# Tom Lehrer, Alan Sherman and Weird Al would be proud **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 11, 2017, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-lehrer-alan-sherman-and-weird-al-would-be-proud/796045 "2017-09-11T01:54:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2017, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-lehrer-alan-sherman-and-weird-al-would-be-proud/796045/1 "2017-09-11T01:54:53Z")
[Confounds the Science](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZDYhQ4UAnA). An anti-Trump song set to Simon and Garfunkel’s _Sounds of Silence_. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2017, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-lehrer-alan-sherman-and-weird-al-would-be-proud/796045/2 "2017-09-11T02:27:35Z")
Excellent! ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2017, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-lehrer-alan-sherman-and-weird-al-would-be-proud/796045/3 "2017-09-11T02:28:38Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > [Confounds the Science](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZDYhQ4UAnA). An anti-Trump song set to Simon and Garfunkel’s _Sounds of Silence_. Oh boy. Look, I agree with the politics, but artistically this is sophomore work. You wanna compare it to something like “National Brotherhood Week” or “So Long, Mom” for razor wit? No way in hell. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2017, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-lehrer-alan-sherman-and-weird-al-would-be-proud/796045/4 "2017-09-11T02:37:35Z")
Lehrer wrote original works, albeit in a trite musical style. Sherman & Yankovic took non-original songs and just altered the lyrics. (_Mad_ Magazine did this, too.) _Confounds the Science_ is closer to S & Y or\* Mad\* than Lehrer. In this style of parody, making the new lyrics sound similar to the old, but with a different meaning, is the goal. I’d say these dudes come pretty close. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2017, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-lehrer-alan-sherman-and-weird-al-would-be-proud/796045/5 "2017-09-11T02:51:28Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > Lehrer wrote original works, albeit in a trite musical style. Sherman & Yankovic took non-original songs and just altered the lyrics. (_Mad_ Magazine did this, too.) _Confounds the Science_ is closer to S & Y or\* Mad\* than Lehrer. In this style of parody, making the new lyrics sound similar to the old, but with a different meaning, is the goal. I’d say these dudes come pretty close. Shrug–to each their own. I found the rhythm forced, the rhymes predictable, and the message scattered and unoriginal, none of which are trademarks for Yankovic. (I’m unfamiliar with Sherman). The world is lousy with bad parodies, though, and this one isn’t worse than average. I just got my hopes up with the Yankovic/Lehrer mentions :). ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2017, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-lehrer-alan-sherman-and-weird-al-would-be-proud/796045/6 "2017-09-11T10:37:22Z")
I think it was a worthy effort. “Crowds of four” paired up with the original’s “10,000 people, maybe more” was particularly exquisite. Yes, I think these guys can be proud. Loved the Garfunkel wig. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2017, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-lehrer-alan-sherman-and-weird-al-would-be-proud/796045/7 "2017-09-11T10:47:39Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > Lehrer wrote original works, albeit in a trite musical style. Sherman & Yankovic took non-original songs and just altered the lyrics. Credit where credit is due - Yankovic also writes a lot of good original stuff; it’s just that the parodies get more attention. For example, my daughter of late has had the Captain Underpants movie theme playing on heavy rotation. It’s very good, but too much of a good thing, is still too much… ---
**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:** [September 11, 2017, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-lehrer-alan-sherman-and-weird-al-would-be-proud/796045/8 "2017-09-11T12:15:18Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > Lehrer wrote original works, albeit in a trite musical style. Sherman & Yankovic took non-original songs and just altered the lyrics. (_Mad_ Magazine did this, too.) _Confounds the Science_ is closer to S & Y or\* Mad\* than Lehrer. In this style of parody, making the new lyrics sound similar to the old, but with a different meaning, is the goal. I’d say these dudes come pretty close. Lehrer would also adapt existing songs to his own satirical purpose. His _Elements Song_ is just Gilbert and Sullivan’s _I am the Very Model of a Modern Major General_ with new lyrics. Arguably his most blatant was his ripoff of Danny Kaye’s _Stanislavsky_ to make _Lobachevsky_, the song about Russian mathematicians, right down to Kaye’s fake Russian accent. > **[Lobachevsky (song)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobachevsky_(song))** > > "Lobachevsky" is a humorous song by Tom Lehrer, referring to the mathematician Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky. > According to Lehrer, the song is "not intended as a slur on \[Lobachevsky's\] character" and the name was chosen "solely for prosodic reasons". > In the introduction, Lehrer describes the song as an adaptation of a routine that Danny Kaye did to honor the Russian actor Constantin Stanislavski. (The Danny Kaye routine is sung from the perspective of a famous Russian actor who learns and appli... ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2017, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-lehrer-alan-sherman-and-weird-al-would-be-proud/796045/9 "2017-09-11T12:25:02Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Lehrer would also adapt existing songs to his own satirical purpose. His _Elements Song_ is just Gilbert and Sullivan’s _I am the Very Model of a Modern Major General_ with new lyrics. Arguably his most blatant was his ripoff of Danny Kaye’s _Stanislavsky_ to make _Lobachevsky_, the song about Russian mathematicians, right down to Kaye’s fake Russian accent. > > [Lobachevsky (song) - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobachevsky_(song)) He didn’t rip off Danny Kaye; he merely…conducted research. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2017, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-lehrer-alan-sherman-and-weird-al-would-be-proud/796045/10 "2017-09-11T12:38:37Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Arguably [Lehrer’s] most blatant was his ripoff of Danny Kaye’s _Stanislavsky_ to make _Lobachevsky_, the song about Russian mathematicians, right down to Kaye’s fake Russian accent. Arguably part of the joke, since it was a song about plagiarism. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2017, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-lehrer-alan-sherman-and-weird-al-would-be-proud/796045/11 "2017-09-11T13:05:35Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Arguably his most blatant was his ripoff of Danny Kaye’s _Stanislavsky_ to make _Lobachevsky_, the song about Russian mathematicians, right down to Kaye’s fake Russian accent. Is it valid to call it a “ripoff” when Lehrer [calls attention](http://www.lyricsfreak.com/t/tom+lehrer/lobachevsky_20138409.html) to the Danny Kaye song in the intro? ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2017, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-lehrer-alan-sherman-and-weird-al-would-be-proud/796045/12 "2017-09-11T15:34:49Z")
Moved to Cafe Society ---
**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:** [September 11, 2017, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-lehrer-alan-sherman-and-weird-al-would-be-proud/796045/13 "2017-09-11T16:10:23Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Arguably part of the joke, since it was a song about plagiarism. 🙂 Don’t think of it as plagarism, think of it as recycling. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2017, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-lehrer-alan-sherman-and-weird-al-would-be-proud/796045/14 "2017-09-11T17:26:08Z")
Seems like the genius of Weird Al is not being properly recognized here. He does not merely rewrite lyrics. Let’s say Al wanted to do a Bob Dylan parody. Ok, make the video look like Subteranean Homesick Blues- that’s easy. But what about the song? What to parody? Dylan gets some flack for his out there lyrics, so it should have wacky lyrics. But what’s the hook? “Bob” is a palindrome, those are wacky. So the song features lyrics where every line is a palindrome. Genius, I say. The song itself isn’t a direct parody, it sounds remeniscient of Tombstone Blues to me. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/JUQDzj6R3p4/maxresdefault.jpg ""Weird Al" Yankovic - Bob") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUQDzj6R3p4) ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2017, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-lehrer-alan-sherman-and-weird-al-would-be-proud/796045/15 "2017-09-11T17:33:44Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > _Confounds the Science_ is closer to S & Y or\* Mad\* than Lehrer. Substitute [Mark Russell](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypymexDn6JM) for Tom Lerher. 🙂