Randy Newman - Dayton, Ohio - 1903 video free download


86,474
Duration: 01:52
Uploaded: 2011/05/07

Randy Newman - "Dayton, Ohio - 1903" from his 1972 album "Sail Away" (Reprise).

On his third studio album, Randy Newman found a middle ground between the heavily orchestrated pop of his debut and the more stripped-down, rock-oriented approach of 12 Songs, and managed to bring new strength to both sides of his musical personality in the process.

The title track, which Newman has described as a sort of commercial jingle written for slave traders looking to recruit naïve Africans, and "Old Man," in which an elderly man is rejected with feigned compassion by his son, were set to Newman's most evocative arrangements to date and rank with the most intelligent and effective use of a large ensemble by anyone in pop music.

On the other end of the scale, "Last Night I Had a Dream" and "You Can Leave Your Hat On" are lean, potent mid-tempo rock tunes, the former featuring some slashing and ominous slide guitar from Ry Cooder, and the latter a witty and willfully perverse bit of erotic absurdity that later became a hit for Joe Cocker (who sounded as if he took the joke at face value).

Elsewhere, Newman cynically ponders the perils of a stardom he would never achieve ("Lonely at the Top," originally written for Frank Sinatra), offers a broad and amusing bit of political satire ("Political Science"), and concludes with one of the most bitter rants against religion that anyone committed to vinyl prior to the punk era ("God's Song [That's Why I Love Mankind]").

Whether he's writing for three pieces or 30, Newman makes superb use of the sounds available to him, and his vocals are the model of making the most of a limited instrument. Overall, Sail Away is one of Newman's finest works, musically adventurous and displaying a lyrical subtlety that would begin to fade in his subsequent works. @allmusic.com

Comments

8 years ago

rollmefurtherbi

And folks were nice to you.

10 years ago

buckfan1969

I grew up in Dayton, and back in the early 70's the FM station at UD used this as their theme song. This is on the same album as Political Science and 'You Can Leave your Hat On', as well as 'Burn On'; his song about the Cuyahoga River catching fire back in the late 60's in Cleveland. Newman's a genius, and I played this vinyl to death back in the day. 

10 years ago

Daniel Christy

Hearing this song on Rescue Me (TV Show) brought me here. Great song, great show. I'm glad I found both.

10 years ago

jay c

Now if only we had the Judy Roberts version. Best ever!

11 years ago

MarkJW61

How appropriate that you spend the entire song gracefully zooming all the way into a single picture. What is the source of the photo?

11 years ago

Brookster Q

I was born in dayton in 1972 and live in fort myers florida.the only thing fort myers is famous for is Edison and its sexual predators.I wanna go back to awesome Dayton

11 years ago

John Courty

Could you upload the version you have then please?? :D

11 years ago

Linkthe3rd

I don't have the sheet music, but a quartet from EVG did it 6 years back and made it onto the district's CD... which I have.

11 years ago

John Courty

Does anyone have/know the barbershop quartet version?? It make my Daaaaaaaayyyyyy :D:D

11 years ago

Chris

Nice song

11 years ago

Peggy Szymeczek

I'm from the Miami Valley, myself.

11 years ago

marvy1118

Thank you so much for posting this!

12 years ago

Dirk Diggler

Possibly the most beautiful melody of the last 75 years. Chokes me up and I don't even know why...

12 years ago

LShackley

Nice to hear Randy's version, although my favorite is Harry Nilsson's.

12 years ago

Mike Dumas

A beautifully evocative song, and (IMO, anyway) a pretty damned sad one.

12 years ago

Lance Turner

I think the picture complements the song quite nicely.

12 years ago

Hans vd Linden

@csnap13 How nice to hear; just the reason to share music & pics!

12 years ago

Chris Codispoti

I'm from Dayton.....this is such a pleasant discovery! This does really seem like an accurate depiction of Dayton in its heyday of being the Gem City

12 years ago

drdvrdvrdvr

Sweet and simple. Classic Newman.

Related Videos