Tom Lehrer

I didn't realize how biting the appropriation of Lehrer's music could be until I saw the film "Stop The Church", where the tune "The Vatican Rag" was used to cut ups of powerful religious figures in ceremony.

As for his status in the States, I think it's been pretty low-key since the 70s, and got lower ever decade thereafter, my 8th grade science teacher notwithstanding.

I've actually never heard of him, which is saying something.

http://www.sfweekly.com/issues/2000-04-19/feature.html is an article containing a recent interview with him. He's a Math Prof at the University of Santa Cruz in California.

I know when they released the box set, he said that he discourages accompanying pictures of himself when they release his stuff, because he likes that people aren't able to recognize him.

Love Lehrer. First met a load of his songs in a Edinburgh fringe show '99, some oxbridge hoorays dressed up to the nines giving it the full barbershop treatment. I was giggling for days. Can anybody recomend a good recording or two?

"We'll murder them all amid laughter and merriment

Except for the few we take home to experiment."

Revive for the youtube era !

Kogan in the Voice:

http://www.villagevoice.com/music/0037,kogan,18125,22.html

night 2 of listening to too much of him. so fucking amazing

i've never quibbled
if it was ribald
i have devoured where others merely nibbled

who needs a hobby
like tennis
or philately?
I'VE got a hobby:
rereading lady chatterly!

While married to Gus, she met Gropius
And soon she was swinging with Walter
Gus died and her teardrops were copious
She cried all the way to the altar

To the shores of Tripoli
But not to Mississipoli

Good article:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/bensmith/tom-lehrer

we've gained notoriety
and caused much anxiety
in the audubon society with our little games
they call it impiety
and lack of propriety
and quite a variety of unpleasant names

but it's not against any religion
to want to dispose of a pigeon!

that is a great and pleasantly exhaustive article!

Just came here to post that.

“If you’re out behind the woodshed doing what you’d like to do, just be sure that your companion is a Boy Scout too”

“Things I once thought were funny are scary now,” he told People magazine in 1982. “I often feel like a resident of Pompeii who has been asked for some humorous comments on lava.”

I have a copy of the first Songs 10" I found in a College Park thrift store in the 90's for a dollar and it's getting played tonight.

When 2 Chainz, a rapper, asked to sample “The Old Dope Peddler” in one of his tracks, Mr Lehrer was keen to help. “I grant you motherfuckers permission to do this,” he supposedly answered. “Please give my regards to Mr Chainz, or may I call him 2?”

https://www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2017/10/wit

oh good, still alive

<3

oh good, still alive

Phew!

I just referenced "The Old Dope Peddler" the other day. A giant talent, I first met his work on The Electric Company in the 70s. Was it Nixon that caused him to stop writing songs? I can only imagine what he thinks now.

My oldster parents had all his records and I memorized them all before I understood any of the jokes.

For a long time he occasionally emerged to do something, usually for children's television but I think "Hannukah in Santa Monica" was for Prairie Home Companion.

Was it Nixon that caused him to stop writing songs?

'Political satire became obsolete when Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.' - TL

I've loved this guy my whole life, I think my parents must have had his LPs.

so much love for that 2 Chainz story

turned 90 on Saturday!

we really may all go together eh

Not dead, still a genius.

Forever a hero:

Pretty extraordinary - Tom Lehrer, aged 92, has decided to put all his lyrics and sheet music into the public domain, before he passes away. https://t.co/WVctS3MUlf

— Brian Edwards (@brianftang) October 20, 2020

wow didn't realize he was still alive.

Was just listening to Revisited last night. I've been meaning to buy the sheet music and try to play some of his songs, so this gives me no more excuse for procrastination.

King shit

And having posted about the above two years back, he did in fact do this

https://tomlehrersongs.com/

And yes, he's still with us. 94 years and counting.

The main link there lists the songs individually with lyrics and music, but if you want to just go for the actual recordings, help yourself:

https://tomlehrersongs.com/albums/

The three discs of the Rhino box appear at the end of the list.

ty ^

ooh thanks!

RIP

https://variety.com/2025/music/obituaries-people-news/tom-lehrer-dead-satirist-topical-singer-songwriter-1236471506/

oh good, still alive

Phew!

― Terry Micawber (Tom D.), Wednesday, 1 November 2017 18:22 (seven years ago) bookmarkflaglink

;_;

Once again the wrong old guy has died.

We won't all go together when we go after all. Had me going for a while there Tom

Awww, RIP. Earlier this year I was going to post on the 'celebrities you were surprised were still alive' thread (or whatever it's actually called) but thought to search his name and was amused to see him pop up almost yearly. He really seemed like a good dude, too.

I was thinking about Lehrer a few weeks ago when I noticed he was the oldest living person I owned a record by - at 97 probably by some distance. Travel well Tom.

Aw

aw man. was listening to him recently. RIP

At least Kissinger went first

He lived in Cambridge and you could find his address if you wanted to. Maybe I passed him in the square once, I doubt I'd have recognized him. But his songs will live with me forever. Legend.

R.I.P., one of a kind talent, so funny and so much fun to listen to. I love his singing, all his intonations and phrasing. Nimble on the keys too.

Early morning radio played "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park" in tribute this morning and reportedly received "eeew -- is this some kind of joke?" messages. Bless. RIP.

Westbury, I was reflecting that he was already old (and coded a bit square) when my parents were young. His records were old and dusty when I was a toddler.

Farewell. I love watching his old videos on YouTube and sometimes seeing girls in the audience who looked like they would have had Tom Lehrer posts all over their Tumblr dashboard had they grown up in the age of the Internet. I get it.

TIL Tom Lehrer was also the inventor of the jello shot, truly multi-talented!

i was another weird kid who listened to and loved tom lehrer at like 11-12 years old despite having no understanding of any of the political material (i also ordered a spike jones take from somewhere and listened to that). RIP, he seemed like a cool dude and 97 is a long time

Angus Johnston on Bluesky:

"I guess it's been long enough that it's safe for me to post that a friend of mine, after Tom Lehrer died, responded to my musing on what a queer figure in pop culture he was by telling me that she knew for a certainty that he was gay, and happily, partneredly so."

And a reply:

"I first learned this thirty years ago from a friend of mine, an older gay man who was also a professor at Stanford and who regularly ran into Tom Lehrer and his husband at social events. I have always been under the impression that it wasn’t a secret but was not *not* a secret either."

Had no idea. Unrelated to that, a friend pointed me to this awesome video of him, introduced by Sondheim (they were childhood friends), performing at some tribute to a Broadway producer in 1998. According to the intro this was his first performance in 25 years, so it's cool to see him take the stage and be awesome without missing a beat:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hf-eIgFJg4w