Randy Newman (album)

[4][5] Newman had been a noted songwriter for some years prior to the release of his debut, which was advertised as sounding "like a greatest hits".

[12] Bruce Grimes of Rolling Stone described the album as being characterized by a "mood of a bitter longing for affection".

The song marks out a simple pattern of life: boy meets girl, gets married, lives in suburbia, has children, dies.

'"[13] Critic Ellen Willis feels that the songs on the album, "show an intimate familiarity with, and an affection for, all the nuances of American life - the setting and characters, the family relationships, the romantic fantasies, the euphemisms - as well as an unsparing awareness of our oppression of old people, fat people, and other nonmainstream types.

"[14] William Ruhlmann in an AllMusic retrospective review feels that Newman's lyrics are "intent upon taking clichés and using them to satirize social conventions, a popular parlor game in the late '60s."