Randy Newman's American dreams / Kevin Courrier.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Courrier, Kevin, 1954-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Newman, Randy.

Composers--United States--Biography.

Composers.

United States.

Singers--United States--Biography.

Singers.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

xix, 348 pages, 4 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, portraits ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

Toronto : ECW Press, [2005]

Summary:

Although he's far from being a household name, Randy Newman is one of the most enduring and respected singer/songwriters in contemporary American music. For over forty years, he's composed a variety of hit songs for artists as diverse as Judy Collins ("I Think It's Going to Rain Today"), Three Dog Night ("Mama Told Me Not to Come") and Tom Jones ("You Can Leave Your Hat On"). Yet despite a number of acclaimed albums (Good Old Boys, Little Criminals and Land of Dreams), a stage musical (Faust), and being a successful composer for many acclaimed films (The Natural, Avalon, Toy Story), and winning an Academy Award for the song "If I Didn't Have You," from Monsters Inc., Newman is mostly remembered for his controversial novelty chart-topper "Short People."

In Randy Newman's American Dreams, author Kevin Courrier examines why this enigmatic and audacious American composer has been so largely unacknowledged - and misunderstood - by listeners and fans alike. The book delves into the reasons for Newman's peripheral status on the cultural landscape. It suggests that, at heart, Newman has always been a musical outsider, building a career in the mainstream by donning a brilliant disguise. Randy Newman's American Dreams is an illuminating portrait of the American artist as a masked man, an Artful Dodger whose very self can hold a multitude of meanings.

Contents:

Inheritor of the Mask 1

A Life Before the Mask 31

A Life Behind the Mask 71

Claiming the Mask 113

The Success of the Mask 149

The Celluloid Mask 197

The Face Behind the Mask 243

Lonely at the Top 301.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 323-330) and index.

ISBN:

1550226908 :

OCLC:

57208009