General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsNew Randy Newman Song “I’m Dreaming (of a white president)” Available for Free Download
Last edited Sat Sep 22, 2012, 07:04 PM - Edit history (1)
Randy Newmans new song, Im Dreaming, is available as a free download below, where you can also watch the accompanying video. With lyrics from the viewpoint of a voter who casts his ballot solely based on skin color, the song draws attention to something Newman has noticed and written about for 40 years: racism in America. (The complete lyrics are below as well.) While the song, which Newman performs solo at the piano, is free, anyone wishing to contribute is encouraged to donate to the United Negro College Fund at www.uncf.org.
Newman explains, No other Western industrialized nation wouldve elected a black president. Im proud of this country for having elected Obama in 2008. But from the beginning of his term, I noticed a particular heat to conversations that wouldnt ordinarily generate that kind of passion: The budget, appointments, health care. He continues, I think there are a lot of people who find it jarring to have a black man in the White House and they want him out. They just cant believe that theres not a more qualified white man. You wont get anyone, and I do mean anyone, to admit it.
I often write songs in character. You cant always trust or believe the narrators in my songs. So why listen? Good question.
Anyway the guy in this song may exist somewhere. Lets hope not. Vote in November.
After starting his songwriting career as a teenager, Newman launched into recording as a singer and pianist in 1968 with his self-title album Randy Newman. His reputation as a songwriter grew quickly, as Judy Collins, Dusty Springfield, Peggy Lee, Harry Nilsson, and Joe Cocker, among others, recorded his work. Throughout the 1970s he released several other acclaimed albums such as 12 Songs, Sail Away, and Good Old Boys. His most recent albums include two volumes of the Randy Newman Songbook, 2008s Harps and Angels, and the CD/DVD set Live in London, released last year. In addition to his solo recordings and regular international touring, Newman began composing and scoring for films in the 1980s.
Im Dreaming Lyrics
George Washington was a white man
Adams and Jefferson too
Abe Lincoln was a white man, probably
And William McKinley the whitest of them all
Was shot down by an immigrant in Buffalo
And a star fell out of heaven
Im dreaming of a white President
Just like the ones weve always had
A real live white man
Who knows the score
How to handle money or start a war
Wouldnt even have to tell me what we were fighting for
Hed be the right man
If he were a
Im dreaming of a white President
Someone whom we can understand
Someone who knows where were coming from
And that the law of the jungle is not the law of this land
In deepest darkest Africa nineteen three
A little boy says, Daddy, I just discovered relativity.
A big eclipse is coming
And Ill prove it. Wait and see!
You better eclipse yourself outta here, son
And find yourself a tree
Theres a lion in the front yard
And he knows he wont catch me.
How many little Albert Einsteins
Cut down in their prime?
How many little Ronald Reagans
Gobbled up before their time?
I dont believe in evolution
But it does occur to me,
What if little William Howard Taft had to face a lion
Or God forbid, climb a tree?
Where would this country be?
Im dreaming of a white President
Buh buh buh buh
Cause things have never been this bad
So he wont run the hundred in ten seconds flat
So he wont have a pretty jump shot
Or be an Olympic acrobat
So he wont know much about global warming
Is that really where youre at?
He wont be the brightest, perhaps
But hell be the whitest
And Ill vote for that
Whiter than this?
Yes
Whiter than this?
Yes
Whiter than this?
Yes
Whiter than this?
Oh yeah
http://www.nonesuch.com/journal/new-randy-newman-song-im-dreaming-available-for-free-download-2012-09-18
awake
(3,226 posts)One Term More
http://www.onetermmore.com/video_subtitles.html
Please share I am new poster (long time reader) maybe a old poster will share this asa a new post
Thanks
proud2BlibKansan
(96,793 posts)CTyankee
(63,912 posts)this is a wonderful input to our political discussion, our artistic impulse. Let it begin and let it be...
proud2BlibKansan
(96,793 posts)This song is absolutely perfect.
undeterred
(34,658 posts)when I was in college. One of my apartment roommates was around 5' tall and that song made her absolutely crazy. I don't think any of us realized it was satire at the time.
Short people got no reason
Short people got no reason
Short people got no reason
To live
They got little hands
And little eyes
And they walk around
Tellin' great big lies
They got little noses
And tiny little teeth
They wear platform shoes
On their nasty little feet
Well, I don't want no short people
Don't want no short people
Don't want no short people
Round here
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)
Short people got nobody
Short people got nobody
Short people got nobody
To love
They got little baby legs
And they stand so low
You got to pick 'em up
Just to say hello
They got little cars
That got beep, beep, beep
They got little voices
Goin' peep, peep, peep
They got grubby little fingers
And dirty little minds
They're gonna get you every time
Well, I don't want no short people
Don't want no short people
Don't want no short people
'round here
underpants
(182,839 posts)I love this and I haven't even heard it yet.
proud2BlibKansan
(96,793 posts)Little Ronnie Reagan gets eaten by lions.
underpants
(182,839 posts)hilarious