A Los Angeles songwriter who mixes wit with melody, from 'Sail Away' to Toy Story.
For the full Newman experience, listen to 'You've Got a Friend In Me' back-to-back with something like 'God's Song (That's Why I Love Mankind).' That's the range right there.
Newman's songs have a way of sticking around, whether it's the Toy Story theme 'You've Got a Friend In Me' that parents still hum to their kids, or the darker observations on albums like '12 Songs.' His piano gives even the bleakest lines a certain tunefulness, and that balance between wit and weariness feels uniquely his. People like Harry Nilsson and Bonnie Raitt have covered his work, but the original versions have a specific, lived-in quality that's hard to replicate.
He grew up in Los Angeles with a film composer father and started putting out albums in the late 1960s. The attention came with '12 Songs,' and he kept writing across decades, for his own records from 'Sail Away' to 'Harps and Angels,' and for films like 'Ragtime' and 'The Natural.'
Keep it compact: a lyric you come back to, a live memory, or the part of the catalog you would point someone toward first.
Sign in to post the first listener note. Reporting stays open to everyone.