A still from the official video for Randy Newman's latest tune, "Putin."
The start of Randy Newman's latest song, "Putin," sounds a lot like the ominous beginning to "Citizen Kane."
The music video, published online Tuesday, begins in a similar way.
As the orchestra builds and the screen fades from black, the camera pans to reveal not a mansion, but — gasp! — the Kremlin.
Heavy piano ushers in a plodding, then boisterous melody. The lyrics are silly and satirical, just like the images they're timed to appear with.
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Newman wrote "Putin" before recent allegations surfaced about Russia trying to hack the US election, and before all the talk about a bromance between the Russian leader and US presidential candidate Donald Trump.
He says the headlines did inspire him, however. It's just that in this case they were from a few years ago, when the pro-Putin motorcycle gang known as the Night Wolves were in the news.
"His whole macho thing is interesting to me," Newman says of Putin. "He's got some teenager in him, which is really interesting … because he's so powerful, and he's part 15-year-old."
Dueling narrators in Newman's song play with Putin's name, and his hyper-manly image.
For example, the opening lines:
"Putin puttin' his pants on, one leg at a time/
He's just like a regular fella/
He ain't nothin like a regular fella!/
Putin puttin' his hat on, hat size No. 9/
You saying Putin's getting bigheaded?/
Putin's head is just fine!"
Newman took cues in his wordplay from a WWII-era American tune that praised Soviet leader Joseph Stalin for his defense against Adolf Hitler's forces.
"There was an old gospel song called 'Stalin Wasn't Stallin,' and I got the idea I think directly from that," he says.
The US-Russian relationship has, er, changed a little since then. "Putin" captures the new reality well.