{"id":7552,"date":"2026-06-16T12:29:58","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T16:29:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/baselines.com\/?p=7552"},"modified":"2026-06-16T12:30:43","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T16:30:43","slug":"short-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baselines.com\/?p=7552","title":{"rendered":"Short People"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Here&#8217;s a Randy Newman cover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/www.baselines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/all-songs\/mp3\/03_Short_People.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"938\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/baselines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/platform_deniro-938x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7553\" style=\"aspect-ratio:0.916030534351145;width:562px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/baselines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/platform_deniro-938x1024.jpg 938w, https:\/\/baselines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/platform_deniro-824x900.jpg 824w, https:\/\/baselines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/platform_deniro-768x839.jpg 768w, https:\/\/baselines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/platform_deniro-586x640.jpg 586w, https:\/\/baselines.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/platform_deniro-1099x1200.jpg 1099w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 938px) 100vw, 938px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>&#8220;<strong>Short People<\/strong>&#8221; is a song by&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Randy_Newman\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Randy Newman<\/a>&nbsp;from his 1977 album,&nbsp;<em><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Little_Criminals\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Little Criminals<\/a><\/em>. With lyrics demeaning to short people, the song was intended by Newman to be a satire about&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Prejudice\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">prejudice<\/a>&nbsp;more broadly.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Short_People#cite_note-2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">[2]<\/a><\/sup>&nbsp;As with many of his songs such as &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Rednecks_(song)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Rednecks<\/a>&#8220;, Newman wrote the song from the point of view of a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Unreliable_narrator\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">biased narrator<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"Production_and_reception\">Production and reception<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The song follows a basic musical formula with&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Bass_guitar\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">bass<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Drum_kit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">drums<\/a>&nbsp;centering on Newman&#8217;s catchy pop&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Piano\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">piano<\/a>&nbsp;line in the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/A_major\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">key of A major<\/a>.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Short_People#cite_note-3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">[3]<\/a><\/sup>&nbsp;A small&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Horn_section\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">brass section<\/a>&nbsp;and an&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Electric_guitar\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">electric guitar<\/a>&nbsp;occasionally rise into the mix and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Conga_drums\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">conga drums<\/a>&nbsp;(played by Los Angeles\u2013based session musician&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Milt_Holland\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Milt Holland<\/a>) also feature prominently in the song.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although Newman had never charted a single before, and his preceding album,&nbsp;<em><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Good_Old_Boys_(Randy_Newman_album)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Good Old Boys<\/a><\/em>, had been the first to reach the Top 150 on&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Billboard_(magazine)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Billboard<\/a>\u2019s&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Billboard_200\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Pop Albums<\/a>&nbsp;chart, &#8220;Short People&#8221; soon gained attention as a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Novelty_song\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">novelty song<\/a>. The song consequently became a major hit on radio peaking at No. 2 on the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Billboard_Hot_100\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Billboard<\/em>&nbsp;Hot 100<\/a>&nbsp;for three weeks; it was kept from reaching No. 1 by&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Player_(band)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Player<\/a>&#8216;s &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Baby_Come_Back_(Player_song)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Baby Come Back<\/a>&#8221; and the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Bee_Gees\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bee Gees<\/a>&#8216; &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Stayin%27_Alive\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Stayin&#8217; Alive<\/a>&#8220;. It became a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Music_recording_sales_certification\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">gold record<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Newman would later grow to dislike the song and its success, eventually calling it a &#8220;bad break&#8221;, a &#8220;novelty record like&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Alvin_and_the_Chipmunks\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Chipmunks<\/a>&#8220;, and said it caused him to receive several threats regarding its misinterpreted message.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Short_People#cite_note-4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">[4]<\/a><\/sup>&nbsp;He said, &#8220;I had no idea that there was any sensitivity, I mean, that anyone could believe that anyone was as crazy as that character. To have that kind of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Animus_nocendi\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">animus<\/a>&nbsp;against short people, and then to sing it and put it all in song and have a philosophy on it.&#8221;<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Short_People#cite_note-5\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">[5]<\/a><\/sup>&nbsp;However, it ended up being included on almost every one of his&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Greatest_hits\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">greatest hits<\/a>&nbsp;albums and he re-recorded it for his 2016 album&nbsp;<em><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Randy_Newman_Songbook_Vol._3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Randy Newman Songbook Vol. 3<\/a><\/em>.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Short_People#cite_note-6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">[6]<\/a><\/sup><sup>[<em><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Wikipedia:Verifiability\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">failed verification<\/a><\/em>]<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Record_World\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Record World<\/a><\/em>&nbsp;said the single was &#8220;one of the funniest of any year.&#8221;<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Short_People#cite_note-rw-7\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">[7]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 1978,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Maryland_House_of_Delegates\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Maryland State Delegate<\/a>&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Isaiah_Dixon\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Isaiah Dixon<\/a>&nbsp;attempted to introduce legislation making it illegal to play &#8220;Short People&#8221; on the radio. He was advised by Maryland Attorney General&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Francis_B._Burch\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bill Burch<\/a>&nbsp;that such a law would be a violation of the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/First_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">First Amendment<\/a>.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Short_People#cite_note-8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">[8]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"Chart_performance\">Chart performance<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><tbody><tr><td class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\">Weekly chartsChart (1977\u20131978)Peak<br>positionAustralia<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Short_People#cite_note-Australia-9\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">[9]<\/a><\/sup>12Belgium (<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ultratop\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ultratop 50<\/a>&nbsp;Flanders)<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Short_People#cite_note-sc_Flanders_Randy_Newman-10\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">[10]<\/a><\/sup>22Canada Top Singles (<em>RPM<\/em>)<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Short_People#cite_note-11\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">[11]<\/a><\/sup>2Canada Adult Contemporary (<em>RPM<\/em>)<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Short_People#cite_note-12\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">[12]<\/a><\/sup>1New Zealand (<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Recorded_Music_NZ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Recorded Music NZ<\/a>)<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Short_People#cite_note-sc_New_Zealand_Randy_Newman-13\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">[13]<\/a><\/sup>21U.S.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Billboard_Hot_100\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Billboard<\/em>&nbsp;Hot 100<\/a>2U.S.&nbsp;<em>Billboard<\/em>&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Adult_Contemporary_(chart)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Adult Contemporary<\/a><sup><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Short_People#cite_note-14\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">[14]<\/a><\/sup>25U.S.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Cashbox_(magazine)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Cash Box<\/em>&nbsp;Top 100<\/a><sup><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Short_People#cite_note-15\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">[15]<\/a><\/sup>1<\/td><td class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\">Year-end chartsChart (1978)RankCanada Top Singles<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Short_People#cite_note-16\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">[16]<\/a><\/sup>30U.S.&nbsp;<em>Billboard<\/em>&nbsp;Hot 100<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Short_People#cite_note-17\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">[17]<\/a><\/sup>41U.S.&nbsp;<em>Cash Box<\/em><sup><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Short_People#cite_note-18\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">[18]<\/a><\/sup>15<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"Sales_and_certifications\">Sales and certifications<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><thead><tr><th class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">Region<\/th><th class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\">Certification<\/th><th class=\"has-text-align-center\" data-align=\"center\"><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/List_of_music_recording_certifications\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Certified units<\/a>\/sales<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><th class=\"has-text-align-left\" data-align=\"left\">United States (<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Recording_Industry_Association_of_America\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">RIAA<\/a>)<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Short_People#cite_note-United_StatesRandy_NewmanShort_PeoplesingleCertRef-19\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">[19]<\/a><\/sup><\/th><td>Gold<\/td><td>1,000,000<sup>^<\/sup><\/td><\/tr><tr><td colspan=\"3\"><small><sup>^<\/sup>&nbsp;Shipments figures based on certification alone.<\/small><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"Personnel\">Personnel<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"Musicians\">Musicians<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Randy Newman \u2012 lead vocals, piano, synthesizer<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Glenn_Frey\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Glenn Frey<\/a>\u00a0\u2012 backing vocals<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/JD_Souther\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">JD Souther<\/a>\u00a0\u2012 backing vocals<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Jim_Keltner\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Jim Keltner<\/a>\u00a0\u2012 drums<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Klaus_Voormann\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Klaus Voormann<\/a>\u00a0\u2012 bass guitar<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Milt_Holland\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Milt Holland<\/a>\u00a0\u2012 congas<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Timothy_B._Schmit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Timothy B. Schmit<\/a>\u00a0\u2012 backing vocals<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Waddy_Wachtel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Waddy Wachtel<\/a>\u00a0\u2012 electric guitar<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Michael_Boddicker\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mike Boddicker<\/a>\u00a0\u2012 synthesizer<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"Technical\">Technical<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Lee Herschberg \u2012 recording, mixing, mastering<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Lenny_Waronker\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Lenny Waronker<\/a>\u00a0\u2012 producer<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Loyd Clifft \u2012 engineer<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Russ_Titelman\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Russ Titelman<\/a>\u00a0\u2012 producer<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<script>\nvar zbPregResult = '0';\n<\/script>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here&#8217;s a Randy Newman cover. &#8220;Short People&#8221; is a song by&nbsp;Randy Newman&nbsp;from his 1977 album,&nbsp;Little Criminals. With lyrics demeaning to short people, the song was intended by Newman to be a satire about&nbsp;prejudice&nbsp;more broadly.[2]&nbsp;As with many of his songs such as &#8220;Rednecks&#8220;, Newman wrote the song from the point of view of a&nbsp;biased narrator. Production [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baselines.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baselines.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baselines.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baselines.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baselines.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7552"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baselines.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7554,"href":"https:\/\/baselines.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7552\/revisions\/7554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baselines.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baselines.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baselines.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}