The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
IN THE NEWS
Newman writes new satirical, political song
NEW YORK (AP) — Randy Newman is weighing in on the presidential election, and he is playing the race card through a song he wrote called “I’m Dreaming.”
The piano tune features the refrain: “I’m dreaming of a white president.” It is full of satirical, sarcastic — and signature — Newman anecdotes about someone who votes for the president because he is white.
Newman, who is white, is openly supporting President Barack Obama. He says he wants the public to find comedic relief in the song, but to also know he is serious about his thoughts that racism is well and alive in the world — and in the current presidential race. He called racism “the great issue of this country.”
“I felt that that sentiment ex- ists in the country,” Newman said in an interview Monday. “I don’t know how many people you can get to admit it. I think maybe zero.”
Newman, 68, has won multiple Academy Awards, Grammys and Emmys for composing music for movies such as “Cars,” “Monsters, Inc.,” the “Toy Story” franchise and the TV series “Monk.” He often writes songs from the perspective of a character not like himself. “Short People,” the 1977 No. 2 Billboard hit, attacked short people. And “Sail Away” is a come on from a slave trader to a potential slave.
“I’m Dreaming” features lyrics like: “He won’t be the brightest, perhaps, but he’ll be the whitest, and I’ll vote for that.” He said as he wrote the song the lyrics “didn’t come that easy.”
Jon Cryer wipes out during LA triathlon
NEW YORK (AP) — Jon Cryer cracks up viewers every week on his hit CBS sitcom. But now the “Two and a Half Men” star is aching from a crackup of his own.
During the cycling part of a triathlon Sunday, Cryer lost control of his bicycle and hit the pavement skidding. Nothing was broken, but he left skin from his left side along a Los Angeles roadway.
Annie Lennox marries American doctor
NEW YORK (AP) — Annie Lennox has married for a third time.
The Scottish singer-songwriter’s publicist confirms Lennox married Mitch Besser in a private ceremony Saturday in London.
Several reports in the British press over the weekend described the ceremony, which took place aboard a boat on the Thames River. Lennox’s two daughters