Davy The Fat Boy

Album: Randy Newman (1968)
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Songfacts®:

  • This song takes place at a carnival, where Davy is a sideshow attraction: the Fat Boy. His handler narrates the song, telling the crowds that he took Davy in when he was orphaned, then making him dance. The narrators in Newman's songs usually have some redeeming qualities, but not this guy.
  • Newman did the orchestration on this track, which he discovered was too slow when he went to record his vocals. "It was like building a mountain you can't climb," he told Rolling Stone. "It was brutal."

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