Rippling mango

John Updike, Television Writer


FMFM: 12 Songs. The key to getting Randy Newman is the realization that not only is the song's narrator never actually Randy Newman, he's usually saying the opposite of what Randy Newman actually thinks. As with Steely Dan's best material, any degree of polish on the songs simply adds to the ironic effect. Newman was still a long way from "The World Isn't Fair" in 1970, but when you consider that he'd been writing hit songs for Irma Thomas and Dusty Springfield prior to his early solo albums, 12 Songs sounds like a fake secret diary, an album he assumed no one would bother with, but one that allowed him to feel free to say whatever he wanted. Like, say, going racist on a couple of different ethnic groups as a way of lampooning real racism. Did it even attract much attention at the time? Can you imagine what would happen if he said those things today?

[UPDATE: Yes, I can imagine what would happen if he said those things today.]