It debuted in 1977 and Randy Newman had never charted a single before per se. It became a huge hit for him as it went up to No.2 on Billboards Hot 100 for 3 weeks in a row.
The song...
was meant to be a parody but was taken out of context and construed as Newman NOT liking short people and making fun of them. Even today Newman recalls the hit really was a bad break.
In 1978 The State of Maryland...
delegate Isaiah Dixon attempted to get a bill passed in legislation that would ban the song, Short People, from radio play.
He was unsuccessful as it violated Freedom of Speech !!
I distinctly remember our next door neighbor's daughter...
who was 18 at the time had a strong distaste for the song as she was 5'1. I remember her quickly changing the radio at the neighborhood pool when the song came up.
Some just took the song
way too seriously !!
So here is "Short People" in all it's glory and mystique :)
If the song says unavailable copy this :
https://www.youtubedotcom/watch?v=8bfyS-S-IJs
and replace the dot with a .