Randy Newman Talks About His Quarantine Love Song

Americana singer-songwriter Randy Newman discusses his newly-written quarantine love song via a video. This breakdown was aired on CBS Sunday Morning, with Newman sharing how his new song “Stay Away” came to be.

Newman says that the song was supposed to be him fulfilling an assignment to create a social distancing public service announcement for the city of Los Angeles, but the song evolved into a love song for his wife, Gretchen. In an interview with CBS Sunday Morning’s John Blackstone, he said, “I had an idea, because I knew I had to say ‘Stay away from me,’ and I sorta had that idea before I sat down.” 

Gretchen added to her husband’s story, saying, “When he said I’d written a song for you, a love song, I thought, ‘No, there’s gonna be something not right about it. And it’s beautiful, I have to say it’s beautiful.”

Proceeds for the song will go to the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music; the Marsalis jazz family patriarch passed away on April 1 as he succumbed to COVID-19 related complications.

Newman was also asked if he was up for exploring a deserted LA as the statewide quarantine was still in effect. He said, “We’re in, we’re just here. I’d love to see it in a different way like that. It’d be stunning, when you’ve spent 60 years looking at Sunset Boulevard or Olympic Boulevard, it’d be stunning.”