A Few Words in Defense of Our Country (7" Vinyl Single)

Nonesuch Records will release a vinyl 7-inch single of two Randy Newman songs this coming Inauguration Day, January 20, 2017: "A Few Words in Defense of Our Country," from the new Randy Newman Songbook box set, b/w "Putin," a new song released digitally this past October.

Randy Newman first presented the lyrics of "A Few Words in Defense of Our Country" as an op-ed piece in the New York Times in January 2007, in response to a State of the Union address by then-President George W. Bush, and included the song on his 2008 album Harps and Angels. The Los Angeles Times called it a "three-decades-on bookend to 'Political Science'" that was "so funny it hurt."

Upon the release of "Putin," just prior to this year's presidential election, the New York Times said the song, "featuring a billowy orchestra in razzle-dazzle mode, feels uncannily well timed ... As is often the case in Mr. Newman’s satire, the tone lands somewhere in between scathing and sympathetic, making earnest points amid ridicule."

The Randy Newman Songbook, a set of the first two volumes in the Songbook series—solo recordings of songs from throughout Newman's five-decade career—plus 16 songs from a new third volume and additional bonus tracks (including "A Few Words in Defense of Our Country"), was released in a four-LP box set in September and will be available in a three-CD set starting this Friday, December 16.