RANDY NEWMAN – Short People

yes it is just you. Why don’t you find an interest instead of complaining about music? You don’t have to listen to music you don’t like, no one is forcing you to, so why not get over it?

I hope your rant is satire… Because Short People certainly is. I’ve always seen it as poking fun at prejudice. I’m 4’11” and was performing the song at karaoke bar the other night.

Hmm, I just reread your “rant”. It is satirical in intent. Not that funny to me, though. I also happen to be Jewish and find it insensitive to connect a humourous song to the Holocaust. Randy Newman is Jewish, but it seems that his family has been in the U.S. since the early 20th century, so they may have been spared the loss of close family (my family has been less fortunate).

While they were the primary victims of the Nazi ideology, the Jews were not the only ones. Other victims include Slavs, the Roma, gays (especially gay men), dissidents, the mentally ill, the disabled (physically & mentally), etc. And yes, dwarves were dragged off to concentration camps.

Mike Levine, the former editor of the Times Herald-Record of New York once wrote:

“I was sitting in a hotel room with a songwriter named Randy Newman. Robert Blake was on the TV and Newman didn’t like him. “I hate short guys who act tough,” he said.

A year later, he has a hit with a song that says, “Short people got no reason to live. Don’t want no short people . . .”

He told the world it was a parody of bigotry. I know better.”

I’ve heard many takes on this song (parody, satire, refers to small-minded, just a harmless bit of fun). It certainly doesn’t satisfy my understanding of satire and parody. Perhaps someone who understands these things a bit better can explain it.

I hate this song. and I AM really enlightened to understand the satire in this song. My wife was in a bus with a bunch of junior high school track kids and the song came on the radio and they started to sing the song and point to one of the kids til he started to cry. I think a famous songwriter has a responsibility to be conscious of the type of message that can portrayed in a song to those that arent as enlightened as he (like 95 % of kids) He really sucks as a person AND a songwriter and really does not understand discrimination in its simplest form.I fi was him i would do all I could to keep this off the airways or turn the money he makes from it to something good to balance his karma.

He fucking spells out the fact that it’s satire IN THE SONG:

“Short people are just the same
As you and I
(A fool such as I)
All men are brothers
Until the day they die
(It’s a wonderful world)”

Does he need to write it in crayon for you morons to get it?