Randy Newman's Quotes

If we'd had another carefree 70's, I'd have been dead. It was a little too carefree, you know? I don't know how carefree they were for me, I think I was worried then, I can't remember what about.

My music has a high irritation factor. I've always tried to say something. Eccentric lyrics about eccentric people. Often it was a joke. But I would plead guilty on the grounds that I prefer eccentricity to the bland.

Stay away from drugs. They're not worth it. I've tried, but there's none of them that's worth it.

Learn about the world, the way it works, any kind of science and anthropology, it's really an interesting place we live in. Evolution is a really fantastic idea, even more than the idea of God I think.

But I don't want to sing everything out of the side of my mouth, I want people to understand what I mean.

But if you're doing something, show up everyday, and something good might happen - it's not going to happen if you don't show up.

I always thought my best album was 'Trouble in Paradise.' I was the happiest with that one.

I am not overlooking any mail. I'm looking at all of it. I even wrote back to the Viagra people.

I don't remember ever having writer's block. If I sit in there for four hours, I'll usually have something.

I like Public Enemy a great deal.

I like science - geography, meteorology, cosmology.

I once had dinner with Madonna and I wasn't nervous but within about a minute I found myself talking about underwear.

I think the tax cut is ridiculous but so am I.

I'm pretty proud of my film music in general.

I've always had a lot of respect from the people I respected.

I've worked with a band, and it's nice to have someone to travel around with, but I didn't like it as well on stage.

It's funny; people get so doctrinaire about music. It should be the last thing you don't have an open mind about.

It's very hard to get rich and famous at a young age and handle it well.

Most of my songs are about insensitivity of some kind.

Mostly, I don't write overtly personal stuff.

'Rednecks' always made me nervous to play, but I'm glad I wrote it and I continue to play it. It's just that the language is so rough.

Thank God for the potholes on memory lane.

What I'm most pleased about is that there's no particular decline. The songs I wrote 40 years ago are no worse and no better - there's a consistency.

I like the idea of taking a true classic written by a true genius and destroying it essentially! I like the idea of bringing it down to earth a bit - and even a bit lower than that.

I like the performing. And interviews, even. And the stuff that's not sitting in a room by yourself with empty paper. But I never loved writing, to tell you the truth.

I started recording because I was always complaining about the records that I was getting of my songs. At least if I did them and messed them up, I wouldn't have anyone else to blame.