Saturday, September 22, 2007

 

Randy Newman - A Few Words in Defense of Our Country

Randy Newman, singer, songwriter and composer made this abridged home video version 2007_january_04.
The Yankees seem to claim the first version is from Carnegie Hall 2006 but Randy performed this song the first time summer 2006 when he was touring Europe. Europe, a part of the world that should defend the US a little bit more no matter what administration it has (in my opinion).

I’d like to say a few words
In defense of our country
Whose people aren’t bad nor are they mean
Now the leaders we have
While they’re the worst that we’ve had
Are hardly the worst this poor world has seen

Let’s turn history’s pages, shall we?

Take the Caesars for example
Why within the first few of them
They were sleeping with their sister
Stashing little boys in swimming pools
And burning down the City
And one of ‘em, one of 'em
Appointed his own horse Consul of the Empire
That’s like vice president or something

That’s not a very good example, is it?

But wait, here’s one, the Spanish Inquisition
They put people in a terrible position
I don’t even like to think about it

Well, sometimes I like to think about it

Just a few words in defense of our country
Whose time at the top
Could be coming to an end
Now we don’t want their love
And respect at this point is pretty much out of the question
But in times like these
We sure could use a friend

Hitler. Stalin.
Men who need no introduction

King Leopold of Belgium. That’s right.
Everyone thinks he’s so great
Well he owned The Congo
He tore it up too
He took the diamonds, he took the gold
He took the silver
Know what he left them with?

Malaria

A President once said,
"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself"
Now it seems like we’re supposed to be afraid
It’s patriotic in fact and color coded
And what are we supposed to be afraid of?
Why, of being afraid
That’s what terror means, doesn’t it?
That’s what it used to mean

[To the first eight bars of "Columbia The Gem Of The Ocean"]

You know it pisses me off a little
That this Supreme Court is gonna outlive me
A couple of young Italian fellas and a brother on the Court now too
But I defy you, anywhere in the world
To find me two Italians as tightass as the two Italians we got

And as for the brother
Well, Pluto’s not a planet anymore either

The end of an empire is messy at best
And this empire is ending
Like all the rest
Like the Spanish Armada adrift on the sea
We’re adrift in the land of the brave
And the home of the free

Goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye.

The song itself is available in perfect quality on Apple's iTunes.
The song is worthy to be discussed amongst friends ...

My story to be continued in the comments (extra info, the video itself and a live version from Toronto 2006_october_14, in low bitrate).

# posted by JeansMusicBlog @ 00:05
Comments:
Randy Newman - A Few Words in Defense of Our Country

During his European tour in the summer of 2006, Newman premiered three new songs: "Potholes in Memory Lane" (a straight blues song about losing your memory when you get older), "Missing You" (a love ballad), and the politically controversial "A Few Words in Defense of Our Country".

I tracked down an audience recording of the two new Randy Newman songs I mentioned in my post. These are from his Oct 14, 2006, concert at Convocation Centre in Toronto. Some audience noise (nearby people laughing and breathing) is audible, but the sound quality's decent enough to hear the songs.

The political song is essentially one of Newman's monologues, with just hints of melody and piano noodling underneath.
This isn't a classic in the same league as "Political Science," but it's still vintage Newman and a timely song. At least a few of the words were different in the Chicago performance, when he mentioned the color coding of terror alerts. When he introduces the song to the Toronto crowd, he notes that it isn't finished, so you'll hear some other lyrics when this finally surfaced on a studio album (2007_january).

The songs :
http://r#pidsh#re.com/files/56407984/Newman__Randy_-_In_Defense_of_My_Country.mp3
http://r#pidsh#re.com/files/56408346/Newman__Randy_-_I_ll_Never_Get_Over_Losing_You.mp3

The video :
http://r#pidsh#re.com/files/56406583/Randy_Newman_-_A_Few_Words_in_Defense_of_Our_Country.avi

Of course you understand to replace twice the '#' in an 'a' otherwise you don't have a 'valid' link !!

>>
When you see this in Google cache (or alike or through using the search function in my Blog) you actually have to go to my Blog and the plain comment itself otherwise you cannot copy/paste this !
If you don't wanna come to me of course you can also write the link down and type it afterwards...... :-)
http://jeansmusicblog.blogspot.com/
http://jeansmusicblog.blogspot.com/2007_09_01_archive.html
So go back to 'Google search' and click on my main 'Blog link' instead of the 'Google cache'.
Or click on this page on 'home' and go to the '2007 september archives'.
>>

And while you are downloading, maybe you will tell me (and other viewers) why you like to have/listen to it or what you think of Randy Newman.
# posted by Blogger JeansMusicBlog : Saturday, 22 September 2007 at 00:54:00 CEST
 
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