Red-carpet stepchild

After 20 Academy Award nominations (and only one win), piano man Randy Newman still does not have an Oscar routine.

"The night is peculiar enough. And then people are interested in what I'm wearing," Newman said. "Sometimes you can go down the red carpet, and Brad Pitt isn't there. Then it's 'Hey, Randy, look up here!' 'Look over here!' If any actor is behind you, then it's nothing. Either way, it's plenty weird. It's nothing you get used to."

Even weirder for Newman is trying to analyze what wins best original song and why.

"You can't set your valuation by awards," he said. "It's not necessarily based on merit. The year I won [2002 for 'If I Didn't Have You' from 'Monsters Inc.'], it was hardly the most distinguished thing I ever did. So what? I remember losing a couple of times that I thought I could have won. I thought, 'This was a picture to which they may want to give something.'

"That may happen to my benefit; they may want to give 'Toy Story 3' something more than just best animated. God knows I could have done a concerto for typewriter and it might have worked because the picture is so solid."

Yes, Newman is nominated again this year, for penning "We Belong Together" for "Toy Story 3." He's competing against only three other songs, instead of the usual four.

"It's a funny thing with [Oscar] songs. They're the poor stepchild," said the noted curmudgeon, speaking by phone from his Los Angeles home while babysitting his infant granddaughter. "Last year, they didn't perform any of the songs. As if they had three hours of slam-bam entertainment. It's like vaudeville but without the music. This year, they are performing."

"Good point there," he said.

In any case, he accepts the inscrutable rules of show business. Just as he accepts the awards: three Emmys (two for his songs for "Monk") and five Grammys (including one this year for "Toy Story 3").

Most enjoyable job: Concerts

Before he heads down the red carpet next Sunday in Hollywood, Newman has a concert at the Guthrie Theater.

He does 40 to 50 shows a year, playing old favorites like "Birmingham," "Louisiana" and "Sail Away" as well as a few of his movie songs, including the sentimental "I Love to See You Smile" and "You've Got a Friend in Me." He has written scores and songs for dozens of films, including "Ragtime," "Parenthood," "Cars" and the three "Toy Story" flicks.

Newman became a professional songwriter at age 17. In the 1960s, he wrote hits for Gene Pitney, Cilla Black and the Alan Price Set. His own 1968 debut album featured "I Think It's Going to Rain Today," which has been covered by everyone from Nina Simone to Pat Boone. While he thinks that song may have generated the most royalties (movies are a bigger paycheck), "Mama Told Me Not to Come," recorded by Three Dog Night in 1970, became his first No. 1 song.

Nothing has been more enduring for him, though, than "You Can Leave Your Hat On," which became part of the repertoire of Joe Cocker, Etta James and Tom Jones -- and strippers worldwide (thanks to Jones' version in the 1997 film "The Full Monty").

Newman's own infrequent albums -- six in the 1970s but only two in the '80s, two in the '90s and one in the '00s -- are filled with fierce social commentary and biting satire. His "Short People" shot to No. 2 in 1977 even though the irony of his anti-prejudice tune eluded many listeners. His equally ironic "I Love L.A." became a hit, too, before it was transformed into a theme song for ABC-TV.

The humor comes from his family, Newman said. Four major men in his life -- his dad, a doctor, and his three paternal uncles, all film composers -- were funny.

"I always liked comedy," said Newman, who co-wrote the script for 1986's hit movie "Three Amigos" with Steve Martin and Lorne Michaels. "It's an odd style that I have. It's not on purpose. In part, I think it's some sort of psychological defect. If you make people laugh, you sort of know you're all right out there. If you play a ballad and everyone stays real quiet, you're all right, too. But laughter's like immediate affirmation."