Randy Newman performs "Political Science" and "Short People" on BBC's "Old Grey Whistle Test"

There is always an interesting relationship between our studio phone lines when we play Randy Newman on "The Time Machine". It's either praise for playing him and his musical irony or anger for showcasing his brand of lyrics. Naturally this doesn't happen with all of Randy's songs like "I Love To See You Smile", "Fallin' In Love", "You've Got A Friend In Me", "When She Loved Me" or "Something Special" for instance but overall it only takes about thirty seconds after the song has ended on the airwaves when the studio lines light up. God bless Randy. Heaven help us when we decide to play Randy, Steve Earl and Tom Waits in a music set. Those are the days that you need to be in the studio with us to experience the request line.


Above photo: Randy busy composing.

Below photo: Randy and Susanna Hoffs performing "A Fool In Love" from "Meet The Parents" for the 2001 Oscars. His fifteenth Oscar nomination without a win. That wouldn't happen until "If I Didn't Have You" from "Monsters Inc." brought him an Academy Award. Randy held the record for most nominations without a win in the entire history of the Oscars. After receiving an enthusiastic standing ovation for finally making his way up to the podium, a bemused but emotional Randy began his acceptance speech with "I don't want your pity!"





Two of Randy Newman's classic songs performed live. The first video performance is from 1972 and the song is from his 1972 album "Sail Away". Here's Randy performing "Political Science".



The second song is from his 1977 album "Little Criminals". Here is Randy's 1978 performance of "Short People".