But he makes it clear that, while being proud of his work, those songs probably wouldn’t make it on to a Randy Newman solo album. “You think I’d write You’ve Got a Friend in Me?

(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times) In 1974, Randy Newman opened his album “Good Old Boys” with “Rednecks,” a song about American racism so honest and shocking — not least because Newman ...

(Randy’s uncle Alfred Newman alone wrote more than 200 scores ... Newman began to deal with bleaker themes in his first solo ...

“Randy Newman Creates Something New Under the Sun” hit stores when Mr. Newman was 24, about the same first-album age, Mr.