While many of Randy Newman's song albums are themed in some way, the thread of Good Old Boys is stronger than any of the others. As the album and some of the song titles suggest, this is very much about America's deep south and paints a vivid portrait of different aspects of the life Randy's deep southerner. Rednecks is possibly the most controversial song that Randy has written, at least on the surface. From the point of view of the rednecks, the song unfolds the attitudes towards black people in both the south and the north "we're keeping the niggers down." This is definitely a song that one should be selective about if trying to introduce others to Randy Newman as misinterpretation is very easy. Of course, it is meant to be a strong anti-racist comment. Perhaps the more subtle, but more disturbing second verse which is more of a monologue telling us of all the places where black people are "free to be put in a cage in..." and then various well known black areas of major US cities - most notably Harlem in the New York City. The implication being that the northerners, while appearing to have a more liberal attitude are, in fact, no better. They simply keep black people out of sight and out of mind. Lenny Waronker (Randy's long time producer/collaborator) in the Guilty boxed set mentioned this as his favourite song. A song that, in common with so many Newman songs, is infinitely more complex than it first appears. It seems to celebrate being a redneck (as such) but is in fact condemning it.
In order to give some more background to the character(s) in Rednecks, the remaining songs round off some of the attitudes and reasons for those attitudes. Birmingham tells us of the narrator's wife, family, home, work and dog while the attitudes to the narrator's wide is the subject of Marie. This and Guilty both reflect attitudes towards the wife, Marie and give the impression of a man who knows how he should treat his wife, but his lifestyle and attitudes proclude him from undertaking his ideal intentions or voicing his true feelings. Both are beautifully arranged, but Marie in particular (which has string arrangements by Nick DeCaro) has some exceptionally gorgeous harmonies. Mr President (Have Pity on the Working Man), Louisiana and Every Man a King are more political in nature. The former is the narrator's feeling that the President should always be providing more than he does while Louisiana tells the story of a flood and the seemingly patronising attitude that politicians have toward people in the region. Every Man a King was a campaign song for some American politician that I've never heard of and is presumably some statement of extreme irony in the lyrics being all upbeat and optimistic to counter the more realistic feeling expressed elsewhere. Kingfish is about Huey Long (the politician who used Every Man a King - I checked), but doesn't actually mean anything to me although it seems to be saying that he was a great believer in the manual worker who made the world go round.
Naked Man is about a robbery undertaken by the Naked Man in question, although any deeper significance I am honestly at a lost to explain. Presumably the naked man represents some section of society and is an American colloquialism I am not familiar with. The theme of love and marraige is explored further in A Wedding in Cherokee County with the narrator and everyone else knowing everything that is wrong with the marraige and why it might potentially fail. It is both touching and disturbing that the wedding will go ahead against the odd.s Back On My Feet Again is the only representation from the point of view of the black man who has made a success and is bragging to his doctor. Just to prove that no-one's perfect. Guilty and Marie are both half drunken paeans to the suffering wife and Rollin' is the use of alcohol to drown sorrows and forget troubles.
I never realised how well rounded the dramatic thread of Good Old Boys was until I actually wrote it down, but the different aspects are explored mainly through character studies of the highest order. The orchestral arrangements are superb with a style of writing that pervades every song to keep the feeling of the album consistant. The mixture of orchestra and a few country and western motifs is well conceived and makes for one of Randy's most cohesive song albums. For an album with great subtext and meaning, Good Old Boys probably has almost no peer in Newman's canon. It's not an album that is easy to understand on first listening, but repeated airings and careful attention to the lyrics is ultimately highly rewarding.
Rating ~ 
Total Time ~ 33:54