Caught Randy Newman on The Connection tonight. I hope I can manage to kick that much ass in my life, but I've got a lot of catching up to do.
I inheirited my love for Randy Newman from my father many years ago when I heard him playing "Good Ole Boys" as a child. (To be scientifically correct, it may not have been genetic, but I'm not convinced). If I remember correctly I was probably less than 10, without quite a fully developed sense of irony, but I remember being entranced. I loved the lazy shuffle piano and the lazy shuffle singing. I also got a pretty thoughtful explanation of just what it was Randy was up to with "Rednecks" and "Kingfish". I don't know that I got it entirely at that time, but it definitely has affected my sensibility since. If for some reason you haven't experienced Mr. Newman, you really owe it to yourself to check him out. I suppose Little Criminals is a good place to start, as his most popularly sucessful. But definitely don't think that his Pixar work is a good approximation of who he is (although they are great songs).
Randy said something on the show that got me thinking. He said that he's always had trouble being sucessful because his is the kind of music you really got to listen to. And its really rare that people actually listen to music. They can concentrate intently maybe on a movie or a sermon, but most people seem to feel like music is "background" or "entertainment". This has become terribly obvious to me, because I've never felt this way about music, and it's always terribly confusing to me when I see it in others. Over the years, I've learned that it's me that's broken, but it's still something I don't understand. When a song, especially a really good song comes on, I'm just forced to listen to it. I've noticed that as I've been listening to the beginning of the Connection interview that I missed, I stop writing this whenever a song excerpt comes on. I can write during the talking part and even mostly understand what they're saying, but as soon as a song comes on, my fingers stop.
Certainly I can listen to music as background, but it is harder. It depends on the type of music. That's one of the things I like about electronic (techno/jungle/etc.) music, is that its real easy to just have it sit in the back of your brain and provide a sountrack for whatever you're doing. But the really great songs, my favorites, I can hardly look away. This is part of the reason I stopped listening to classical music in the car, as I'd find myself drifting and forgetting the driving part of driving very quickly. But other people don't seem to have this problem, or rarely anyway.
I'll say, "You should listen to this song, I think you'd like it". Then I'll start it playing and they'll listen for about 15 seconds and then ask me about dinner. And I want to say, "Shut the Fuck Up! It's still playing!" Usually, however, I don't, as I said, I've learned that they can't help it. So I just move on. I think I got this from my father as well, as I've gotten him to actually listen to several songs before. Well, except Eminem. His claim is that his ears are old enough that he just can't understand what anyone is saying in Hip Hop. (I suppose I can accept that, but then if you can understand Randy mumbling, you can understand anything. But nonetheless, I suppose I've been more tuned to listen to that over the years.)
I suppose despite the annoyances and driving dangers, that I'm glad I've got this problem. I've found some really great and really powerful music that might have drifted right past me otherwise. And I've found that no matter what the day has been like, the right song coming on the radio is all it takes to keep me moving.
Notes:
The Connection Interview with Randy Newman
Randy on Morning Edition with Bob Edwards
Randy Newman Home Page with lyrics and discography
Posted by ktismael at March 16, 2004 10:56 PM