He's right.Why do novelists get to write in the voices of bad characters,but songwriters don't?Why do people take lyrics literally and attribute anything in them personally to the songwriter,but don't do the same to a novelist?
That's not true with all songwriters. If you have the ability, you can write in whatever voice you choose. Try it before you agree with Newman. He's great at what he does but he's not you. If you're a songwriter, write in any voice you feel is natural to you. Try it.
+Dean Martin I like all the songwriters you've namechecked. Irony is that they probably big fans of Randy Newman's songwriting ability. And their opinion matters far more than yours.