He spends a lot of his time coming up with agreeable pop for the animated film market, just as his uncles used to score for old Hollywood movies.
But when the time is right, Randy Newman likes to issue the occasional political commentary in song form as well. It happened when he wrote of the Gulf War in the one-off “Lines in the Sand.” And further back in his career in songs like “Rednecks” and “Political Science.” Here, accompanied by a dreamy black and white video (in mostly white), is his latest, the second most incendiary recording regarding Mitt Romney issued today (the other was from Mother Jones).