again as I ready this overview was how a lot Newman’s work, ever since his debut in 1968, anticipates the occasions we’re residing by in the present day. The writing on this biography is not actually worthy of its topic. Hilburn was a workmanlike newspaper author, pop critic for the Los Angeles Instances for 35 years who not often manufactures gleaming prose. However right here he is carried out the heroic brute labor of interviewing seemingly everyone in Newman’s life and organizes it right into a narrative that can persuade any relative newcomer to Newman’s work that this man is a few form of genius.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “I’M DEAD (BUT I DON’T KNOW IT)”)
NEWMAN: (Singing) I’ve nothing left to say, however I will say it anyway. Thirty years upon a stage, and I hear the folks say, why will not he go away? I go the homes of the lifeless. They’re calling me to hitch their group. However I stagger on as a substitute. Expensive God, candy God, shield me from the reality, hey. I am lifeless, however I do not understand it.
UNIDENTIFIED MUSICAL ARTISTS: (Singing) He is lifeless. He is lifeless.
NEWMAN: (Singing) I am lifeless, however I do not know.
UNIDENTIFIED MUSICAL ARTISTS: (Singing) He is lifeless. He is lifeless.
NEWMAN: (Singing) I am lifeless, however I do not understand it.
UNIDENTIFIED MUSICAL ARTISTS: (Singing) He is lifeless. He is lifeless.
TUCKER: In fact, defining Newman’s genius has all the time been the tough half, if solely as a result of it is so wide-ranging. He is composed a number of the prettiest melodies and cleverest lyrics of the fashionable period. He is sung within the voice of a slave dealer within the track “Sail Away” and within the character of an unabashed racist within the track “Rednecks.” Newman primarily launched the unreliable narrator to singer-songwriter pop. And for that, he has been misunderstood as agreeing with the redneck or truly hating quick folks.
Now greater than ever, he is not a pop star for the mawkish, literal-minded pressure in our present tradition. Randy Newman is now 80 years outdated. One in all his masterpieces, “Good Outdated Boys,” is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary this 12 months. It stays so alive, so very important. I urge you to go and take heed to it.
BIANCULLI: Ken Tucker reviewed the brand new biography of Randy Newman, written by Robert Hilburn, known as “A Few Phrases In Protection Of Our Nation.”
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “I’LL BE HOME”)
NEWMAN: (Singing) I will be house. I will be house. When your nights are troubled, and also you’re on their own. If you’re feeling down, want some sympathy. There is not any one else round to maintain you firm. Keep in mind, child, you’ll be able to all the time depend on me. I will be house. I will be house. I will be house.
BIANCULLI: After a break, we’ll hear Newman’s interview from 1998. That is FRESH AIR.
(SOUNDBITE OF RANDY NEWMAN’S “TELEVISION, TELEVISION, TELEVISION”)
BIANCULLI: That is FRESH AIR. I am David Bianculli. With the discharge of this new biography of Randy Newman, we thought it could be good to listen to from the person himself. In 1998, Terry Gross spoke with him. On the time, he had a brand new four-CD field set known as “Responsible: 30 Years Of Randy Newman.” It collected his studio recordings, together with classics like “Sail Away,” “Lonely At The Prime,” “Rednecks” and “Political Science.” It additionally featured demos and different beforehand unreleased tracks and scores from such movies as “Ragtime,” “The Pure,” “Parenthood” and “Toy Story.” Let’s hear Terry’s 1998 interview with Randy Newman.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)
TERRY GROSS, BYLINE: Randy Newman, welcome again to FRESH AIR.
NEWMAN: It is good to be right here.
GROSS: I wish to deal with that third CD, the CD of largely demos and beforehand unreleased materials. The primary track on that CD is known as “Golden Gridiron Boy,” and it is a track about not getting the women and never being a soccer hero. How did you write this track?
NEWMAN: I do not know. It appears like I wrote it with my foot now, however I used to be 18. Truly, I bought it mistaken. It ought to have been “Gridiron Golden Boy.” I imply, that is the best way I wrote it, however I should have bought flustered on the recording session. And I feel Lenny Waronker known as me and says, oh, why do not you write a track? I began writing songs after I was, like, 16. And it was soccer season, and he was an enormous soccer fan, and I used to be a soccer fan. He stated, , why do not you write a soccer track? As if it had been – a totally archaic type within the first place. Moreover, , the nerd would not find yourself getting the lady or something. It is a very unusual effort.
GROSS: Talking of unusual, this report was produced by Pat Boone. How did you get…
NEWMAN: Yeah.
GROSS: …Connected with Pat Boone?
NEWMAN: My father was a physician, and Pat Boone was a affected person. And he heard me sing and was one of many first folks, truly, to love the best way I sung, , so I am perpetually grateful to him.
GROSS: Now, Glen Campbell was featured on guitar on this monitor.
NEWMAN: Yeah. Yeah, he did quite a lot of demos. He is most likely on quite a lot of these different issues, too. He was doing demos then. After I began, the primary folks I labored with had been Leon Russell and David Gates, who later went on to type Bread, and Jimmy Gordon, who was in Blind Religion. And quite a lot of these folks performed demos, early demos with me. So…
GROSS: Nicely, let’s hear “Golden Gridiron Boy.” Do you wish to say anything about it earlier than we spin it?
NEWMAN: No. I will say what I stated within the liner notes of the field set – love means by no means having to say you are sorry.
GROSS: (Laughter) OK. That is Randy Newman, recorded in 1962.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “GOLDEN GRIDIRON BOY”)
NEWMAN: (Singing) In his soccer uniform, he seems 10 toes tall. All the women run after him, and my lady’s in entrance of all of them ‘trigger he is a soccer hero. She’s in love with him. In each sport, it is nonetheless the identical. She talks of nothing however him. Oh, when he makes a landing, she goes wild with pleasure. And each rating, I lose extra floor to her golden gridiron boy ‘trigger I am too small to make the staff. I can solely play within the band. However I am large enough to have a dream that at some point she’ll perceive that I am the one who loves her. And he loves the cheers of the gang. At some point she’ll see what she means to me, and I do know that she’ll be proud. Yeah, I am too small to make the staff. I can solely play within the band. However I am large enough to have a dream that at some point she’ll perceive that he simply loves the glory. That is all he’ll ever take pleasure in. And that is the within story of her golden gridiron boy. Yeah, that is the within story of her golden gridiron boy.
UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: Yay. Yay, staff. Go, go, go.
GROSS: Randy Newman, did you count on that to be successful?
NEWMAN: No, I did not. I did not. I do not suppose I did, and I used to be not…
GROSS: And also you had been proper (laughter).
NEWMAN: I used to be proper, yeah. I virtually by no means have – all it has been is, like, a skeleton within the closet. However, , it is a very (laughter) unhappy track after I actually take heed to it, ? The man – I am too small to make the staff? Wow.
GROSS: I can solely play within the band.
NEWMAN: And that is fairly an admission, yeah.
GROSS: Now…
NEWMAN: I did not precisely have my finger on the heart beat of the…
GROSS: (Laughter).
NEWMAN: …American public’s want for heroes, ?
GROSS: So you were not anticipating to be a singer, however you had been hoping to be a songwriter. You had been a songwriter.
NEWMAN: I used to be, yeah.
GROSS: You had been writing for a publishing firm.
NEWMAN: That I used to be.
GROSS: What was your picture of a songwriter again then? It is a form of transitional interval within the early ’60s. You understand, you are previous Tin Pan Alley. You are form of ultimately of the Leiber and Stoller period and proper on the form of daybreak of the large – of the interval the place bands had been going to be writing their very own songs.
NEWMAN: The picture that I cherish and love is the picture – I do not know whether or not you’ll bear in mind – was, like, I bear in mind Donald O’Connor and Sid Fields (ph). I feel they used to play this track proper right here, and so they’d – take heed to this. Hearken to this. Jimmy Cagney had a film like that after, besides he was a author. I can not suppose – it was with Pat O’Brien. I cherished the thought of those two guys getting all enthusiastic about some, , Korean conflict track or one thing. The picture I had was that historic movement image picture of Tin Pan Alley and, , two guys hammering it out. And it was additionally of Carole King and Gerry Goffin and Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil and the individuals who had been very profitable contemporaneously with my makes an attempt to write down songs for folks.
GROSS: I wish to get to a different monitor. It is a track known as “Love Is Blind,” which is – , simply as the primary track that we heard, “Golden Gridiron Boy,” could be very out of character for you, this sort of cheerful – properly, not cheerful, however…
NEWMAN: No, it is a…
GROSS: Not cheerful….
NEWMAN: This is not cheerful, however…
GROSS: …However an upbeat soccer track.
NEWMAN: It is a generic lyric.
GROSS: Yeah, precisely.
NEWMAN: You understand, that is what it’s.
GROSS: Proper. You say within the notes that you simply wrote it once you had been 18.
NEWMAN: Yeah.
GROSS: So that you had been 18 and already writing that love is bitter, love is hopeless, love is blind. It leads me to suppose that you simply already had a way of your self as writing extra darkish and cynical songs than your common songwriter.
NEWMAN: Nicely, there are some fairly lugubrious love songs. You understand, I imply, quite a lot of them are fairly bleak. You understand, he stopped loving her in the present day, and quite a lot of nation issues. However I used to be a fairly down cat, I assume.
(LAUGHTER)
NEWMAN: I do not know.
GROSS: Nicely, let’s hear the track “Love Is Blind,” written in about 1962. The recording we’ll hear is 1968. And that is from Randy Newman’s field set “Responsible: 30 Years Of Randy Newman.”
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “LOVE IS BLIND”)
NEWMAN: (Singing) They are saying that love’s a candy factor, and for lovers, the solar will all the time shine. However despite what they are saying, I consider love this fashion – love is bitter, love is hopeless, love is blind. I discovered the arduous and lonely means love cannot final by the 12 months. I’ve spent a thousand empty yesterdays hiding behind a veil of tears. And our poets could write about love. And sensible males could sing its reward. However I will all the time bear in mind, as I’m going by the empty day, Love is bitter, love is hopeless, love is blind.
Oh my (laughter).
GROSS: “Love Is Blind,” one of many demos on Randy Newman’s field set “Responsible.” What had been you saying there?
NEWMAN: I used to be laughing on the ending. You understand, I used to be simply kind of aimless wandering. You understand, within the movement image film enterprise, we name it grazing.
GROSS: (Laughter).
NEWMAN: You understand, I used to be ready to finish it. I do know the place I ought to’ve gone, however I did not go there. It made me chuckle.
GROSS: Nicely, that was a demo. Did you ever report it aside from that for your self?
NEWMAN: No, I by no means thought sufficient of it.
GROSS: Nicely, I prefer it quite a bit. Why do not you prefer it?
NEWMAN: Yeah, I do, too.
GROSS: OK.
NEWMAN: Oh, veil of tears, , issues like that.
GROSS: Nicely, positive.
NEWMAN: I imply, yeah, positive. However, I imply, I grew to not be capable to stand that stuff coming from myself. I imply, I will take heed to data and love them, and so they’ll have lyrics like that in them. However I can not do it. You understand, it is like, if higher, do not do it.
BIANCULLI: Randy Newman chatting with Terry Gross in 1998. After a break, we’ll hear extra of their dialog. And movie critic Justin Chang evaluations the brand new thriller “Conclave,” set within the Vatican. I am David Bianculli, and that is FRESH AIR.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “I LOVE L.A.”)
NEWMAN: (Singing) Hate New York Metropolis. It is chilly and it is damp, and all of the folks dressed like monkeys. Let’s depart Chicago to the Eskimos. That city’s just a little bit too rugged for you and me, you dangerous lady. Rolling down Imperial Freeway with an enormous, nasty redhead at my facet, Santa Ana winds blowing scorching from the north, and we had been born to experience. Roll down the window, put down the highest, crank up the Seaside Boys, child. Do not let the music cease. We will experience it until we simply cannot experience it no extra. From the South Bay to the Valley, from the west facet to the east facet, everyone’s very completely happy ‘trigger the solar is shining on a regular basis. Seems to be like one other excellent day. I like LA. We like it. I like LA. We like it. We like it.
(SOUNDBITE OF RANDY NEWMAN’S “MONSTERS, INC.”)
BIANCULLI: That is FRESH AIR. I am David Bianculli, professor of tv research at Rowan College. We’re listening to Terry’s 1998 interview with singer, songwriter and composer Randy Newman, whose ironic in style songs embrace “Brief Individuals,” “I Love LA” and “Lonely At The Prime.” He is additionally written scores for the movies “Ragtime,” “The Pure,” “Toy Story,” “Monsters, Inc.” and extra. When Terry spoke with him, he had simply launched a four-CD boxset compiling 30 years of his work.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)
GROSS: And also you had been telling us earlier than that once you began writing songs, you did not consider your self as a singer. When did you truly begin performing your individual songs and considering of your self as a performer?
NEWMAN: Nicely, it could be two separate solutions, most likely. I imply, I feel the primary time I used to be on stage was in 1970. And I used to be – I bear in mind the primary time I performed, it was in some place in San Anselmo, the Lion’s one thing. Lion’s Share? And my again was to the viewers, and I feel I took a Dexedrine or one thing, which made me go inward a bit. And my again was dealing with them, and there was just a little upright piano. And I simply performed, and it was the final time I ever took something, , on stage. And it was simply form of uncomfortable, however I kind of preferred it. The subsequent time I carried out, I did prefer it. And I nonetheless do, and – which is the rationale for doing it. However I – and so I considered myself as a performer, yeah, proper, , someday in 1970, 1971. Not within the conventional sense, however I may make an viewers chuckle, and so they’d sit – get quiet for the songs they’re purported to be quiet for. And I preferred it. It is a whole lot simpler than writing, I – for me.
GROSS: I feel that your turning into a singer opened up your songs by way of material, too. I imply, what number of different singers can be prepared to sing songs within the persona of a racist, or of somebody who’s very insecure and uncertain of themselves, in the best way that quite a lot of the characters in your songs are?
NEWMAN: True. Truly, , there’s extra of it these days than there ever has been. You understand, quite a lot of these nice lady writers and – are prepared to confess to insecurities, and dangerous habits, and – with data. You understand, you – folks write songs the place they behave badly – , she’s having my child, and issues like that – and do not understand it, ?
GROSS: (Laughter).
NEWMAN: But when it is a aware, inventive factor – , a number of the rap, too, is that means – it is very uncommon. You are proper. It is an uncommon – to tackle a persona that is lower than heroic or admirable. And I – however I might began doing it in ’65, and I nonetheless did not consider myself as essentially having a recording profession. I am so exact about this date, as a result of ‘reason behind this boxset, I can hear that “Simon Smith” was, like, the primary track that I wrote that was just a little – I imagine just a little off middle. Perhaps there’s an earlier one. I do not know.
GROSS: Nicely, I wish to get to a different track from the third CD of the boxset. And once more, that is the CD with the beforehand unreleased classes and the demos. And a few the tracks from the CD are from a stay album that was launched, although I feel it won’t have been terrifically distributed. And the track I wish to play is known as “Perhaps I am Doing It Flawed.” And it is a waltz about intercourse not fairly measuring as much as what it is purported to be.
NEWMAN: Or the person not measuring…
GROSS: Proper.
NEWMAN: Yeah, yeah, you are proper. You are proper.
GROSS: Nicely, each (laughter).
NEWMAN: Yeah.
GROSS: Insecure about his efficiency and about…
NEWMAN: That is proper, yeah.
GROSS: …The response that he is getting…
NEWMAN: Yeah.
GROSS: …In himself. So many pop songs are purported to be sung within the voice of the seducer who’s bragging about how good a lover he’s.
NEWMAN: Yeah.
GROSS: Did you plan this to subvert that form of track?
NEWMAN: Yeah. And it is actually a fantastic concept, as a result of it is a widespread factor. You understand, folks do not essentially speak about it. I imply, you haven’t any concept from realizing an individual – my experiences, no less than – what they’re like sexually, or you’ll be able to’t even guess at that. That and cash. You understand, you’ll be able to try to borrow $5 from somebody you’ve got recognized for 30 years, and so they will not give it to you. And it is a full unknown. And I actually preferred – this track is brief, however I all the time thought it was a fantastic concept for a track. And, , like, I needed I might carried out extra, however I could not consider what extra to do.
GROSS: Nicely, let’s hear it. That is “Perhaps I am Doing It Flawed.”
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “MAYBE I’M DOING IT WRONG”)
NEWMAN: (Singing) Perhaps I am doing it mistaken. Perhaps I am doing it mistaken. It simply do not transfer me the best way that it ought to. Perhaps I am doing it mistaken. There ain’t no guide you’ll be able to learn. There ain’t no person to inform you. And I do not suppose I am getting what everybody’s getting. Perhaps I am doing it mistaken. Generally I will throw off a very good one. Not less than, I feel it’s. No, I do know it’s. I should not be considering in any respect. I should not be considering in any respect. Perhaps I am doing it mistaken. Perhaps I am doing it mistaken. It simply do not transfer me the best way that it ought to. Perhaps I am doing it mistaken.
(APPLAUSE)
GROSS: Why did you write that track as a waltz?
NEWMAN: I do not know. It simply got here out that means. Nearly each track I’ve written has had phrases and music kind of come on the identical time, however – no. Often, the music comes just a little first. So I most likely was simply clumping alongside like that, and it ended up – it simply – I did not do it for any inventive purpose, although I might be completely happy to take credit score for any kind of Viennese purpose that you simply’d like to offer me.
GROSS: Oh, properly, thanks for the invitation. I’ve a purpose I might like to offer you.
(LAUGHTER)
NEWMAN: Yeah.
GROSS: This track is a couple of form of frustration in sexuality. However the waltz has such a pleasant lilt, such a straightforward lilt, that it is a good distinction.
NEWMAN: (Buzzing).
GROSS: (Laughter).
NEWMAN: It does. You understand, it – (clicking fingers) mm, mm, bum, bum. Yeah, it is kind of in a single. Yeah, it could possibly be. It could be additionally – I cherished a report known as “If You Gotta Make A Idiot Of Anyone.” I do not know which got here first, however, I imply, I needed – possibly I needed to write down one thing like that. That is an occasion I hear – take heed to the viewers the place typically – Harry Nilsson as soon as informed me – I requested him – , it was a continuing factor with him not performing – why he did not carry out. One time – it was primarily, I feel, as a result of he was terrified of it, I feel, however I do not know. However he stated as soon as it was as a result of he was apprehensive it could harm his work, that the viewers response can be – like, throw him off ‘trigger he would not know his good things. And it is a very small factor, that factor. You’ll be able to isolate it as a author. I imply, the viewers will react to some issues. Like, typically I will throw off a very good one. Like, I most likely may have carried out higher there, ? However they laughed at it. I knew they preferred it. So I left it alone.
GROSS: Now, may you ever think about writing or singing a track within the reverse persona, the track within the voice of the nice seducer, the nice lover, child, I am so good?
NEWMAN: Solely as a joke. I imply, why discuss, if that is the case? Solely as a joke I’ve most likely carried out that. I imply, virtually actually I’ve carried out it in a few of my songs, , bragging. I can not consider one now, but it surely’s – “Emotional Woman” to some slight unusual diploma. However I do know there’s higher. “You Can Go away Your Hat On.” That man’s kind of lame, ? And but they take it, and it is handled as straight, , intercourse.
GROSS: I am glad you talked about “You Can Go away Your Hat On.” That track was utilized in – what is the film known as? I am simply blanking out on the title. “Full Monty.”
NEWMAN: “Full Monty.”
GROSS: Yeah.
NEWMAN: And “9 1/2 Weeks.”
GROSS: “Full Monty” was such an enormous artwork home hit. Did that revive the track and convey you in shocking royalties?
NEWMAN: The opposite factor was even an even bigger hit.
GROSS: Oh.
NEWMAN: “9 1/2 Weeks” was such an enormous hit in Europe that it was successful in – virtually worldwide. So I assume that it was revived each occasions. Yeah.
GROSS: So that you by no means know which outdated songs are going to come back again at you.
NEWMAN: Yeah. And I did a TV present with Joe Cocker, and I did the factor in – let’s examine, what did I do it in? Key of E. And I stated, what key you do it in. I figured possibly do it larger. I figured G, possibly a minor third. And he stated, no, he did in C. I stated C? And up there – I may sing it in – I may have sung it in C, and the band may have actually rocked, , and you would have heard it. And he had successful with it up there, the place I used to be mumbling round, child take off your – , I used to be attempting to get the character proper. I simply did not have any sense of – I imply, I want I might carried out it in C, to inform you the reality.
GROSS: So the track sounded totally different when he did it.
NEWMAN: Oh, yeah. I imply, being a sixth larger made it – , took you means up there, and you actually belted it out, whereas mine was extra furtive, furtivo.
GROSS: Proper. Yours was extra of the heavy breather (laughter).
NEWMAN: Yeah, however in a – kind of innocent, ? I imply, I feel some girls’s teams had been offended, however I meant the man to be form of laughed at. Although as I become old, I take it extra severely, ?
GROSS: Nicely, since you’ve got talked about “You Can Go away Your Hat On,” you will have your individual recording of that on the brand new four-CD field set. So why do not we take heed to that?
NEWMAN: Certain.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “YOU CAN LEAVE YOUR HAT ON”)
NEWMAN: (Singing) Child, take off your coat actual sluggish. Child, take off your footwear. Right here, I will take your footwear. Child, take off your gown. Sure, sure, sure. You’ll be able to depart your hat on. You’ll be able to depart your hat on. You’ll be able to depart your hat on.
BIANCULLI: That is Randy Newman, recorded in 1972. He spoke with Terry Gross in 1998 on the event of the discharge of a four-CD field set of his music. Extra after a break. That is FRESH AIR.
(SOUNDBITE OF RANDY NEWMAN’S “RAGTIME”)
BIANCULLI: That is FRESH AIR. Let’s get again to Terry’s 1998 interview with Randy Newman, who spoke to her after releasing a four-CD field set of his music. One other overview of his lengthy and spectacular profession, a brand new biography has simply been printed.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)
GROSS: You come from a movie music prolonged household. Your uncles had been Lionel and Alfred Newman…
NEWMAN: And Emil Newman, the forgotten Newman.
GROSS: And Alfred Newman was head of music for twentieth Century Fox. Movie scores embrace “Grapes Of Wrath,” “Hunchback Of Notre Dame,” “Captain From Castile,” “All About Eve,” “Wuthering Heights.” Did having them within the household forestall you from being prepared to promote your soul as a way to make it in Hollywood?
NEWMAN: I by no means had a romantic view of Hollywood. And I by no means had – as a result of, , the actors weren’t round by the point they had been engaged on the image. And I might see that, , I might hear them speak about this director, that actor, actress, and there was by no means any glamour to it for me, significantly. I do not know. Perhaps you promote your soul just a little once you do a film anyway – film music, however I do not really feel that means. I feel I’ve carried out a few of my finest work writing stuff that I by no means would have gotten to had I not been – had not the film dictated that I write one thing like that, like “The Pure.” I imply, I am not going to write down heroic music like that, I do not suppose. Or at if I did, it could be very dissonant, I feel. And I am glad I bought to it.
GROSS: Nicely, I believed we may hear a few of your new orchestral film music. And this isn’t from the field set. That is from the CD of “A Bugs Life.” And you probably did the rating for the film. And I believed we might play “Victory.” It is a actually attention-grabbing piece. I do not know if you happen to bear in mind them by title or not. Is {that a} no?
NEWMAN: No, I do not bear in mind them.
GROSS: Nicely, why do not I play a few of this, after which you would inform us just a little bit about writing it and about the way it’s used within the precise film.
NEWMAN: Certain.
(SOUNDBITE OF RANDY NEWMAN’S “VICTORY”)
GROSS: Music Randy Newman composed for the movie “A Bug’s Life.” A few of that actually harkens again to basic journey movie scores.
NEWMAN: Yeah, but it surely’s twentieth century, ? I won’t have recognized I may try this had it not known as for it. You understand, it is a grasshopper chasing a – flying by the air chasing an ant. However to me, it is, oh. And that is precisely what – but it surely introduced forth in me, some kind of, , like bar discuss on a foul day. Not less than, , it is kind of first rate twentieth century music and technically tough and unbelievably well-played by – , there’s one crummy horn entrance form of. However, I imply, that is all proper.
GROSS: (Laughter).
NEWMAN: However these musicians had that music. Perhaps we did it in an hour and a half…
GROSS: Wow.
NEWMAN: …That one factor. And that’s actually tough for everyone.
GROSS: It have to be fairly thrilling so that you can hear performed what you’ve got solely heard in your head earlier than.
NEWMAN: Yeah, it is about one of the best factor I do. I prefer it a lot that I am prepared to place up with quite a lot of draw back to that job to do this. Like, I actually preferred listening to that simply now. You understand, listening to me saying it is extra necessary, , songs, I assume, and songwriting. However, , I do not know the way loud that is within the film, but it surely’s not the primary factor happening. I imply, when the ant will get away is the primary factor. However I like that (laughter).
GROSS: It sounds actually good to me.
NEWMAN: Yeah. Me, too.
GROSS: Randy Newman, thanks very a lot for speaking with us.
NEWMAN: Nice pleasure, as all the time.
BIANCULLI: Randy Newman, chatting with Terry Gross in 1998. Along with his solo albums and movie scores, Randy Newman additionally has written a musical, “Randy Newman’s Faust.” In 1993, he recorded an idea album of its music with an all-star forged, together with Don Henley as Faust, James Taylor as God, Bonnie Raitt because the satan’s untrue girlfriend and Newman himself because the satan. Within the opening track, “Glory Prepare,” Randy Newman’s Devil, singing to God, offers his private perspective on all of it.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “GLORY TRAIN”)
NEWMAN: (Singing) All the religion and prayer on the planet, your entire dumb present and circuses, it is a lie. It’s going to all the time be a lie, the invention of an animal who is aware of he’ll die. Some fools within the desert with nothing else to do, so terrified of the darkish, they did not know in the event that they had been coming or going, so that they invented me and so they invented you. And different fools will hold all of it going and rising. Everyone – we’re a figment of their creativeness, an exquisite dream. It’s true. A figment of their creativeness, me and also you. And it. Me and also you.
BIANCULLI: That is Randy Newman singing because the satan in a track from his musical “Faust.” Robert Hilburn’s new biography of Randy Newman, known as “A Few Phrases In Protection Of Our Nation,” has simply been printed. Arising, Justin Chang evaluations “Conclave,” a brand new film thriller set within the Vatican. That is FRESH AIR.
(SOUNDBITE OF RANDY NEWMAN’S “OPERATION PULL TOY”)
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