revisited.

yourmusic.com is great. you pay $6 a month and make a list of (not brand new) CDs that you want, and they just send one to you every month.

it was from just this list that came "the randy newman songsboook, vol. 1" , a lovely little surprise on my doorstep yesterday. and it has me revisiting so much of his beautiful work. he is beautiful, sad, sarcastic. sometimes peppered with historical references, sometimes poking unbelievable fun at us or at himself. and sometimes heartbreakingly, simple, sad:

"everyone's got something
and they're out trying to get some more
they got something to get up for
well i ain't about to...baby, it's so hard living without you."

truth is, he's exposes and expresses some gut-wrenching essences of the human condition as well today as he did in the early seventies.

maybe i'll write a song, "if i was as good a songwriter as you, i'd have no reason to sing the blues." ...and follow with a list fo "except when's"...