12 Songs
The second album, a rootsier band around Newman's piano with Ry Cooder on slide guitar.
Randy Newman, 1970
- Released
- April 1970
- Label
- Reprise
- Producer
- Lenny Waronker
- Length
- 29:51
Reprise released 12 Songs in April 1970, produced by Lenny Waronker, with the single Have You Seen My Baby? following in May. Ry Cooder played slide guitar, Clarence White lead guitar and Ron Elliott rhythm guitar. Fats Domino had released Have You Seen My Baby as a 1969 single, Eric Burdon had recorded Mama Told Me Not to Come in 1967, and Harry Nilsson's Nilsson Sings Newman had Yellow Man in February 1970. Newman said that he arranged the horns for Fats Domino's recording and wrote it for himself.
Christgau called it the best record of 1970 in The Village Voice, graded it A+, and in 1981 called it a perfect album. Rolling Stone's 500 greatest albums list put it at 354 in 2003, and Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums voted it number 691 in 2000. The version of Mama Told Me Not to Come here runs 2:12.
Track listing
- Have You Seen My Baby?2:32
- Let's Burn Down the Cornfield3:03
- Mama Told Me Not to Come2:12
- Suzanne3:15
- Lover's Prayer1:55
- Lucinda2:40
- Underneath the Harlem Moon1:52
- Yellow Man2:19
- Old Kentucky Home2:40
- Rosemary2:08
- If You Need Oil3:00
- Uncle Bob's Midnight Blues2:15
Personnel
- Randy Newman vocals, piano
- Clarence White lead guitar, B-Bender electric guitar
- Ron Elliott rhythm guitar
- Ry Cooder slide guitar
- Lyle Ritz bass guitar, double bass
- Jim Gordon drums
- Gene Parsons drums
- Roy Harte percussion
- Milt Holland percussion
- Al McKibbon double bass
- Lenny Waronker producer
- Jack Nitzsche co-producer on Let's Burn Down the Cornfield
More from Randy Newman
Randy Newman (1968), Sail Away (1972), Good Old Boys (1974), Little Criminals (1977)
Sources
- 12 Songs (Randy Newman album), Wikipedia
- Randy Newman: Consumer Guide, Robert Christgau
- Randy Newman: My Life in 15 Songs, Rolling Stone (2017-09-15)