Good Old Boys

I've heard this guy's voice many times before... is this the guy who sings "You Got a Friend in Me" in the Toy Story movies?

Good Old Boys is old. It's for the boys down from the South, but most importantly... it's good. It's a chronicle of life and history of the south, told from a perspective of a southern everyman, but it's also a collection of love songs from a perspective of a not so regular Joe who asks his lover for help when he's drunk and high on coke, and who marries a freak like himself and doesn't mind whatever comes with it. Those are the songs I come back to the most. Political and historical context misses me the most, but love always hits like it should.

Randy Newman is back doing what he does best on 𝘎𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘖𝘭𝘥 𝘉𝘰𝘺𝘴: wrapping some pretty vicious observations in deceptively charming little songs. His lyrics are once again the main attraction, dripping with sarcasm, irony, and the kind of humor that makes you laugh before wondering whether you really should have. Newman has a remarkable talent for exposing human stupidity and hypocrisy without ever sounding like he’s delivering a lecture. He simply lets his characters do the talking, and they usually manage to make fools of themselves.

Musically, things are considerably more relaxed. The warm, piano-driven arrangements often sound almost comforting, which makes the contrast with the biting lyrics all the more entertaining. It’s a clever approach, although I sometimes find myself appreciating the songwriting more than actually enjoying the songs themselves. There’s plenty to admire here, but not quite enough to make me fall in love with the album.

Still, 𝘎𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘖𝘭𝘥 𝘉𝘰𝘺𝘴 is another fine demonstration of Newman’s wonderfully twisted sense of humor. He clearly knows how to make a point without hitting you over the head with it. Instead, he’ll casually slip it into a pleasant little tune and leave you to realize just how nasty the joke actually was. You have to admire that.

a guy from the "Toy Story" soundtrack saying the n-word is staggered

Solid Album

As a black person, this gave me a good laugh. And then somehow there were songs that I liked LESS than getting hit with Rednecks in the middle of the work day. Really shocking stuff but maybe not the way he was hoping for. 2/5

Season: Merica
Favorite Song: Guilty

I got the other Randy Newman album two days ago. It was a nice surprise and I enjoyed it, so I was looking forward to getting his other album. I just didn’t expect it would be this soon. This one is pretty good too, continuing his satirical songwriting with pretty catchy tunes. Fun stuff

Just not my thing, I can safely conclude after like 4 Randy Newman albums. Objectively it's not bad, but not really my thing. Humor has not aged all too well on some tracks but that doesn't really bother me much. I guess I just don't like lyrically oriented music that much to begin with, especially when it's mostly a humorous effort rather than sad or angry. Can't really dislike it, it's short and decent enough to listen to.

I was not prepared for Randy Newman to drop the hard r N-word right out of the gate on "Rednecks," and it definitely makes for a jarring, uncomfortable, and polarizing listen. While I understand the album is a deeply satirical concept piece skewering the hypocrisy of both the American South and smug Northerners, hearing the man behind Toy Story casually belt out those slurs through his signature ragtime piano is an experience that leaves you with very complicated feelings.

This was fine. Probably never listen to it again though. 3/5

I like Randy Newman and the rest of the songs on this album are good,
it's just
you know
that

All of his songs sound like they’re satire because of his voice. I can tell the sentimental ones are meant to be sincere but they sound silly. He’s a good songwriter and the music was excellent, but that voice is goofy.

Was going to give it a 4, but fuck y'all, it's a 5 now. Also fuck that one reviewer in particular who said Toy Story 2 was bad and misspelled "arc".

So many people can't tell the difference between racist words and racism. The sort of people who would read Of Mice and Men and think John Steinbeck was racist. Lazy people who listen with their ears, but not their brain. I bet you all love Tarantino though, right?

I appreciate the concept of dinner party music that cant be played at dinner parties but I am not a fan of dinner party music

What a bold opening track. It seems that it was written specifically to offend as many people as possible. He's casually dropping the n-word constantly throughout the song, which you'd expect would be frowned on by anyone who isn't racist, but the song is also clearly mocking racists and bigots. Who exactly is this song for?

The whole album is very well written and Randy Newman is a phenomenal storyteller. Unfortunately, I just don't really care for his music. I don't dislike it, it just doesn't really do much for me and I don't think I'll ever return to this album.

Well, this was terrible. I understand this was meant to be satirical, but hearing a white person continuously saying the n word was highly uncomfortable…which was the point, I guess. Nevertheless, this sucked.

Superada la "impresión" del uso de la N-palabra, es un disco country-folky entretenido con canciones bonitas como la de Marie.

Not to be confused with Gary Numan, or more distantly, Paul Newman. Randy Newman's sound does feel a little quaint here, but there's enough depth that he eventually overcomes this. His deep voiced, crooner thing feels like more of a punchline than anything in 2026, but he *really* does sell it. I will say, there's some pretty remarkable social commentary here as well. Rednecks has some smart observations, based in some solid satire, and even if Randy Newman says some words he shouldn't along the way, he has some really worthwhile insights that live beyond the character piece. After this, it's pretty much surprisingly enjoyable songs, with surprisingly sharp writing the whole way. And even if this was never going to be a favorite, due to aesthetics, this is definitely still a very worthwhile listen, solidly showing that Randy Newman has more depth than you'd think.

Seriously. All the music in the entire world and there are TWO Randy Newman albums on this list? I get the attraction to some extent... I mean everyone loves Toy Story... but thinking this is an album anyone has to listen to before they die is a stretch. 2.

solidna folk (pučka?) glazba. dosta mi se svidjela "marie". ostatak mi je bio slabiji, ali nipošto zanemariv. ipak ne mogu reći da ću baš ponovo htjeti slušati. stoga jedna prava visoka trojčetina za randolfa novačića!