Good Old Boys

 

On this day 50 years ago Randy Newman released his fourth album Good Old Boys. Newman was born into a family of musicians in 1943 and his three uncles were successful film music composers. After studying music, he composed songs for Gene Pitney and Manfred Mann before releasing albums under his own name in the early 1970's. 

His songs were so good that Harry Nilsson recorded an entire album of his songs. After recording an album with Sail Away, which he orchestrated lavishly with strings, he then concentrated on the basics of songwriting with Good Old Boys. Perfect songs with a superb melodic line and lyrics  that critically examine the different sides of the American dream and in particular turn against the conservative-reactionary inhabitants of the southern states known as ‘rednecks’.

There are probably few artists whose music has been influenced by Hollywood film studios on the one hand and current and past political issues on the other. For me, this album, along with his subsequent album Little Criminals, represents the high point of his career, although he was to be honoured with an Oscar for his film music years later.