When Randy Newman worked with an “insecure” Frank Sinatra
From Lead Belly to Prince, the 20th century brought us a diverse array of innovative solo artists. Throughout this period of dramatic technological and artistic evolution, the definition of pop music changed constantly. In the 1940s and ’50s, artists like Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin defined pop, but as the 1960s approached, Elvis Presley began to redefine pop under the rock ‘n’ roll banner. Somewhere amid this mid-century transition, Randy Newman emerged with a musical outlook of his own.
Newman grew up in a musical setting, with three of his uncles working as revered Hollywood film score composers. A skilled multi-instrumentalist by his late teens, he decided to study music at UCLA, where he studied music before dropping out just one semester before graduation. Funnily enough, he completed his degree in June 2021, around six decades later.
As a multifaceted composer, Newman often used the piano as his weapon of choice, accompanying his memorable melodies with a warm Southern vocal. His distinctive style is usually associated with Americana for its breezy flow and connections to country, folk, and R&B. He also worked profusely in film scoring and, early in his career, wrote songs for prominent artists like Cilla Black, Gene Pitney, and the Alan Price Set.
After establishing himself with often humorous or energising lyrics in solo hits like ‘Short People’ and ‘I Love LA’, Newman began to work primarily in soundtrack score composition. Throughout the 1980s, his Hollywood presence was strong, but the following decade saw even headier heights when he began working for Disney-Pixar, starting with Toy Story in 1995. Since then, he has soundtracked nine of the production giant’s beloved movies, including A Bug’s Life and Monsters Inc.
With such a diverse portfolio, Newman had touched practically everyone’s heart at some point in their lives. Among his many famous admirers is Nobel laureate Bob Dylan. “Now Randy might not go out on stage and knock you out or knock your socks off,” Dylan told Paul Zollo in 1991. “And he’s not going to get people thrilled in the front row. He ain’t gonna do that. But he’s gonna write a better song than most people who can do it. You know, he’s got that down to an art.”
Continuing, the legendary ‘Like A Rolling Stone’ songwriter said that it “doesn’t get any better than” Newman’s classic songs ‘Louisiana’ and ‘Sail Away’, before declaring that there are “not that many people in Randy’s class.”
Beyond Newman’s compositional and songwriting prowess, Dylan reveres him for his distinctive and deceptive style. “His style is deceiving,” Dylan added. “He’s so laid back that you kind of forget he’s saying important things. Randy’s sort of tied to a different era like I am.”
Indeed, Bob Dylan and Randy Newman’s music has a certain quality that recalls a bygone era. Neither can relate much to 21st-century pop trends. Still, this quality also gives their music a timelessness that makes it universally appealing. Newman’s fans span from the late crooner Frank Sinatra to the hoards of children belting out ‘You’ve Got A Friend In Me’ after watching Toy Story.
Speaking to Uncut in 2019, Newman remembered once having the rare chance to work with Frank Sinatra. Supposedly, the timeless, laidback qualities of his music could endear icons from either side of the countercultural revolution. “I thought it’d be hip if he recorded ‘Lonely At The Top’,” Newman said, revealing that he initially wrote the Sail Away cut for Sinatra. “It was pure Sinatra, it’d fit in with all that leaning-against-the-lamppost, I’m-so-miserable bullshit.”
Sadly, the song “didn’t exactly fly” with Sinatra, who was sceptical of any artists of the post-Beatles era. “He never told us that he hated us, but I got the distinct impression that he didn’t like that next generation much, The Beatles onwards,” Newman noted. However, in a moment that lived on in Newman’s memory, Ol’ Blue Eyes requested a specific song. “He asked me to play ‘I Think It’s Gonna Rain [Today]’, and he liked it,” Newman beamed.
Returning to his appraisal of Sinatra’s character, Newman remembered that the singer’s slight haughtiness appeared to be a symptom of insecurity. “It was weird how insecure he was, looking at my manuscripts, pretending he could read music, going on about minor-key this and major-chord that,” he mused. “And he showed us his private aeroplane, which was something.”
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