Latest Randy Newman Quotes from Interviews

Quotes about:

• More of my songs are intended to be funny than almost anyone else. Sometimes maybe it cheers me up a bit. I've got a distance from it. Sometimes what I'm writing is more important to me than the rest of my life. It's more important to me that I'm writing well than anything else.

  Randy Newman

  Song, Cheer, Distance

  Source: www.avclub.com

• I'm interested in geography and weather and things like that, and if you don't write love songs, you've gotta go somewhere. I wrote a lot about places because that's what else there was. I had to stop myself from writing more of them.

  Randy Newman

  Song, Writing, Geography

  Source: www.avclub.com

• Some day you do something where you use everything you know. You don't do it ostentatiously where you see the workings going on. But some day, if you're lucky, that will happen.

  Randy Newman

  Lucky, Use, Happens

  "Randy Newman's first new song in years is about bare-chested Vladimir Putin". Interview with Geoff Edgers, www.chicagotribune.com. October 10, 2016.

• The belief in the '70s was that music was changing the world. I never believed that it had that great an effect. The effect Madonna had on fashion and sort of mores of young girls was a bigger deal than anything Dylan may have said, even.

  Randy Newman

  Girl, Fashion, World

  "Randy Newman's first new song in years is about bare-chested Vladimir Putin". Interview with Geoff Edgers, www.chicagotribune.com. October 10, 2016.

• Things aren't black and white in the world.

  Randy Newman

  Black And White, White, Black

  Source: www.chicagotribune.com

• There's a million white people better qualified than a black man to be president of America.

  Randy Newman

  Men, White, America

  Source: www.chicagotribune.com

• I'm dreaming of a white president. Just like the ones we've always had. A real live white man. Who knows the score, how to handle money or start a war. Wouldn't even have to tell me what we were fighting for. He'd be the right man, if he were a white man.

  Randy Newman

  Dream, White, President

  "I'm Dreaming of a White President". Poem by Randy Newman, www.theguardian.com. 2012.

• This is the Republican Party who has run against Russia for 80 years and you know, (Trump) hasn't mentioned (Putin) except in a positive way.

  Randy Newman

  Running, Party, Russia

  "Randy Newman's first new song in years is about bare-chested Vladimir Putin". Interview with Geoff Edgers, www.chicagotribune.com. October 10, 2016.

• I hate having to wait. I've got the thing done. I just want to see what happens.

  Randy Newman

  Hate, Waiting, I Hate

  "Listen to Randy Newman's New Song About a Shirtless Vladmir Putin" by Noah Yoo, pitchfork.com. October 10, 2016.

• To get nominated by the Republican Party you've got to be pretty reactionary, really.

  Randy Newman

  Party, Republican, Republican Party

  Source: www.chicagotribune.com

• It's a big surprise to me about America that there are 40 million people prepared to vote for (Trump). They wouldn't want him as a friend. No matter who you are, you wouldn't want him on your bowling team or to have dinner with him or anything. They would recognize it immediately in a guy. A big blowhard, braggart.

  Randy Newman

  Team, America, People

  Source: www.chicagotribune.com

• You keep wondering whether people will see that Barack Obama is a liar and not very bright.

  Randy Newman

  Liars, People, Wonder

  Source: www.chicagotribune.com

• If you have a kid and you try irony out on them, they don't get it at 7, 8 years old. You can't really hide the Internet from kids. It worries me some particularly because I've done Disney and Pixar stuff.

  Randy Newman

  Kids, Years, Worry

  "'I'm Dreaming of a White President': Randy Newman on His New Song". Interview with Ben Yagoda, www.slate.com. September 18, 2012.

• Still, it's clear that there are lots of people out there who are uncomfortable [about racism]. The Civil War was a long time ago but there are aspects of it that remain unsettled.

  Randy Newman

  War, Long, Racism

  Source: www.slate.com

• I think in most cases, unless you're writing about a character who is garrulous, you say what you've got to say and then get out. Those little conjunctions, those little turnaround words help you do it. That's the way I like to write: I get rid of things rather than add them.

  Randy Newman

  Writing, Character, Thinking

  Interview with Joshua Klein, pitchfork.com. October 27, 2008.

• In England, in France, in no other country would a black man have a chance to get elected. There's no two ways about it. Our country [USA] has been better about dealing with immigration and people who are different from each other than any other country in the world, that I know of.

  Randy Newman

  Country, Men, Usa

  Interview with Joshua Klein, pitchfork.com. October 27, 2008.

• Writers have always liked my stuff, pretty much. That's what I wanted - I think my goal wasn't to get rich and famous, necessarily, though I cared about that. I always thought, "Oh, this could be a hit," or "that will sell records." But the first thing I wanted was that people who knew a lot about music, or had taste-making qualities, they would like my stuff. Writers, people like that.

  Randy Newman

  Thinking, People, Goal

  Source: pitchfork.com

• The easiest thing I do is assignment songs. They tell me what they need me to write. I can do that fairly quickly. Writing for an orchestra is difficult. Writing songs [on your own] is most difficult of all. Though [writing for] the orchestra is close.

  Randy Newman

  Song, Writing, Needs

  Interview with Joshua Klein, pitchfork.com. October 27, 2008.

• The best of my songs are more than just a joke. There's something else going on - a character, or it's not just a plain joke.

  Randy Newman

  Song, Character, Jokes

  Source: www.avclub.com

• I've often written about places that are totally different from anything I know. Sometimes they turn out better.

  Randy Newman

  Different, Sometimes, Turns

  "Set List: Randy Newman". Interview with Sam Adams, music.avclub.com. May 31, 2011.

• You know, they say you can reduce genius to someone who spent 10,000 hours trying to get good at something. I'm not claiming either one of those. I haven't done anything for 10,000 hours but sleep. But you do stuff enough, you get better at it. Usually it's a simple thing like that. Essentially, a brainless endeavor.

  Randy Newman

  Sleep, Simple, Get Better

  "Set List: Randy Newman". Interview with Sam Adams, music.avclub.com. May 31, 2011.

• I've written about a lot of different things, but the whole idea of writing for another character is unusual for pop music... Most of the repertory is love songs, and most of mine isn't. I don't know if that's a mental defect, or shyness, or what.

  Randy Newman

  Song, Writing, Character

  "Set List: Randy Newman". Interview with Sam Adams, music.avclub.com. May 31, 2011.

• Sometimes what I'm writing is more important to me than the rest of my life. It's more important to me that I'm writing well than anything else.

  Randy Newman

  Writing, Important, Sometimes

  Source: www.avclub.com