Music Monday ~ Those "Few Words in Defence of......"

Some seven years ago, in 2008, my husband's son-in-law pointed me in the direction of this song by Randy Newman : "A Few Words In Defense of Our Country". It's more of a "closing statement" than a song, I guess, but coming across it again I decided to listen once more - to see whether anything has changed. What do you think?





The lyrics:
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.

Randy Newman's I'm Dreaming: I think he is, indeed, dreaming....

Randy Newman's new song, I'm Dreaming features the line: "I'm dreaming of a white president", is full of satirical, sarcastic anecdotes about someone who votes for a president because he is white. The song features lyrics like: "He won't be the brightest, perhaps, but he'll be the whitest, and I'll vote for that."

Newman said as he wrote the song the lyrics "didn't come that easy.....It's delicate enough that I'm not going to offend people every which way, but I wanted to get it right as best I could." He is supporting President Barack Obama in November's election. He says he wants the public to find comedic relief in the song, but to also know he's serious about his thoughts that racism is well and alive in the world and in the current presidential race. He called racism "the great issue of this country.......I don't know how many people you can get to admit it. I think maybe zero."(See article and video at Slate, 18 September 2012.)

Sorry, Mr Newman, but I see the song itself as racist, serving only to further inflame remaining divisions in this country, akin to picking at a sore place.

Randy Newman may be a brilliant musician and songwriter but he's being disingenuous if he believes that anyone who isn't supporting President Obama's re-election is doing so because the President's skin isn't white. How about Mr. Newman writing a song about Prez Obama's policies - about how they differ wildly from his campaign promises? How about writing a song about the corrupt political system in this country? How about a song about this......(The remark featured on the board was one of the late, great George Carlin's). Perhaps Mr. Newman is in The Club, or at least on its periphery as an honorary member - and is no longer able to clearly see outward.



There may well be pockets of racism still existing in the United States - it'd be surprising if all evidence of that cruel and disgusting era which preceded the late 1960s were completely gone.

That's another matter. The matter of a president's record is what's important here, and what directs me not to support his re-election:

President Obama surrounded himself with conservative advisors and key figures - many from previous administrations, and an unprecedented number from the Trilateral Commission. He also appointed a former Monsanto executive as Senior Advisor to the FDA. He has extended Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, presided over a spiralling rich-poor gap and sacrificed further American jobs with recent free trade deals.Trade union rights have also eroded under his watch. He has expanded Bush defence spending, drone-killed civilians and children, failed to close Guantanamo, supported the NDAA which effectively legalises martial law, allowed drilling and adopted a soft-touch position towards the banks that is to the right of European Conservative leaders. Taking office during the financial meltdown, Obama appointed its principle architects to top economic positions. Obama's detractors absurdly portray him as either a radical liberal or a socialist, while his apologists, equally absurdly, continue to view him as a well-intentioned progressive, tragically thwarted by overwhelming pressures.(Hat-tip to a past political commenter, joe kiggy for the detail)

NOTE: More on Randy Newman, and his natal chart, from my archives HERE and HERE.

Music Monday ~ Randy Newman

His is a familiar name to anyone old enough in the 1970s to have been listening to radio and records....LPs in those days, not cds or mp3s.

Familiar name, yet easily forgotten. It's a frequent occurence, Chez Twilight, for Himself to say, while hearing music in a movie or TV show, "Oh - that was written by.....erm..you know....that guy....erm...." I've grown wise to this and am now able to fill in the blank....Randy Newman !

Newman is one of those classy songwriters who writes beautiful poetry and puts it to music, then sings it himself in the kind of voice that only a mother would love. I see him in the same league as Leonard Cohen and Tom Waits, oh, and Kris Kristofferson. He has a good pedigree, his uncles, Al, Lionel and Emil Newman all big names in the business of composing music for movies. His father was a physician, but also wrote songs as a sideline. So , doing what came naturally, Randy went into the family business.

His songs and music spring up all over the place - It's a Jungle Out There, theme song for the TV series Monk, for instance. You Can Keep Your Hat On from British movie The Full Monty. The theme from Toy Story, A Bug's Life, Cars, Seabiscuit and numerous other movies.

I Think it's Going to Rain Today, and Feels Like Home are two of my personal Randy Newman favourites. There are several interesting but rather downbeat, politically oriented, dark-ish ironic songs too, with which I'm not as familiar, but I've investigated some of the lyrics: Short People, Political Science, Mr President Have Pity On The Working Man , Good Old Boys and lots of others on the same satirical theme.

Randy Newman was born on 28 November 1943 at 8.02 pm in Los Angeles (some sources say New Orleans, but Astrodatabank reliably informs that he was born in LA, but early on moved with his parents to New Orleans where his mother's family lived.




Stand-out factor in his natal chart is a clump of oppositions. There are two groups of 3 planets lying opposite each other: Sun, Mercury and Moon at 6, 16 and 25 Sagittarius are opposite Uranus, Mars and Saturn at 6, 15 and 24 Gemini. Because the two signs involved are Sagittarius and Gemini, I doubt that this rather hefty see-saw configuration poses much of a problem for Newman himself, though it could pose a few problems for others. I'd say that of all the pairs of opposite signs in the zodiac, these two have the best chance of blending easily.

Venus, planet of the arts and Neptune (creativity) both sit in Libra, where Venus is comfortably at home in its sign of rulership.

Jupiter, representing publication and luck lies at at 26 Leo, harmoniously trines Moon and sextiles Saturn - two very helpful placings for a guy who relies on the publication of his work (Saturn) for its success.


His Sun Mercury and Moon in Sagittarius indicate a gernerally positive character, outspoken, sense of fun, generosity of spirit etc. Unruly Uranus directly opposite Sun reflects much in his songs that is political and ironic in content - a streak of rebellion there! But Moon and Saturn are closely opposite each other too, bringing in the more disciplined, straighter approach heard in his movie themes. Mercury, communications planet opposite Mars the energy planet signifies the driving force behind his prolific writing. There's a hint of the Sagittarian excess in Newman's nature at this quote from a Guardian UK article by Duncan Campbell (2003) here.

"My first wife and second wife and kids, they know I'm going to do what I have to do," he says. "I don't know how ruthless I am but it's so important to me that I don't care about anyone's feelings. I sometimes wonder whether that is a pose - 'The ruthless writer, he really doesn't care' - but I really do feel that way. If I can get a song out of it, I don't much care about myself or anyone else."

And from the same piece, a kind of echo of that see-saw-like mentality reflecting the oppositions in his natal chart:

"I've never seen anyone whose goal was to make money be happy because of that," says Newman. "They are never satisfied, never. I find myself not liking rich people, even though I am one... well, I never liked myself that much either. All that talk about private planes and Air France first class and lasering their underarms. I hear it but I don't like it much. I like musicians, unless they get rich." He laughs. "And even when they do."

And from JAM Showbiz, more of the Newman see-saw effect here -

It's never a good idea to take Randy Newman at his word.
Mostly because the mordant satirist -- and Oscar-winning songwriter -- has built a career out of saying one thing and meaning the other, making it tough for casual listeners (or uninformed, as is more often the case) to know how seriously they should be taking him.
The answer to that one is, of course, "Very seriously," but only after considering the fact Newman's tongue may be stuck firmly in cheek.

I'm spoiled for choice as to which video to post. I cannot restrict myself to just one! Two songs then, but two versions of one of 'em. Here's Randy singing his own song I Think It's Going To Rain Today, then a version of the same song by Neil Diamond (my favourite). Last video features Randy Newman on piano with Bonnie Raitt singing "Feels Like Home" (this one always has me in tears). The song comes from his musical "Faust", later it was featured in the movie "The Notebook".

Arts Roundup

WRITING

In June I took a look at George Orwell's natal chart. This week I was interested to note from a link at Citizen Wells blog, that there is a new blogging project afoot:
The Orwell Prize - "The Orwell Diaries" .

"From 9th August 2008, you will be able to gather your own impression of Orwell’s face from reading his most strongly individual piece of writing: his diaries. The Orwell Prize is delighted to announce that, to mark the 70th anniversary of the diaries, each diary entry will be published on this blog exactly seventy years after it was written, allowing you to follow Orwell’s recuperation in Morocco, his return to the UK, and his opinions on the descent of Europe into war in real time. The diaries end in 1942, three years into the conflict.
What impression of Orwell will emerge? "

A website worth regular visits, methinks.

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PAINTING

To please any passing reader who might harbour a vision of a President Obama (I try to be even handed, even when it pains me) I pass on a link from Joseph Cannon's blog Cannonfire. The link leads to the website of American artist Ron Keas, whose current offering is a set of portraits of Barack Obama. The portraits are a mix of realism and surrealism - just right for a politician as shrouded in Neptunian fog as Senator Obama.

I'd love to take a look at Ron Keas's natal chart but so far I've discovered only his year of birth, 1943, which tells me nothing at all.


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POETRY

This poem, "Applied Astronomy", by Esther B. Tiffany, raised a smile. I wonder whether it would still work if slightly adapted and titled "Applied Astrology"? As I've never, in all my life to date, met a guy with even a passing interest in astrology, even less had a date with such a mortal, I wouldn't know.

APPLIED ASTRONOMY

He took me out to see the stars,
That astronomic bore;
He said there was two moons near Mars,
While Jupiter had four.

I thought of course he'd whisper soon
What four fold bliss 'twould be
To stroll beneath that fourfold moon
On Jupiter with me.

And when he spoke of Saturn's ring,
I was convinced he'd say
That was the very kind of thing
To offer me some day.

But in a tangent off he went
To double stars. Now that
Was most suggestive, so content
And quite absorbed I sat.

But no, he talked a dreary mess,
Of which the only fraction
That caught my fancy, I confess,
Was "mutual attraction".

I said I thought it very queer
And stupid altogether,
For stars to keep so very near
And yet not come together.

At that he smiled, and turned his head;
I thought he'd caught the notion;
He merely bowed good-night and said,
Their safety lay in motion.

(by Esther B. Tiffany.)


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MUSIC



Recently, my husband's son-in-law kindly pointed me in the direction of this song by Randy Newman : "A Few Words In Defense of Our Country". Text only lyrics can be read here.

The USA, over the years has been, and still is, much maligned both by a section of its own citizens and by many of other countries, mainly on the basis of its administration and/or president. The population at large is often included in the rancour, unfairly so in my opinion. Randy Newman's song isn't one of those schmaltzy flag-wavers, those don't impress me at all. Newman's song is fair, honest, and I suspect straight from the heart.



Randy Newman was born 28 November 1943 in Los Angeles, California at, Astrotheme tells us, 8.02pm. I'll add his natal chart here and point out just a couple of things, so as to prevent this post from stretching beyond reasonable length.



Randy has Sun, Mercury and Moon at 6, 16 and 25 degrees Sagittarius, opposing Uranus, Mars and Saturn in Gemini at 6, 15 and 24 degrees. This is interesting, the degrees are so closely matched! What does it mean? I'm not sure, exactly, but there's a very strong dynamic there between Gemini the sign of the communicator, and Sagittarius, the philosopher's sign. The words of the song featured above do fit that dynamic. Venus, the music planet is in Libra, one of its domiciles, so in good shape for a musician. Cancer rising represents a sensitive, thoughtful nature, though at times can seem somewhat withdrawn.