“It’s difficult to imagine any other musician so nimbly addressing contemporary America without hiding behind the abstraction that plagues so many songwriters. Forty years after his debut LP, Newman remains in a class of his own. Now as before, no one can touch him.” —Time Out NY
Randy Newman’s new song, “I’m Dreaming” is also available as a free download (see below).
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.) 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 would’ve elected a black president. I’m 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 wouldn’t 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 can’t believe that there’s not a more qualified white man. You won’t get anyone, and I do mean anyone, to admit it.
“I often write songs in character. You can’t always trust or believe the narrators in my songs. So why listen? Good question.
“Anyway the guy in this song may exist somewhere. Let’s 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, 2008’s Harps and Angels, and a live CD/DVD set from London, released last year. In addition to his solo recordings and regular international touring, Newman began composing and scoring for films in the 1980s.
Download link
“I’m Dreaming”
Lyrics
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
I’m dreaming of a white President
Just like the ones we’ve always had
A real live white man
Who knows the score
How to handle money or start a war
Wouldn’t even have to tell me what we were fighting for
He’d be the right man
If he were a
I’m dreaming of a white President
Someone whom we can understand
Someone who knows where we’re 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 I’ll prove it. Wait and see!”
“You better eclipse yourself outta here, son
And find yourself a tree
There’s a lion in the front yard
And he knows he won’t catch me.”
How many little Albert Einsteins
Cut down in their prime?
How many little Ronald Reagans
Gobbled up before their time?
I don’t 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?
I’m dreaming of a white President
Buh buh buh buh
‘Cause things have never been this bad
So he won’t run the hundred in ten seconds flat
So he won’t have a pretty jump shot
Or be an Olympic acrobat
So he won’t know much about global warming
Is that really where you’re at?
He won’t be the brightest, perhaps
But he’ll be the whitest
And I’ll vote for that
Whiter than this?
Yes
Whiter than this?
Yes
Whiter than this?
Yes
Whiter than this?
Oh yeah