This is one of my favorite all time pieces by Randy Newman.
Newman told Rolling Stone that he wrote the song around 1963 or 1964. He went on to say that the “music is emotional – even beautiful – and the lyrics are not.” Newman also said that the song bothered him due to the darkness and that the song felt “sophomoric” and “too maudlin”.[1]
Newman stated in 2017 that he had signed away the publishing rights on his first album and as a result, does not see any money from people doing covers of those songs.[2]