Newman gets some help from the Eagles in "Rider in the Rain," in which Don Henly, Glen Frey, and J.D. Souther sing background vocals. As a result this ballad sounds very much like an Eagles tune, except that raspy-voiced Newman sings the lead and the lyrics sound like they were written from a rhyming dictionary, with little regard for meaning:
Used to work in Uncle's feed store
While he was fightin' in the war
Now, I'm going to Arizona
With a banjo on my knee.
Newman has trouble with his nonsensical lyrics, as in "Sigmund Freud's Impersonation of Albert Einstein in America." This song could be very funny, but it's not. Again, the rhymes don't come off, they just seem silly:
America, America
Step out into the light
You're the best dream man has ever dreamed
And may all your Christmasses be white.
"Little Criminals" is very uneven, with most of the unevenness apparent on the low side of the scale. For the most part, Newman's simplicity is underwhelming.