I miss the Randy Newman who'd make... if not quite sympathetic characters then at least ones who you could be understanding towards even if they're still losers or racists, weird as that may seem!
He has got meaner in recent years, true. The song made me chuckle, it's such a stupid joke
I can't say I fully blame him! The uproar over "Short People" showed that people -- maybe otherwise smart people! -- are obviously not used to a songwriter who writes character sketches or, worse yet,
writes from the perspective of an unreliable narrator character. I mean, sh*t, if folks think "Short People" is vicious they should've heard "Suzanne" or "Davy The Fat Boy" or "Rednecks" -- and those are only some of the more obviously f***ed-up characters he's surveyed! And, you know, maybe he just finds things these days a lot more depressing, socially and politically speaking.
I do very much like his voice these days though. I believe he thinks his voice is better these days as well. (He said at one point that he feels like he can
sing now or something to that effect.) I don't know if I'd say it's 'better' but I appreciate its expressiveness, like an aged red wine... or whatever, I don't know.
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