Randy Newman finally got his Oscar on Sunday night, minutes after he tied an Oscar record with 15 losses.

The singer-songwriter won the Academy Award for best song for his duet ``If I Didn't Have You'' from Monsters, Inc. But he lost the award for best score to Howard Shore, who won for The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.

``I don't want your pity,'' Newman joked in his acceptance speech after the audience gave him a standing ovation.``I want to thank first of all the music branch (of the Motion Picture Academy) for giving me so many chances to be humiliated over the years. I am absolutely astounded that I won for this.''

On Sunday, Newman defeated such strong competition as Sting's ``Until'' from Kate & Leopold; Enya's "May It Be'' from The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring; Paul McCartney's "Vanilla Sky" from Vanilla Sky; and songwriter Diane Warren's ``There You'll Be'' from Pearl Harbor.

Newman's loss for score to Shore pushed his total Oscar misses to 15, a record for most nominations without a trophy that he shared with the late art director Roland Anderson and the late composer Alex North. North, who received an honorary Oscar but he never won a competitive award, according to the Associated Press.

Newman had 14 losses after his defeat last year for the song ``A Fool in Love'' from Meet the Parents. That tied re-recording sound mixer Kevin O'Connell, who also lost last year for his work on The Patriot.

This year, O'Connell lost in the best sound category for Pearl Harbor, the award went to Black Hawk Down. That tied O'Connell for losses with Newman, North and Anderson.

Some have compared Newman to soap-opera actress Susan Lucci, an 18-time Emmy loser until she finally picked up an award in 1999.

Newman's other nominations included best score and song from Toy Story, score for The Natural and score for Avalon.