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- Artist: Randy Newman
- Rating:
- Release Date: 1972
- Total Time: 30:07
- Type: Lyrics are included with the album
- Genre: Rock
Review
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. ~ Mark Deming, All Music GuideTracks
| Track Title | Composers | Performers | Time |
| Sail Away (Lyrics) | Randy Newman | Randy Newman | (2:56) |
| Lonely at the Top (Lyrics) | Randy Newman | Randy Newman | (2:32) |
| He Gives Us All His Love (Lyrics) | Randy Newman | Randy Newman | (1:53) |
| Last Night I Had a Dream (Lyrics) | Randy Newman | Randy Newman | (3:01) |
| Simon Smith and the Amazing Dancing Bear (Lyrics) | Randy Newman | Randy Newman | (2:00) |
| Old Man (Lyrics) | Randy Newman | Randy Newman | (2:42) |
| Political Science (Lyrics) | Randy Newman | Randy Newman | (2:00) |
| Burn On (Lyrics) | Randy Newman | Randy Newman | (2:33) |
| Memo to My Son | Randy Newman | Randy Newman | (1:56) |
| Dayton, Ohio 1903 | Randy Newman | Randy Newman | (1:47) |
| You Can Leave Your Hat On (Lyrics) | Randy Newman | Randy Newman | (3:11) |
| God's Song (That's Why I Love Mankind) | Randy Newman | Randy Newman | (3:36) |
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