Randy Newman's fourth studio album Good Old Boys was released in 1974. It was originally envisioned as a concept album with an everyday man from the Deep South named Johnny Cutler as the narrator. In the end, the concept was dropped but many of the songs still focus on the South, the people that live there, and the character Johnny. The album was released to positive reviews and remains one of Newman's most celebrated releases.
Maybe Newman still is singing about politics, which didn't seem to suit him on Sail Away, but this time his political critiques are more oblique and his songs have become more thematic. The scathing "Rednecks," which simultaneously condemns the racism of both the North and South, is gracefully followed by a southern man's tribute to "Birmingham," a love song to his wife "Marie" (which he only had the courage to write under the influence of whiskey), and a plea for Nixon to pity the workingman. All three work beautifully to make you forget he's the blatant racist from the opener. A little less musically satisfying than 12 Songs, Newman's second best album so far continues to build and complicate the Southern issue until all that's left to do is sit Johnny down on a couch in complete ignorance to his role in all of it. A-