Today’s Forgotten 45 is a song that will appear on American Top 40 the 70’s this Saturday. It’s Randy Newman’s “Short People”. The verses and chorus are lyrically constructed as a prejudiced attack on short people, but actually the song says that “short people are just the same as you and I.” The song was understood by many listeners to reflect Newman’s personal viewpoint, however, Newman interprets the song to be about prejudice.
Newman would later grow to dislike the song and its success, eventually calling it a “bad break”, a “novelty record, and said it caused him to receive several threats regarding its misinterpreted message. He said, “I had no idea that there was any sensitivity, I mean, that anyone could believe that anyone was as crazy as that character.
