# Is there a Tom Lehrer song that isn't on any of his albums? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [October 14, 2022, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-tom-lehrer-song-that-isnt-on-any-of-his-albums/973273 "2022-10-14T21:16:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2022, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-tom-lehrer-song-that-isnt-on-any-of-his-albums/973273/1 "2022-10-14T21:16:37Z")
I seem to remember that one of his songs isn’t on any of his albums, but I can’t recall which one. ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2022, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-tom-lehrer-song-that-isnt-on-any-of-his-albums/973273/2 "2022-10-14T22:40:25Z")
Do you mean his original 1950s/1960s albums, or does that include later compilations? “I Got it from Agnes” and “That’s Mathematics” only appear on compilations, as well as his songs for The Electric Company. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2022, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-tom-lehrer-song-that-isnt-on-any-of-his-albums/973273/3 "2022-10-14T22:50:19Z")
I’ve got those. This one is supposedly one he wrote that someone else sang. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2022, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-tom-lehrer-song-that-isnt-on-any-of-his-albums/973273/4 "2022-10-14T22:55:23Z")
Found it! “The SAC Song” sung by Rod Taylor in the movie “A Gathering Of Eagles”. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2022, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-tom-lehrer-song-that-isnt-on-any-of-his-albums/973273/5 "2022-10-14T23:00:54Z")
Do you have “the physical review”? It’s the recording of a show he and two other physics section leaders did for their students when he was a grad student at Harvard. I think he wrote all the lyrics. It was recorded on a wire, before tapes were invented. Chilled are out on the internet, but the sound quality is pretty terrible. The only part I remember is: “After all’s been said, math is way ahead I can do research lying in my bed It’s true, it’s true …” ---
**Author:** ![Ponderoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponderoid/32/19221_2.png) [@Ponderoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponderoid)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2022, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-tom-lehrer-song-that-isnt-on-any-of-his-albums/973273/6 "2022-10-14T23:14:02Z")
Did this updated 1997 version appear on any albums? [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/2VZbWJIndlQ/hqdefault.jpg "That's Mathematics") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VZbWJIndlQ) Not sure about this one either, from the same appearance: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/zxFCQplZgKI/hqdefault.jpg "The Professor's Song Tom Lehrer") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxFCQplZgKI) ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Knig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2022, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-tom-lehrer-song-that-isnt-on-any-of-his-albums/973273/7 "2022-10-14T23:50:44Z")
The Subway Song wasn’t on any of his original albums. Rumor had it that he thought is was too local to be of wide interest. [Tom Lehrer - The Subway Song - YouTube](https://youtu.be/goJ0QIaXZ-w) ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Knig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2022, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-tom-lehrer-song-that-isnt-on-any-of-his-albums/973273/8 "2022-10-14T23:52:13Z")
Then there’s this classic - that does not have a single dirty word in it! [Tom Lehrer - I got it from Agnes | SUB ITA - YouTube](https://youtu.be/R6qFG0uop9k) ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2022, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-tom-lehrer-song-that-isnt-on-any-of-his-albums/973273/9 "2022-10-15T01:29:49Z")
(I’m Spending) Hanukkah in Santa Monica [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/LslsgH3-UFU/hqdefault.jpg "Hanukkah in Santa Monica (Tom Lehrer)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LslsgH3-UFU) ---
**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:** [October 15, 2022, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-tom-lehrer-song-that-isnt-on-any-of-his-albums/973273/10 "2022-10-15T03:54:07Z")
> [@Typo\_Knig](#): > > The Subway Song wasn’t on any of his original albums. Rumor had it that he thought is was too local to be of wide interest. [Tom Lehrer - The Subway Song - YouTube](https://youtu.be/goJ0QIaXZ-w) That’s the one I’m thinking of. Agnes and Santa Monica are both on compilation albums. Isaac Asimov printed the lyrics to the subway song at the beginning of the second volume of his first autobiography, which is where I first heard it. Since I used the Red Line when I was at MIT, I particularly liked this one. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2022, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-tom-lehrer-song-that-isnt-on-any-of-his-albums/973273/11 "2022-10-15T04:17:52Z")
Aside from The SAC song, you can find all of these on more recent compilations of Lehrer’s stuff. Here’s one that hasn’t been mentioned – Tom Lehrer singing about the new decimal British currency on the David Frost show [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/ntW9NDRHXnc/hqdefault.jpg "Tom Lehrer Decimal The Frost Report") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntW9NDRHXnc) It has some resemblance to his song “New Math” Here’s a transcription of the lyrics > **[Tom Lehrer - Decimal lyrics](https://lyricstranslate.com/en/tom-lehrer-decimal-lyrics.html)** > > Tom Lehrer Decimal lyrics: I don’t know why it is but, peopl ---
**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:** [October 15, 2022, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-tom-lehrer-song-that-isnt-on-any-of-his-albums/973273/12 "2022-10-15T19:00:48Z")
Lehrer also wrote songs for the American version of _That Was the Week That Was_. Some of those were compiled into his _That Was the Year That Was_ album, of course. I also have a CD that has some highlights from the TV series, including a couple songs that were recaps of news items from the week the show aired; but I don’t know if Lehrer had a hand in creating those songs, or if he did other work for the show that didn’t make it onto the album. There was a radio DJ in Seattle in the late-'80s/early-'90s who would play one novelty song every morning, and that’s where I first heard _I Got it From Agnes_. That song hadn’t been officially released at the time; never did find out where he might have gotten it. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2022, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-tom-lehrer-song-that-isnt-on-any-of-his-albums/973273/13 "2022-10-15T19:51:36Z")
This website claims to list three of his songs that were never released. I have no idea if that’s wrong. Incidentally, In 2020 Lehrer donated all his music and lyrics to the public domain: [https://tomlehrersongs.com/category/music-by-tom/unreleased/](https://tomlehrersongs.com/category/music-by-tom/unreleased/)