There are few double-edged swords as paradoxical and regret-inducing as an artist who achieved great commercial success with a song they despised. This isn’t exactly a rare occurrence in the musical world, making Randy Newman one entry on a long, long list of artists who hated their biggest songs. But the song Newman later regretted ever putting out wasn’t his cheery Toy Story anthem, “You’ve Got a Friend in Me”. His biggest “God, I wish I hadn’t done that” moment came two decades earlier.
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Newman released “Short People” on his 1977 album, Criminals, as a way to poke fun at prejudice. By pinpointing a trait that hasn’t historically been judged as harshly as, say, skin color or gender, Newman hoped to satirize the concept of judging other people based on how they look. But the problem with satire is that if someone doesn’t pick up on the tongue-in-cheek humor, lyrics like “short people got no reason to live” and “They wear platform shoes on their nasty little feet” just seem shockingly mean.
Despite (or perhaps because) of the controversial lyrics and its catchy groove, “Short People” became a commercial success, peaking at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was Newman’s only Top 10 hit, garnering him the distinction of “one-hit wonder” as a solo artist, much to the songwriter’s deep chagrin.
Randy Newman Called “Short People” the “Bad Break” of His Career
Despite his extensive work as a successful film composer, “Short People” was Newman’s only song to hit the Top 10, garnering him the distinction of “one-hit wonder,” if you want to get technical. And while some one-hit wonders would consider their commercial success a big break, Newman would more likely call his a “bad” break. After he released his satire on prejudice in 1977, it became shockingly clear to Newman that not only did people completely misinterpret his message. But they were also incredibly angry at what they perceived to be total discrimination against people under five-foot-six-inches, even going so far as to send Newman death threats.
The death threats became so concerning to Newman that his manager had to lie to make him feel better. “My manager at the time had been tour-managing The Carpenters, and he said they got death threats all the time. I said, ‘All the time? Really?’ He said that if they refused to come on every time they had a death threat, there would never be a show. So, I just went on and did it. Later, I learned the truth. The Carpenters had never had a death threat. But there it was. I survived.”
Unsurprisingly, Newman came to regret putting the song out at all. “It was too bad that was my one big hit,” he later told The Free Lance-Star. “A novelty record like The Chipmunks did. It was a hit that did me no good. That did me harm. A bad break.”
Speaking to Pete Paphides, Newman said, “It was one of those hit records that actually makes you less popular.” But we’d argue his work on animated films of the 1990s helped earn back some public favor, even if it was with young millennials.
Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
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