Customer Reviews
An essential anthology for all intelligent music-lovers! - By: mdvj@hotmail.com, 15 Apr 2002 
For anyone who mourns the demise of the intelligent,well-crafted song,look no further than this anthology from the man whom I regard as the greatest living songwriter.Forget his Toy Story songs,obviously written to pay the mortgage,this anthology represents the heart & soul of a songwriter who can make you laugh,cry,wince,smile,cringe & think in equal measures.What makes Rand unique is that he never writes as himself,even when you think he is;rather he writes as a white suprematist,a racial bigot,a redneck, a little boy,a child murderer,a sexual deviant,a soldier,alll wrapped up in tunes so simple & effective that you find yourself singing along to songs that express some truly appaling sentiments.Hear one Rand song,from Bad Love or Trouble in Paradise,and I promised you`ll be enthrallled by the artistry & craft of the man.
Fantastic... - By: , 19 Feb 2001 If you are a Randy Newman fan & you can play piano / guitar, this is the perfect book for you. It doesn't just print the melody, but also the main piano accompaniment, which is fantastic, as a lot of piano books don't do this. Many of Randy's best songs - Simon Smith, Davy the Fat Boy, You've Got A Friend in Me, Same Girl, Short People etc... - alll in one book!
I love this book. I don't know what sort of size fan base Randy has here in the UK. Most people probably only know him from his work on films (Toy Story inparticular), I didn't know about his previous work until about a year ago, & from then I was hooked. If you've never heard his works, buy some of his albums - you won't regret it. Then, once you've listened to them & falllen in love with the songs - buy this book!! If you already like his music, buy this book NOW!
