# Happy 90th, Tom Lehrer **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 9, 2018, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-90th-tom-lehrer/812074 "2018-04-09T12:42:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ba8739/32.png) [@Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Backwater_Under_Duck)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2018, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-90th-tom-lehrer/812074/21 "2018-04-10T01:47:33Z")
I often, often, and then some, find myself crooning about riots in Africa and mass starvation in Iberia. And it makes me happy. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2018, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-90th-tom-lehrer/812074/22 "2018-04-10T02:20:36Z")
> [@Backwater\_Under\_Duck](#): > > I often, often, and then some, find myself crooning about riots in Africa and mass starvation in Iberia. And it makes me happy. Pretty sure that was Sheldon Harnick. Though “the Merry Minuet” is certainly Lehreresque in its way, Tom didn’t write it. Like Kimstu I am also eagerly awaiting the opportunity to poison a few pigeons once the weather here in my corner of NY is conducive… ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2018, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-90th-tom-lehrer/812074/23 "2018-04-10T02:28:41Z")
> [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](#): > > Like Kimstu I am also eagerly awaiting the opportunity to poison a few pigeons once the weather here in my corner of NY is conducive… If the opportunity to live out one of Lehrer’s songs presented itself, _Poisoning Pigeons in the Park_ isn’t the first one I’d choose. I think I’d go for something more in the vein of _Be Prepared_, or _The Masochism Tango_, perhaps. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2018, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-90th-tom-lehrer/812074/24 "2018-04-10T02:37:35Z")
Well, we’ll all go together when we go. :o ---
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2018, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-90th-tom-lehrer/812074/25 "2018-04-10T03:09:14Z")
I always wondered if Hemingway ever heard “In Old Mexico,” and what he would have thought. “Rover was killed by a Pontiac, and it was done with such grace and artistry that the witnesses awarded the driver both ears and the tail … but I digress.” ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2018, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-90th-tom-lehrer/812074/26 "2018-04-10T04:52:02Z")
I am also surprised he’s survived so long, but I suppose I shouldn’t be. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2018, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-90th-tom-lehrer/812074/27 "2018-04-10T04:55:44Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > My sister sent me that link, with the comment “I had no idea he was still alive.” > > Love his quote: > > > [@](#): > > > > ”Things I once thought were funny are scary now. I often feel like a resident of Pompei who has been asked for some humorous comments on lava.” One wonders if he dreams about staging a coup. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2018, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-90th-tom-lehrer/812074/28 "2018-04-10T05:19:13Z")
I first became aware of him through Dr. Demento. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2018, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-90th-tom-lehrer/812074/29 "2018-04-10T06:53:05Z")
There was a time when it seemed a lot of NY Times headlines were Lehrer quotes. A review of a book on homosexuality at Harvard was titled “Invite the whole team up for tea.” ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2018, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-90th-tom-lehrer/812074/30 "2018-04-10T12:15:42Z")
Possibly the funniest, most polite celebrity I’ve ever met. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2018, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-90th-tom-lehrer/812074/31 "2018-04-10T12:20:35Z")
> [@F.U.Shakespeare](#): > > Possibly the funniest, most polite celebrity\*\* I’ve ever met\*\*. _worships_ ---
**Author:** ![InsomniaMama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ad7895/32.png) [@InsomniaMama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InsomniaMama)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2018, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-90th-tom-lehrer/812074/32 "2018-04-10T21:15:36Z")
Twenty years ago I gave my new boyfriend a CD of Lehrer for Christmas. He thought it was demented. He eventually saw the humor, though. He’s now my husband. He liked Monty Python! It was a natural progression! ---
**Author:** ![Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ba8739/32.png) [@Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Backwater_Under_Duck)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2018, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-90th-tom-lehrer/812074/33 "2018-04-11T01:24:29Z")
> [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](#): > > Pretty sure that was Sheldon Harnick. Though “the Merry Minuet” is certainly Lehreresque in its way, Tom didn’t write it. Apparently, that’s correct. I looked it up before I posted, knowing I was right, and found more than one Leher cites. What are you gonna do? ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2018, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-90th-tom-lehrer/812074/34 "2018-04-11T01:34:08Z")
I hope before he dies he tells us what the kindly Parson Brown and the guy who taught their Sunday School were up to. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2018, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-90th-tom-lehrer/812074/35 "2018-04-11T01:41:25Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > With the peanuts coated with cyanide? That is still, for some reason, my annual spring anthem to be sung when walking to work on the first really nice day of the year. > > Which here in upstate NY we’re still waiting for, and it’s mid-April. Geez. And maybe we’ll do in a squirrel or two! I wonder if there’s a link anywhere to that juicy, spicy, racy obituary, from December of 1964 I think. One thing I can thank my now ex-husband for, is that when we were dating he introduced me to the work of Lehrer. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2018, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-90th-tom-lehrer/812074/36 "2018-04-11T01:45:22Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > And maybe we’ll do in a squirrel or two! > > I wonder if there’s a link anywhere to that juicy, spicy, racy obituary, from December of 1964 I think. > > One thing I can thank my now ex-husband for, is that when we were dating he introduced me to the work of Lehrer. [New York Times.](https://www.nytimes.com/1964/12/12/alma-m-werfel-widow-of-writer.html) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2018, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-90th-tom-lehrer/812074/37 "2018-04-11T01:58:48Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **Spiderman** : > > Given how many threads with a link the OP reports, I’m kinda surprised it got moved to CS & not the cornfield, which is, I assume, a reflex for our mods. I’m proud to say that I’ve never actually accidentally banned **running coach**. Yet. And I, too, had no idea that Lehrer was still alive. I’m half-amazed that he’s been able to restrain himself from coming out of retirement, in such a target-rich environment. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2018, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-90th-tom-lehrer/812074/38 "2018-04-11T03:34:28Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > I wonder if there’s a link anywhere to that juicy, spicy, racy obituary, from December of 1964 I think. When I toured the Gropius House in Lincoln, MA, I asked if Alma had lived there. It turned out she didn’t; Walter built that house some years after the chow house accusation and divorce. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2018, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-90th-tom-lehrer/812074/39 "2018-04-11T13:51:35Z")
Another 50+ years fan here. At 90, isn’t it about time he updated “The Elements”? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2018, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-90th-tom-lehrer/812074/40 "2018-04-11T13:54:19Z")
Yeah, more have been discovered, but Hahvahd has been a bit resistant to hearing the news 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-90th-tom-lehrer/812074.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-90th-tom-lehrer/812074.md?page=3)