The New Yorker reports Sen. Orrin Hatch is not optimistic that his musical ode to Sen. Ted Kennedy will be premiered at the Democratic National Convention. Oddly enough, he says the problem is that top democrats misconstrued the meaning of some of the lyrics' meaning.

Hatch says House majority leader “Steny Hoyer told my staff they’ll never play it, because it’s got a double meaning.”

The title “Headed Home,” and a similar lyric could be taken to mean Ted is headed for Heaven (or Hell — in the opinion of some Utahns).

Says Orrin:

I meant that he was coming back to the Senate.

After Hatch sent an MP3 of the song to Kennedy, Ted called him:

He said, ‘Hey, Orrin, this is really wonderful.’ I said I was worried that he’d misconstrued the meaning. And he said, ‘No, don’t worry about it. It’s a good song.’

Photo: Orrin and another friend who is coming home.