In Praise of a Master

[cinema_babe]

For no good reason I was thinking about how crappy human beings can be as a species and I remembered this powerful Randy Newman song. So many people miss the genius of Newman's upside down lyrics, which this song is a lovely example of.

The obvious is so often a mask worn by the narrator to hide the truth from someone: the listener, often themselves. Like the court jester, his narrators speak the sometimes insulting truth while they smile in the face of the transgressors they condemn. The line, "Human kindness is overflowing..." is so rich in irony and sarcasm and so many people miss that.

And, he writes a hell of a melody too. He can wring real emotion from the listener without being cloying or overly sentimental.

I Think It's Going to Rain Today

by Randy Newman
Broken windows and empty hallways,
a pale dead moon in a sky streaked with grey.
Human kindness is overflowing,
and I think it's gonna rain today.

Scarecrows dressed in the latest styles,
the frozen smiles to chase love away.
Human kindness is overflowing,
and I think it's gonna rain today.

Lonely, lonely.
Tin can at my feet,
I think I'll kick it down the street.
That's the way to treat a friend.

Bright before me the signs implore me:
Help the needy and show them the way.
Human kindness is overflowing,
and I think it's gonna rain today.

Lonely, so lonely.
Tin can at my feet,
I think I'll kick it down the street.
That's the way to treat a friend.

Bright before me the signs implore me:
Help the needy and show them the way.
Human kindness is overflowing,
and I think it's gonna rain today.

Comments

[roadnotes.livejournal.com]

It is an amazing song. I sing a very simple version of it at the piano bars, based on Randy Newman's original version, and it's very rare that the room doesn't hush for it. It's stark, and real.

(With Kenny, one of the Rose's Turn players, we often do a Newman set: Soren sings "God's Song" and "Political Science" (and follows the latter with Tom Lehrer's "So Long, Mom"), I sing "I Think It's Going to Rain Today," Kenny will sing "Marie" or "Baltimore," and AJ will sing "Feels Like Home." We're discussing adding "Shame" and "Beware of the Naked Man," just for fun.)