Memo To My Son

I love Randy Newman. Along with the Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, and Cat Stevens, he was the first musician I fell in love with as a child, thanks to my parents. I've covered him once before on MeFi. Now I'm doing it again.

I've always loved this song from his classic 1972 album Sail Away. The lyrics are funny, faintly ridiculous, and entirely sincere, a man speaking to his infant son:

What have you done to the mirror?
What have you done to the floor?
Can't I go nowhere without you?
Can't I leave you alone anymore?

I know you don't think much of me
Someday you'll understand
Wait'll you learn how to talk, baby
Show you how smart I am
I'm gonna show you how smart I am

Quitter never wins - winner never quits
When the goin' gets tough, the tough get goin'

Maybe you don't know how to walk, baby
Maybe you can't talk none either
Maybe you never will, baby
But I'll always love you
I'll always love you

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posted by ORthey (2 comments total)

ORthey, you should know I often go back to listen to your cover of Old Man. It's wonderful, and this is, too. Real piano?
posted by Corduroy at 6:57 PM on May 16, 2010

This is really, really sweet. I like the way it sort of disintegrates at the end, spacing itself out into a larger thing. Very well done.
posted by Pecinpah at 3:05 PM on May 18, 2010