After two albums, Randy Newman did not appear to be on the road to legendary status. Those first two records brimmed with melodic ingenuity and smart writing, but there was nothing much there that separated him from the pack. Sail Away, his third album released in 1972, solved that problem by embracing satire, parody, and, most important of all, a willingness to address topics that other songwriters gave a wide berth.
That fearlessness helped Newman carve out a niche, one which he has inhabited throughout his career (when not creating soundtracks and Pixar tunes). Sail Away set the template for one of the most fascinating singer/songwriter catalogs of all.
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Setting Sail
Randy Newman could easily have made a good living as a composer/songwriter without ever getting in front of a microphone. His father and others in his family had been involved in making music for films. And Newman also proved capable of writing solid pop songs that were recorded by others throughout the ‘60s.
But he also saw himself as the best interpreter for his own material. He wasn’t a classic belter vocal-wise, but his voice was unique and expressive, so that wasn’t the problem with his early solo work. The problem is he didn’t quite have the right idea of how he should be presenting himself on record.
His self-titled debut tried to play up the malleability of his melodies by bathing them in lush orchestration. Sophomore effort 12 Songs put him in more of a rock setting. Newman added Randy Newman Live to the catalog in 1971, featuring him in voice-and-piano mode only.
In the liner notes to a 2002 CD version of the record, Newman makes light of how he approached Sail Away as a kind of amalgam of all three styles: “Then came Sail Away, in which I combined the three elements that made the earlier albums such failures.”
Sarcasm aside, that variety is what made Newman’s music special. He could go into gritty rock-combo mode on “You Can Leave Your Hat On,” or he could bring orchestral flourishes, as on the title track. He could even delve back into older areas of music like vaudeville and ragtime and sound completely at home. Listening to Sail Away was like taking an across-the-generations tour of American music, with Newman as the nimble guide.
Somewhere along the line, Newman came to the decision that the people populating these musical settings did not have to be trustworthy, honorable, or ever remotely nice. By diving into these flawed characters, Newman was able to dissect both the present day and ancient history with striking clarity, scratching below the shiny surfaces to expose the rot beneath.
The Dark Magic of Sail Away
Newman let us all in on his plan with the title track, also the opening song on Sail Away. It’s the kind of song that requires a close listen to the lyrics to get its meaning, which can be tough to do as you get carried away by the piano hooks and sweeping strings. Then you find that you’ve been listening to a slave trader’s sales pitch, and you start to rethink everything you’ve just heard.
Elsewhere on the album, Newman is less circumspect, presenting some of the darker themes amidst downcast music. “Old Man” is a pitch-black retelling of a son’s visit to his father’s deathbed, all niceties stripped away as they were between the two while they were both living. “You Can Leave Your Hat On” wears its lascivious gaze on its sleeve.
Newman also tackled world affairs with biting wit on the album. “Political Science” takes aim at the senselessness of nuclear war, the brightness of the music giving away his snide satirical intentions. Religion is also under the microscope on songs like “He Gives Us All His Love” and closing track “God’s Song (That’s Why I Love Mankind).” Even when he does drop a whimsical, innocent tale like “Simon Smith and the Amazing Dancing Bear,” you might find yourself wondering where the dark underbelly lies.
Sail Away sent Randy Newman flying into the stratosphere of critical acclaim, especially when he followed it up with the equally masterful Good Old Boys. Commercial success was still years away, waiting for the appearance of the quasi-novelty song “Short People.” In any case, this album was the one that set him apart, partly because of his talent, and partly because nobody else was brave enough to join him out there on his lonely songwriting limb.
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