Dan Minette wrote:
> I'm surprised we haven't heard the Aaron Neville singing "Louisiana
> 1927" as background music on CNN during the coverage. It's going
> through my head. It doesn't fit exactly, but still:
>
I heard it and the first thing that struck me was how much it sounded
like a Randy Newman piece. And I was right, It is from "Good Old Boys"
which is the album that came out after "Sail Away" the album I am most
familiar with.
>From Amazon:
"Although he's now best known as the curly haired Prince of Pixar
(he's written hit songs for a number of animated blockbusters,
including Toy Story 2 and A Bug's Life, Randy Newman began his career
as a misanthropic satirist and thwarted romantic. ItÂ’s this version of
Newman who shows up for Songbook Vol. 1, revisiting 18 of his
compositions, most written in the '60s or '70s, and all stripped down
to just voice and piano. The idea is borrowed from vintage tributes to
the masters, the "songbooks" of Jerome Kern or Cole Porter, usually
interpreted by a great vocalist such as Ella Fitzgerald. In Newman's
case, it's hard to imagine anyone else singing a slave trader's smooth
sales pitch ("Sail Away"), a deity's bemused take on mankind ("God's
Song"), or a child murderer's creepy meditation ("In Germany Before
the War"). Stripped of rock backbeats or orchestral sweetening,
Newman's songs reveal their stark beauty and classic craftsmanship
even more keenly. What may be most remarkable, however, is how
prescient some of the songs seem now ("Lonely at the Top" predates the
rise of People magazine and a revolving cast of whining superstars by
half-a-decade) and how timely some of its humor is. "Political
Science" may have been written during the Vietnam War, but its
clueless narrator ("No one likes us I don't know why/We may not be
perfect but heaven knows we try") sounds a lot like a Bush Jr. cabinet
member or this season's hottest Fox News pundit. Since the early '80s,
Newman has focused the lion's share of his attention on soundtrack
scores and sly but cuddly buddy songs. Songbook Vol. 1 makes one wish
Newman would devote more of his energies to writing new songs as
topical, vibrant, and biting as his old ones."
I think the song fits well enough as satire.
xponent
Political Science Maru
rob
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