USV Salutes Randy Newman

The University of Southampton Voices turn the spotlight on one of the most unusual of the great American singer songwriters.

It is 12 years since the USV began. They have celebrated the music of songwriters and performers such as The Kinks, Clara Sanabras, Johnny Cash, Nina Simone, Monica Vasconcelos and many others. Sometimes they present complete performances of albums, sometimes compilations of favourite songs – but always in new arrangements for soloists choir and band by Harvey Brough.

Randy Newman’s family are a Hollywood musical dynasty – Alfred, Emil, Lionel, Thomas Newman were all film music composers. Randy began his career as a songwriter for hire in the Brill Building (alongside Carole King, Mike Stoller, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil), knocking out pop songs for more (or less) established artists to perform.

He then began to write and record his own songs, releasing a string of 11 albums between 1968 and 2017. His first single was the American football based ‘Golden Gridiron Boy’. It was an unlikely shot at the charts from this bespectacled artist, whose featured look was more geography teacher than rock star.

Unlike most singer songwriters, Randy Newman often wrote in character. His songs feature a rogue’s gallery of dodgy types, ordinary joes, sleaze-balls, (even the voice of a slave trader in ‘Sail Away’). It gives many of his songs a determinedly edgy atmosphere which can unsettle the listener. He has said that he has never written a song for (to) a specific person, although admitting that one of his most touching songs ‘I Miss You’ was written for his first wife, after leaving her for his second marriage.

His songs can be acerbic but also hysterically funny – ‘You’re Dead’ is an ode to a washed out rock star who still insists on treading the boards. ‘Short People’, a song that is very funny to some, caused huge offence among the diminutive sector of American society, but can be read as a parody of racism.

Join the USV and Harvey Brough for a fabulous selection of Randy Newman’s work, ranging from exquisitely touching to hilariously offensive (often at his own expense) with all shades in between.