Maybe I'm Doing It Wrong: The Life and Music of Randy Newman

by David Stafford, Caroline Stafford

Randy Newman may be best known, today, for his wistful movie scores, with "You've Got a Friend in Me," from the Toy Story soundtrack leading the pack. He's been nominated for twenty Academy Awards, and has twice won Oscars for Best Original Song.


But Newman was also a quintessentially American pop powerhouse before he turned his formidable talents to scoring films. A songwriter since the age of 17, his earliest compositions were recorded by '60s luminaries like The Fleetwoods, Gene Pitney, Jackie DeShannon, and the O'Jays. His own releases, including 1968's Randy Newman and 1972's Sail Away, made him a household name, and his work continued to be widely repurposed, with Three Dog Night, Joe Cocker, Tom Jones, and Linda Ronstadt--among others--hitting the charts by covering Newman's songs. Harry Nilsson famously released an entire album of Newman covers, "Nilsson Sings Newman," and the two toured together to great acclaim.


Newman is known for his trenchant wit, and he continues to release satirical songs related to current events. But very little has been written about his personal life, including his marriages and his diagnosis with Epstein-Barr virus. Maybe I’m Doing It Wrong: The Life of Randy Newman is a primer for newcomers to his work and a rewarding handbook for the aficionado. It includes biographical notes, key background facts, figures, tasting notes, asides, diversions, and essays.

Genres: Music, Biography, Nonfiction

288 pages, Hardcover

Published December 6, 2016

About the author

David Stafford is a writer, broadcaster and occasional musician born in Birmingham, England. David began his career in fringe and community theatre in the 1970s. In the early 1980s, he collaborated and toured with Alexei Sayle, which resulted in two series for Capital Radio, two films for TV ('Itch and Didn't You Kill My Brother?), a book, Great Bus Journeys of the World, and various songs and recordings including Doctor Marten’s Boots. At the same time he was a presenter on the Channel 4 consumer programme 4 What It’s Worth and contributed to many arts programmes and documentaries including The Media Show (Channel 4) and extensively to The Late Show (BBC2). His TV plays include Dread Poets Society (BBC2) co-written with the poet Benjamin Zephaniah, My Little Grey Home In The West and Catherine. For ten years he wrote a weekly column for the Saturday Guardian, eventually called Staffordshire Bull. During the 1990s, he presented Tracks for BBC2, Going Places for BBC Radio 4 and was a regular panellist on Radio 4’s literary parody game Booked. David frequently stood in for John Peel as the presenter of Home Truths (BBC Radio 4). After Peel’s death, he became first one of the pool of presenters and later sole presenter of the programme. For the past five years he has taught a screenwriting course at Birkbeck College, University of London.

Reviews

[Paul Bryant · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don’t play for fun much. I don’t like to hear myself that much. I guess that makes it easy for people to say “We don’t either!”

*

There were three things wrong with this damn book :

1) I think they think they’re being funny and smart when they write this kind of stuff but it makes me feel ill :

In Laurel Canyon, ten miles and seven spiritual dimensions away from the breadhead toxicity of Hollywood, Beverly Hills and Pacific Palisades, the folk/acid/rock splifferati were bonding and parting like quarks in an atom smasher, moving into fancy bungalows and dreaming of a white picket kid and maybe a couple of fences running around in the yard, getting their shit together, putting it to music, singing it in high harmony and learning to rodeo-ride the frequent bouts of paranoid hysteria like they were unbroken lizards.

That’s probably the worst example but that ghastly hip happening humour pops up at least once per page, enough to make you flinch every time.

2) The writers acknowledge right there on page v, which is before page 1, as you book nerds will all know, that Randy Newman has not led an interesting life. They quote Orson Welles talking about the concept of a Cole Porter biopic :

What will they use for a climax? The only suspense is will he or won’t he accumulate $10 million.

So this is an irritatingly-written but gentle tour through the career of Randy Newman. Along the way we get to find out he’s been married twice, got five kids and is a bit of a grump.

3) After 1989 Randy Newman mostly wrote film soundtrack stuff and was showered with Oscar nominations for them all (20) and won two. So the last 100 pages is a boring plod through all of these many many movies. Some of them great, of course, like the Toy Story trilogy – I completely forgot that Rand wrote the heartbreaking song Jessie sings in number 2 “When She Loved Me”. I defy any of you to see that sequence and not baww. Even just thinking about Jessie under the bed makes me baww.



*

Well – you don’t need the Staffords to tell you how great Randy Newman can be and you don’t need me neither. But here’s one of my top favourites

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVcqu...

You're still the same girl you always were
Still the same girl you always were

A few more nights on the street, that's all
A few more holes in your arm
A few more years with me, that's all

Still the same girl

The same sweet smile that you always had
The same blue eyes like the sun
The same clear voice that I always knew
Still the same girl that I love

[Cheryl Gatling]

My husband, who has very eclectic musical tastes, has a number of classic Randy Newman songs on his “Favorites” playlist. I listened to these as a matter of course, usually while we were driving around in the car. Then one day I felt a swell of love for the man who could write these songs. There was the sad “Sail Away,” the also sad, “Burn On, Big River.” There was the sweet “Dayton, Ohio,” and the triumphant “Falling In Love.” I thought, this man cares about racism, and he cares about the environment. He must be a good person. I decided then that I wanted to read a book about him.

I got my chance. And I changed my mind. Randy Newman is not a good person. He is a complex, ordinary person. He does care about racism and the environment, but he can also be snarky to the point of bitter, and dark to the point of depressing. He is no Mister Rogers. But I don’t love him any less.

Randy Newman got his start writing standard love songs for other people to sing. He began to break out of the mold when he was writing one of those love songs, and needed a rhyme, and came up with “bear,” and turned the song into “Simon Smith and his Dancing Bear.” He thought to himself, why do I only have to write about love? “I know more words than that.” That’s one of the things I love Randy Newman for. He knows more words than that.

I had wondered since childhood, why are all the songs on the radio about love? True, love is a powerful and important emotion, but we spend most of our days thinking about other things. Why don’t we sing about other things? And then there was Randy Newman. History? Social commentary? Sure, why not? And love, too, while we’re at it.

After reading the book, my admiration has grown for Randy Newman the musician. Almost everyone in his family was a musician. His dad was a doctor, but all of his uncles were Hollywood musicians. Uncle Alfred won numerous Oscars for writing the scores to some very famous movies. Randy was just stepping into the family business.

Randy had some success as a singer-songwriter, but he also wrote music for movies. Randy’s own songs may have an identifiable “Randy Newman” sound to them, with his characteristic husky voice, and an often lazy, sauntering piano, but for the movies he could do anything. And he did: heroism, shmaltz, slapstick, action. I think that versatility is a sign of a great musician.

One of the moving moments of the book is when Randy finally won his first Oscar. He had been nominated again and again through the years, but someone else always won. When his name was announced (for Monsters, Inc), the pit band stood up. He said it isn’t easy for them to stand up, because they are in a cramped little space, and they can’t afford to knock over their mutes and mess up their music stands, but they were the people who had worked with him over the years. He was one of them, a musician’s musician. And they honored him. Determined not to cry on camera, Randy “blinked a lot.”

The authors of this book say there isn’t a lot of story when it comes to writing a book about Randy Newman. He didn’t struggle to overcome obstacles. As an individual performer, he may have been more of a niche act than a superstar, but he began with modest successes and went to great acclaim, getting Oscars and other awards. The narration of the book is often funny, and it included many quotes from Randy that have his wry, self-deprecating humor, so I did enjoy it, and I enjoyed getting to know this musical great.

[Jeff Crompton · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very disappointing book about one of the great American songwriters. It was superficial and written in a painfully "clever," snarky style. It was as if the authors were trying to write in a way they thought would appeal to Randy Newman fans.

[Brent · Rating 3 out of 5]

So, this does what I wanted, brings me back to the songs of the great Randy Newman. In fact, brings me to search his appearances on the web and find his COVID song, here: https://youtu.be/a6Hk2L2G_W0
The author(s) - like the song author - can't help but let some snide judgement take over the authorial role. Some humor falls flat, but overall, this is a useful career summary for a living and loved singer-songwriter and film composer.
Mildly recommended, but listen to the music!
Thanks, Fulton County Library, for the loan.
Q: Is publisher Overlook Omnibus an imprint of publisher Overlook Press?

[Donald · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great songwriter and interesting man .Excellent read

[Andrew · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Low Budget Airline of Biography.

In the style of the authors, I'll go round the houses to get to my point. Much as a well known budget airline will get you to Berlin by dropping you off at Munich and letting you take the bus the rest of the way, this book gets you *near* the topic of Randy Newman but never arrives at the right destination.

About 50% of this book is spent setting up irrelevant "historical context" and discussing other artists who have existed at the same time as Randy (most memorably an anecdote about Mick Jagger and Altamont that goes nowhere and bears no relevance to what follows).

It does get better right near the end where there is clearly more interview source-material for closer commentary on various works but by then it felt too late for me.

For the record, he might never produce an autobiography but if you want a relevant, insightful book in the meantime, this isn't it.

[Ken Richards · Rating 3 out of 5]

A moderately entertaining and comprehensive overview of the idiosyncratic singer-songwriter's long and storied career, both as a recording artist, and a composer of film score.
Because Randy Newman came from a well off family, did not have to fight family opposition to his career choices (indeed, show business WAS the family business!), did not have hidden and controversial sexual peccadilloes and indeed remains on good terms with both of his wives and all of his children, the biographers did not have anything significant to write about except the songs and the music.
So the book forms a chronological overview of a magnificent career. It is methodical, with just the right amount of sly humour that would not be much out of place in a Randy Newman lyric. Probably should come with a few CDs!

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

People sort rather neatly into three sorts: those who love the music of Randy Newman; those who detest the music of Randy Newman; and those who ask "Who the hell is Randy Newman?" To that latter group, it would be illuminating to know that he wrote "I Think It's Gonna Rain Today" (1968) and "Short People" (1977), "You've Got a Friend in Me" (1995), and "You Can Leave Your Hat On" (1972). Or that he wrote the scores for "Ragtime" (1981), "The Natural" (1984), "Major League" (1989), "Toy Story" (1995), "James and the Giant Peach" (1996), "A Bug's Life" (1998), "Meet the Parents" (2000), "Monsters, Inc." (2001), and "Cars" (2006). David & Caroline Stafford are both excellent biographers and insightful students of music. These skills come together well to tell the story of Randy Newman and of his music. They are also quite wonderfully literate and turn many memorable phrases.

[Scott Potter · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the book and am glad I stumbled upon it. A fun read and I am a big fan. Every time I read a chapter, I wanted to listen to the album that was just discussed. A down side.... clearly Randy had nothing to do with this book as ALL the sources are secondary. But still a fun read about a great song writer

[Ralph · Rating 3 out of 5]

The authors admit early on, there isn't a lot to tell in Randy Newman's life outside his music. Instead they concentrate on going through his music pretty much one song at a time. Sadly this has the effect of highlighting the songs that fail to match his best work. It's a good effort but it simply fails to catch fire

[Simon Sweetman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very enjoyable look at the life, albums and soundtracks of one of the truly great 20th Century American composers.

[Lori · Rating 1 out of 5]

didn't finish