I just want to post that I am glad I got to grow up and live in a world that had the brilliant Tom Lehrer in it.
I remember one night in the 70's when my Dad came home with two albums he'd picked up at a carport sale. He'd never heard of Lehrer before, either, but they'd caught his eye.
The first one he put on was "An Evening Wasted with Tom Lehrer." As the first song "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park" crackled over the speakers I remember laughing hysterically until I was crying. This continued, as we went from that record to "That Was The Year That Was." I completely lost it over "Pollution."
I've never stopped listening to him. Probably the only mathematics professor I can say that about.
His entire output was surprisingly small, all of it created over a few years in the 1950's - 1960's (with a few for the kids' show "The Electric Company" in the 70's) before he decided he'd had enough.
Although there have been many good ones, to me American satire songwriters are, at the highest level, limited to a trinity of Tom Lehrer, Weird Al Yankovic, and Allan Sherman.
Thank you for the music, Tom.
IG
15 comments:
Tom put all his music up on https://tomlehrersongs.com/ for anyone who wants to grab it (NOTE: That site says it will be shut down in the not too distant future, so get the music while you can.)
I cannot imagine the type of song Tom wrote for a kids show!! His math songs would break kids brains!!
Doesn't everybody sing all the chemical elements?
It was so long ago, so so long
Indeed a truly remarkable man with many great talents. Also an amazing age to reach.
Thank you Michael Kohne for the link to his music.
Thank you Dr Grumpy for reminding me of the wonderful satire of Tom Lehrer.
I learned "Pollution" in 6th grade, and we sang it in a concert (thank you, Mom and Dad, for attending every single performance from grade school to high school, and for never once letting on just how horrible they all were). I had no idea who Tom Lehrer was, or what the rest of his output included, until high school. Senior year, I walked into the band rehearsal room where one of the band directors was entertaining a bunch of feral teen musicians with "An Evening Wasted with Tom Lehrer" and "That Was The Year That Was," and I was ruined for life.
Well said. One of my bucket list items is to learn the Elements Song.
He wrote at least one song for Sesame Street: Silent 'E'
Who can turn a plan into a plane, who can turn a can into a cane? There's just no doubt about it. The answer's plain to see. The answer to the question - silent "E"
I thank you for your posts about him! I give you credit for introducing him to me!
He was a genius with lyrics and satire.
I also once did a humorous song about the elements, but it never caught on quite like his:
There's air, there's earth, there's fire, and there's water
That's all there is and there is no other
I personally think that there's something called quintessence
But other people tell me that my theory is putrescence
He was brilliant and a clever lyricist.
I'm old enough to have heard his stuff (well, some of it) as a college student when it came out. It remains astonishingly relevant today. Except maybe the lament about Hubert. I've introduced at least three generations to him.....
We also sang “Pollution”, but in fourth grade or something like that.
Also “L-Y”!
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