History Music / RandyNewman

* AManIsNotAVirgin: Mocked in "The Women In My Life".

The son of the only Newman brother NOT to be a composer (his father was an [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internal_medicine internist]]), Randy Newman is arguably the most famous of the Newman musical family, but more for his song writing skills than his film music. Born in UsefulNotes/LosAngeles but raised in UsefulNotes/NewOrleans, Randy was a talented pianist from an early age, and always seemed destined for a career in music, but during his formative years purposefully stayed away from Hollywood and concentrated on being a recording artist in his own right.

* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: Comes up in his lyrics occasionally, such as these from "UsefulNotes/SigmundFreud's Impersonation of AlbertEinstein in America":

!!'''{{Trope}}s''':

* ''CopRock'' (1990) (short-lived television series, and also appeared singing and playing the theme song in the opening credits)

* ''{{Film/Babe}}: Pig in the City'' (1998) (song: "That'll Do" by Peter Gabriel)

** Really, you'd think the line "We don't know our ass from a hole in the ground" [[ViewersAreMorons would be a dead giveaway]].

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Randy_Newman.jpg]]

* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: Comes up in his lyrics occasionally, such as these from "SigmundFreud's Impersonation of AlbertEinstein in America":

Newman is generally considered to be among the greatest living American songwriters, with a legion of dedicated followers. After contributing music to the 1971 movie ''Cold Turkey'', Newman formally entered the film music fray in 1981 with the score for [[Creator/MilosForman Miloš Forman]]'s ''{{Ragtime}}'', for which he received the first of his 20 Oscar nominations. Since then, Newman's film music output has been small but of consistently high quality, and has included works such as:

** ''Film/{{Performance}}'' (1970)
** ''Film/ColdTurkey'' (1971)
** ''Film/TheNatural'' (1984),
** ''[[Film/ThreeAmigos ¡Three Amigos!]]'' (1986) (songs: "The Ballad of the Three Amigos," "My Little Buttercup," and "Blue Shadows." Was also the co-writer and had a cameo as the voice of the singing bush)
** ''Film/{{Parenthood}}'' (1989),
** ''Film/{{Awakenings}}'' (1990),
** ''Avalon'' (1990)
** ''CopRock'' (1990) (short-lived television series, and also appeared singing and playing the theme song in the opening credits)
** ''The Paper'' (1994)
** ''Film/{{Maverick}}'' (1994)
** ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'' (1995),
** ''Film/{{James and the Giant Peach}}'' (1996)
** ''Film/{{Michael}}'' (1996),
** ''WesternAnimation/CatsDontDance'' (1997),
** ''WesternAnimation/ABugsLife'' (1998),
** ''{{Film/Babe}}: Pig in the City'' (1998) (song: "That'll Do" by Peter Gabriel)
** ''{{Film/Pleasantville}}'' (1998)
** ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory2'' (1999),
** ''Film/MeetTheParents'' (2000)
** ''WesternAnimation/MonstersInc'' (2001)
** ''{{Film/Seabiscuit}}'' (2003)
** ''[[Film/MeetTheParents Meet the Fockers]]'' (2004)
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}'' (2006)
** ''{{Film/Leatherheads}}'' (2008)
** ''Disney/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'' (2009)
** ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory3'' (2010)
** ''WesternAnimation/MonstersUniversity'' (2013)

Most of these scores in the list were Oscar nominated for either the score or one of his brilliant songs. He finally won his first Oscar, in 2001, for the song 'If I Didn't Have You' from "Monsters, Inc." He won his second Oscar in 2011, for the song, "We Belong Together" from "Toy Story 3."

In 2003, he wrote and sung the Emmy Award-winning theme song for ''Series/{{Monk}}'', used from its second season onwards, titled "It's a Jungle Out There". In 2009, he returned to write and sing the closing song to the entire series, "When I'm Gone", and won that Emmy too.

** ''[[Film/ThreeAmigos ¡Three Amigos!]]'' (1986) (songs: "The Ballad of the Three Amigos," "My Little Buttercup," and "Blue Shadows")

* GospelRevivalNumber: The opening number of "Faust", "Glory Train". Heavily subverted in that the Devil breaks in occasionally with remarks like:

** Really, you'd think the line "We don't know our ass from a hole in the ground" would be a dead giveaway.

** ''TheNatural'' (1984),

** ''{{Awakenings}}'' (1990),

** ''{{Michael}}'' (1996),

** ''Performance'' (1970)

* PlayingAgainstType: People who know Newman from his work on children's movies and the scores of lighthearted comedies tend to be blindsided by his albums. Similarly, fans of Newman's albums tend to be a bit surprised he can be so "kiddie" (and it apparently surprises both sides that he's also scored dramatic movies like ''Awakenings'' and ''Avalon'').
** For Newman ''really'' PlayingAgainstType, see WhatCouldHaveBeen below.

* OscarBait -- straight and subverted

* VillainSong: "Friends on the Other Side" from ''ThePrincessAndTheFrog''. Also a common trope in his non-movie work: "Kathleen" is from the perspective of a man tricking a woman into thinking they're married to get in her pants; the subtitle (Catholicism Made Easier) got Newman into a LOT of trouble.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: In a classic case of PlayingAgainstType, Newman was signed to score ''Film/AirForceOne''; though he did indeed write and record music for the movie, he was ultimately replaced by JerryGoldsmith (and Joel [=McNeely=] because of time pressures). Fans can only hope his thrown-out score gets a release.

The son of the only Newman brother NOT to be a composer (his father was an [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internal_medicine internist]]), Randy Newman is arguably the most famous of the Newman musical family, but more for his song writing skills than his film music. Born in Los Angeles but raised in New Orleans, Randy was a talented pianist from an early age, and always seemed destined for a career in music, but during his formative years purposefully stayed away from Hollywood and concentrated on being a recording artist in his own right.

Newman is generally considered to be among the greatest living American songwriters, with a legion of dedicated followers. After contributing music to the 1971 movie ''Cold Turkey'', Newman formally entered the film music fray in 1981 with the score for Milos Forman's ''{{Ragtime}}'', for which he received the first of his 20 Oscar nominations. Since then, Newman's film music output has been small but of consistently high quality, and has included works such as:

With his regular collaborator Lenny Waronker, Newman recorded and released many popular hit records, including "I Love L.A.", "Short People", "Political Science", "Marie", "I Think It's Going To Rain Today", "YouCanLeaveYourHatOn" (for which he is the TropeNamer), and the controversial "Rednecks". His solo albums ("Randy Newman", "Sail Away", "Good Old Boys", "Little Criminals", "Born Again", "Trouble In Paradise", "Land of Dreams", "Faust", "Bad Love" and "Harps and Angels"), have all received critical acclaim for the way in which his sardonic, witty lyrics and totally unique vocal delivery allowed his songs to be entertaining, musically excellent, but yet remain politically and socially aware.