Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Covered in Folk: Randy Newman
(Bonnie Raitt, The Duhks, J.J. Cale, Shelby Lynne, and 9 more!)




Though my father hasn't missed it in decades, I haven't been able to attend the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival since I started teaching over a decade ago -- something about the way a last gasp of hunker-down-and-teach takes over public education as we approach state testing, and the long downhill slide toward the end of the school year. But every year as we hit the last weekend in April my mind begins to muse upon the great acts I saw down there the few years I made it: Los Lobos, the Indigo Girls, Taj Mahal, Blues Traveler, the Neville Brothers, a holy host of Marsalis siblings, and many, many more.

What stands out strongest after all these years is the time I saw Randy Newman play a whole set of songs about rain in a downpour one year at Jazzfest. We were muddy football fields away from the stage, umbrella-less to boot, but what I remember best is the clarity of his set, just that wry warbly scratchy voice and a barroom piano style, over a substance chock full of extremely unreliable narrators and sarcasm, with a power that I had never really heard in his music before.

The scene was terrible; the view was worse. But Newman's music got burned into my brain. And since then, though I haven't made it to another performance, I've never passed up a chance to listen to his songs, no matter who is singing them.

Randy Newman's original performances aren't folk, quite -- though as a set of produced music that, at its best, focuses and features the simple melodies and heartfelt, story-troped acoustic output of a songwriter and his stringed instrument, much of his songs share the qualities of both traditional folkways and modern singer-songwriter folk. That so many from the folkworld and beyond have managed to take his work and make it beautiful in their own way acknowledges this ground, it is true. But that the songs speak -- as all good folk should -- to a nation and a people and a heart all at once is both a testament to the inherent beauty in the songs themselves, and the inherent and universal beauty in the human condition, even at its most terrible and sodden and rained-upon, of which they speak so effectively.

Today, in honor of my tenth consecutive year missing Jazzfest, we bring you a predominantly southern-tinged set of Randy Newman coversongs. Though I could not resist a song or two from the lighter and less historically-relevant side of the Newman catalog, those younger folks who only know Newman from his recent work scoring Disney soundtracks may be pleasantly surprised to find that in his younger days, Newman was a gifted songwriter, known for his ability to expose the whole range of the human experience, from the poignant to the historical accurate to the absurd, rub it raw, and somehow manage to make it touching all the same. Sometimes, I guess, it takes a little rain to make you really understand.




Today's bonus coversongs come with little fanfare after two megaposts in three days:

  • Randy Newman covers Harry Nilsson's Remember
  • Randy Newman "covers" Every Man A King, bringing his trademark irony to lyrics originally by Huey P. Long just by singing them straight alongside his Good Old Boys

Randy Newman will play this year's Jazzfest on Thursday evening. Can't make it? Check out this related post @ Star Maker Machine: The Preservation Hall Jazz Band covers Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans

22 comments:

Damien said...

Bravo! I always forget just how prolific and influential Randy Newman has been. Some wonderful covers there and a couple of albums on order from Amazon. Thanks a lot.

Ray said...

One of my favorite songwriters ever, I can't wait to listen to these!

Dan said...

Ray Charles did a nice version of Sail Away.

boyhowdy said...

I like that one, too, Dan.

As always, what I present here is never comprehensive -- just a subjective best-of, in the context of genre, strength of interpretation and performance, celebration of artists that I feel are worth promoting, and with an eye towards both diversity and towards "hidden gems" over more "obvious" choices wherever possible. It's a fluid rubric.

That said, no one of us knows of every good cover; like most bloggers, I depend on the kindness of new friends and strangers to learn about the best of what's out there. So keep the suggestions coming, folks -- and, as always, feel free to send tracks you think I should consider for future posts on both new and revisited subjects to me via my Gmail account.

Anonymous said...

in his younger days, Newman was a gifted songwriter, known for his ability to expose the whole range of the human experience, from the poignant to the historical accurate to the absurd, rub it raw, and somehow manage to make it touching all the same.

I have seen this claim before, and can only assume the claimer has never listened to Newman's most recent studio recording, Bad Love, which contained some of his most devastating work (to date-- a new album is due out this summer): The World Isn't Fair and Great Nations of Europe (historical!), I'm Dead (But I Don't Know It) (rub it raw!), Miss You (poignant!)-- and my most favorite ever of his utterly absurd personality pieces, Shame. David Jacks does an excellent pantomime to that song on YouTube (it's Randy's voice). Link at my name.

Newman wrote these songs just ten years ago, when he was in his fifties. He hasn't lost it by a long shot.

boyhowdy said...

Susan, if you will include the entire sentence in your critique, you'd treat me fairer, and probably not have a critique to offer.

This is a coverblog; the sentence in full suggests that people who have only heard his recent SOUNDTRACK work only will be able to make conclusions from these COVERS...NOT that I believe that ONLY his older works show the qualities we both agree can be heard.

But as the covers are exclusively of his older work, from his younger days, we can only make certain conclusions using them.

You find me some covers of his new work, in the folk vein, and we can make a different statement.

In the meanwhile, since all I've got is covers of songs from his younger days and his Disney work, the only conclusions I can suggest others will be able to make will be about the comparison between these.

To say so is NOT, in any way, to suggest anything at all about his recent non-soundtrack work. You may have heard others say so, but I'm not saying so.

It's wonderful, indeed, that you think so highly of it; here's hoping that enough folk musicians do as well, and cover his songs well enough in return, so that we here can show -- and they can see -- how much Newman's work retains its power.

Until then, however, I will only be able to SHOW, and let people see for themselves, the power of his older work, as it is his covered work.

Anonymous said...

What a body of work! Been following this blog for a while, and this is the best posting so far. Well done!

L said...

Great post. I second what Ray said above - one of my favorites. But I didn't know about the tribute record. Thanks for that tip, and for the tunes.

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