Well title says it all really.
Anybody who does novelty songs.
See Dr. Demento (not so much an artist as an impresario).
Jonathan Coulton***
Paul and Storm
Mark Russell does mostly political comic songs, and so do the Capitol Steps.
And going farther back-Allan Sherman.
There was a folk trio from Seattle called Uncle Bonsai (myspace page with some samples) that I always thought were somewhat in the Lehrer mold; satirical, with offbeat subjects, and some great verbal dexterity. Not all fun and games, though, their songs range from silly to serious and even somber.
He’s only 19, but a kid from Boston named Bo Burnham is actually getting there fast. Here’s one of my favorites: Love Is.
The closest to Lehrer in both music and sensibility are Flanders and Swann. They did political commentary (“All Gaul,” “There’s a Hole in My Budget,” “A Song of Patriotic Prejudice”), songs about science (“First and Second Law” (of Themodynamics), “Satellite Moon”), and much more. “Madeira M’Dear” is one of the best comic songs ever written and “The Hippopotamus” is a masterpiece. And Flanders’s lyrics are the few that can give Lehrer a run for his money.
There’s also Spike Jones and his City Slickers.
More recently, the Arrogant Worms have "Carrot Juice is Murder and “Canada is Really Big.”
Then there’s Bowser and Blue’s "Working Where the Sun Don’t Shine," which has some of Lehrer’s sick humor.
The closest to Tom Lehrer in terms of biography is Weird Al Yankovic. They both began learning to play an instrument very young (piano for Lehrer and accordion for Yankovic). They both are good but not great singers. They both were child prodigies who were good at math. (Lehrer entered college at 15 and tried for a Ph.D. in math but never finished, while Yankovic entered college at 16 and got his bachelor’s degree in architecture.) They both parody popular music that they grew up with.
The main difference is that Lehrer is smarter, but Yankovic is more ambitious. Lehrer’s lyrics are cleverer than any other parodist I know of, but he got bored fairly early and didn’t write that much after he was 40. Yankovic’s lyrics aren’t as clever on the whole, but he considers writing and performing his job and apparently intends to keep working for the rest of his life.
The surprising thing about Yankovic is how many different singing styles he can credibly fake, from doo-wop to metal to rap. Leher never tried anything other than his regular voice.
…or at least longer than anyone he’s parodied.
I’m sorry, but Yankovic and Lehrer should not be mentioned in the same breath, and there is really no comparison.
First of all, Yankovic doesn’t write much music; he takes other music and puts lyrics to it. In this, he’s inferior to Allan Sherman and Frank Jacobs.
Further, his songs just take the most obvious twist and run with it until the wheels fall off. I did better parodying Cole Porter when I was 19 (“Let’s Barbecue” to the tune of “Let’s Misbehave”). His idea of being clever is to replace random nouns in a song with names of food.
Leher’s songs (at least outside of “That Was the Year that Was”) are as good today as they were back when they were written. Yankovic’s date badly, since they require you know what he’s parodying – and he often goes with songs with a short shelf life.
In 50 years, people will still be listening to Lehrer, where Yankovic will only be a mysterious reference in the The Naked Gun.
Nonsense. Skimming his list of songs shows quite a large number of original works in which he may write in a particular style of an artist, but which are his own work completely. Just because I hear this a lot and have defended his originality before, this time I counted the list - 92 original songs, 62 parodies, and about a dozen covers/polka medleys.
Sure you did.
I agree with RealityChuck only to the extent that Lehrer and Yankovic aren’t really comparable. Yankovic is primarily a parodist, and Lehrer primarily a satirist.
The rest of your points, Chuck, I can’t agree with at all - half of any Weird Al album are his original songs and ‘style parodies’ - wherein he’s had to write the lyrics and the music, and not just for a piano. As for taking an obvious twist and running until the wheels fall off - The Elements, anyone? Al’s also had a movie and a television show, and regular hosting gigs on MTV during its heyday, which means I think he’ll be remembered for as long as Lehrer is.
I’m a fan of both artists and they’ve both proven to have lasting popularity amongst niche nerd audiences.
Try out Mitch Benn. You get Radio 4 over there? He’s a regular on the Now Show
Oo, good one. I get the Now Show via podcast; I think in iTunes it’s listed as “Friday Night Comedy from BBC Radio 4.” It alternates with the News Quiz and something else, I think.
I’ll nominate Lou and Peter Berryman.
You’re right. While both are great, Lehrer never had quite the career that Yankovic had in just about every measureable way.
Another group that does good political satire songs is The Foremen. I really liked their first CD, but not so much the second one. They’re pretty dated, but their songs are catchy (I still find myself humming “Firing the Surgeon General” and “Russian Limbaugh” occasionally).
Lehrer, who is a one of a kind lyrical genius, usually borrows the music. Such as The Elements from the Major General song.
That’s the only one I could think of where he borrows the music. Any other examples?