I was introduced to T.L. by my beloved high school chemistry teacher, who used to sing “The Elements” (obviously) and other songs for us constantly. The fact that the teacher died very suddenly of Leukemia soon after I started his class kind of cemented those memories in my head forever. ::Raises glass to Mr. G…::
I’ve sung that in public before, too! In my case it was an opera outreach program done for high school students…it may have been a bit much for them at the time 
When correctly viewed
Anything is lewd
I can tell you things about Peter Pan
And the Wizard of Oz,
There’s a dirty old man
from Smut (I have a cause. Pornography. I’m for it.)
His first album was self-released, and became a tremendous hit. Dixie, The Old Dope Peddler and My Home Town were all written in the late '40s and very early '50s, which is astounding. I first heard of him while watching “That Was the Week that Was” which he wrote the songs on That Was the Year that Was for. About 1965 he got in trouble playing Vatican Rag for a PBS Ch. 13 in New York fund raiser.
If you listen to other satirists of the day, like Stan Freberg and Flanders and Swann, you find a lot were writing songs about the same things. But Lehrer was best by far.
Not only that, but it was released as a cheapo 10" album rather than the standard 12" LP. I found one in a second hand bin and snatched that mother up, as the kiddies say.
I’m just old enough to have watched and understood most of the references in “That Was The Week That Was” when it originally aired in 1964-5. Probably the first real satire I ever saw. Hooked me for life.
Nobody seems to relate The Daily Show to TW[sup]3[/sup] but the line of descent seems clear as day to me.
One thing on which you can depend is
He sure knew who a boy’s best friend is
“Dr. Gall’s faith in his invention was so dramatically vindicated last year, as you no doubt recall, when, for the first time in history in a nationwide poll, the gall bladder was voted among the top ten organs. His educational career began, interestingly enough, in agricultural school, where he majored in animal husbandry, until they… caught him at it one day…”
This site not only has Lehrer song lyrics, but ones to the original songs he lampooned as well as Lehrer song intro repartee (good stuff).
I still remember my introduction to Lehrer’s music: on the last day of chemistry class in my junior year in high school, we’d finished the final and had two hours to kill, so the teacher spent some of the time introducing us to this odd funny music. He played “The Elements” (of course), “The Irish Ballad,” and several others. I was hooked. I wrote down Lehrer’s name so I wouldn’t forget it, then went home.
At dinner that night, I happened to mention to my parents that my teacher had played Lehrer during class, and wondered aloud if I would be able to find any of his records. My dad said, “Just a minute.” He went to the closet where he and my mom kept all their oldie records and came back with two albums (“Songs by Tom Lehrer” and “An Evening (Wasted) with Tom Lehrer”)! I was amazed! My parents (wonderful folks but never what you’d call paragons of cool, though my dad’s a nerd and passed on his nerdiness to me) actually had something this nifty. 
Needless to say I immediately appropriated the records, made my own recordings, and proceeded to overdose (along with my friend, another budding Lehrer fan) on weirdness.
It wasn’t until college that I got “That Was the Year That Was,” but it was a nice treat as well.
Now I’ve got the urge to go listen to some Lehrer…it’s been too long.
Oh, man, where to start???
This line in In Old Mexico always cracks us up:
For there is surely nothing more beautiful in this world than the sight of a lone man facing single-handedly a half a ton of angry pot roast!
From Clementine:
well, supposing at this point that Mozart (or one of that crowd)
And from Who’s Next:
*Egypt’s gonna get one, too,
Just to use on you know who.
So Israel’s getting tense,
Wants one in self defense.
«The Lord’s our shepherd,» says the psalm,
But just in case, we better get a bomb!
Who’s next?
*
And from New Math:
*And so you’ve got thirteen tens
And you take away seven,
And that leaves five…
Well, six actually…
But the idea is the important thing!*
Zev Steinhardt
I first heard TL in while in Boy Scouts. I only half-understood what I was hearing, but damn, it was some real good stuff. Still, and because of that, ‘Be Prepared’ is my favorite song of his, but ‘Lobachevsky’ is a REAL close second. What a Magnificent Bastard you are Mr. Lehrer!
I don’t know why but this one always stuck in my head:
Plagiarize,
Let no one else’s work evade your eyes,
Remember why the good Lord made your eyes,
So don’t shade your eyes,
But plagiarize, plagiarize, plagiarize -
Only be sure always to call it please ‘research’
I was a big fan of his since “That Was the Year That Was” when I was a kid. I’ve made my comments clear on my web page.
Incidently, if you want do hear some previously unreleased Tom Lehrer songs, visit The Physical Revue online.
I’ll agree with those above that he does great things with rhyme. One of my favorites, in large part because of the unexpected line breaks:
Smut
Give me smut and nothing but
A dirty novel I can’t shut
If it’s uncut
and un-su(b)t
-tle.
Fight fiercely, Harvard!
Fight, fight, fight!
Demonstrate to them our skill!
Albeit they possess the might,
Nonetheless we have the will!
Okay, it wasn’t our real fight song, but it should have been.
One of the best things about reading the NY Times is that at least one of their headline writers is a Lehrer fan. The headline for the review of a book on homosexuality at Harvard was “Invite the whole team up for tea.” There have been lots of other examples.
Folk Song Army and the Vatican Rag - my two favorites.
My Top Three are National Brotherhood Week, The Vatican Rag, and New Math.
Being a self-described Catholic Mexican Jew Lizard combination of mixed parentage, reading too much Penny Arcade, and my admitidly twisted sense of humor), I LOL’d at “And everyone hates the Jews!” because TL managed to telegraph the line during the verse. It was just the only thing that would possibly fit at that point in the song, and I found myself thinking it just as he sang it.
Vatican Rag is just funny for “First you get down on your knees, fiddle with your rosaries! Bow your head with great respect and… Genuflect Genuflect Genuflect!” Although now I run the risk of singing that in church, which would go over GREAT with my mother during Mass.
New Math is funny because it’s the only Tom Lehrer song where I can’t keep up with the lyrics, being that so many of them are just numbers being thrown around like midgets in a bullfight. And of course, the “Base Eight is just like Base Ten…” line cracks me up due to the delivery.
Alma, tell us!
How can they help being jealous?
Ducks always envy the swans
Who get Gustav and Walter,
you never did falter,
With Gustav and Walter and Franz.
We will all go together when we go,
Every Hottentot and every Eskimo…
When the air becomes uranious-
We shall all go simultaneous!
That’s my fav.
I also like Pollution, the Vatican Rag and the Elements, as well as the Boy Scout Song (Be Prepared). I grew up with Tom Lehrer. Glad to see so many fans here.
My favorite!!!
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.
My goal in life is to memorize The Elements.
I used to sneak “An Irish Ballad” in at bardic circles late at night when everybody was drunk and all the period nazis were tucked safely in their beds–my favorite verse:
She weighted her brother down with stones,
a-Rickety-tickety-tin,
She weighted her brother down with stones,
And sent him off to Davy Jones.
All they ever found were some bones,
And occasional pieces of skin, of skin,
Occasional pieces of skin.
“Poisoning Pigeons in the Park” makes me dissolve into helpless giggles every time I hear it. My son decided, quite on his own, to choose an SCA name that began with Nikolai Ivanovich and he was quite perplexed when I chimed right in with “Lobachevsky was his name, HEY!” The second husband was an adult Boy Scout and he used to get annoyed with me when I’d sing “Be Prepared,” especially this line:
Keep those reefers hidden where you’re sure that they will not be found,
And be careful not to smoke them when the scoutmaster’s around,
For he only will insist that they be shared, be prepared!
but then again, he was in complete denial about his friends, their habits, and how much they knew about his!
Tom Lehrer is a bloody genius…
There’s nothing like Clementine for its verbal fireworks at the end:
To end on a happy note, one can always count on Gilbert and Sullivan for a rousing finale, full of words and music and signifying nothing.
That I missed her depressed her young sister named Esther,
This mister to pester she tried.
Now her pestering sister’s a festering blister,
You’re best to resist her, say I.
The mister resisted, the sister persisted,
I kissed her, all loyalty slipped.
When she said I could have her, her sisters cadaver
Must surely have turned in its crypt.
Yes, yes, yes, yes!
But I love she and she loves me.
Enraptured are the both of we.
Yes I love she and she loves I
And will through all eternity!
You too can be a big hero, once you learn to count backwards to zero…