Randy Newman Quotes

Don't forget to bring that little blonde haired girl along. You know the one, love to watch her jump up and down.

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

God bless the potholes on Memory Lane.

The best of my songs are more than just a joke. There's something else going on - a character, or it's not just a plain joke.

Mostly, I don't write overtly personal stuff.

I like Public Enemy a great deal.

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

I ain't saying that I'm better than you, but maybe I am.

I like science - geography, meteorology, cosmology.

If I were to die tomorrow, I think they'd say Newman 56, composer of the hit song, Short People. Jumped off a mountain today.

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 have owned and played a Steinway all my life. It's the best Beethoven piano. The best Chopin piano. And the best Ray Charles piano. I like it, too.

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

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

It takes a whole lot of medicine for me to pretend I am somebody else.

Who would want to break into [the music business]? It's like a bank that's already been robbed.

Asia's crowded and Europe's too old, Africa is far too hot and Canada's too cold. And South America stole our name, let's drop the big one.

We'll have a kid or maybe we'll rent one. He's got to be straight, we don't want a bent one.

The radio is blastin', someone's knockin' at the door. I'm lookin' at my girlfriend, she's passed out on the floor.

We don't know our ass from a hole in the ground.

I am half a man, holy Jesus, what a drag.

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.

Crank up the Beach Boys, Baby.

I'd like to explain why you fine young men had to be blown apart to defend this mud hole.

Sometimes what I'm writing is more important to me than the rest of my life. It's more important to me that I'm writing well than anything else.

I like to write my lyrics on clay tablets.

People become who they are. Even Beethoven became Beethoven.

Short people got no reason to live.

I seen her with the milkman, riding down the street. When you're through with my baby, milkman, send her home to me.

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

College men from L.S.U., went in dumb, come out dumb, too.

This one guy's wife is such a pretty brown thing, that I'm liable to give her a poke or two. Whaddaya think of that?

Most of my songs are about insensitivity of some kind.

They don't respect us, so let's surprise them, we'll drop the big one, pulverize them.

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

Thank God for the potholes on memory lane.

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.

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

Cleveland, city of light! City of magic!

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

I've often written about places that are totally different from anything I know. Sometimes they turn out better.

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

I sit here in this chair, I pour myself some whiskey, and watch my troubles vanish into the air.

He got drunk last night, kicked Mama down the stairs. But I'm alright, so I don't care.

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

'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.

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