Oh, thanks, good to know the long-term memory is still kicking in. Now, where did I put my teacup?
So the songs were written for the weekly show, and then amalgamated into the “year” album. I wonder who sang them on the original show, since it clearly wasn’t him.
Agreed.
A great deal of mostly justifiable anger, turned into excellent twists of words; which he set free as one of his last acts.
I was around for That Was the Week That Was and I think that introduced me to Lehrer. He was the greatest. If the dictionary had a picture next to the word “wit” it would be of Lehrer.
I bought all his albums, of course, and I even have a 10" version of his original Songs by Tom Lehrer, although it’s the fourth pressing.
Full on Catholic family (didn’t take, though). All three of his albums, Allan Sherman records and Mad Magazine were part of my life even before the first grade.
I was really hoping he would make 100.
So long, Tom…
I remember going to see Tomfoolery in San Francisco ages ago, and the performer who sang The Elements sang it twice - once slowly, and once full speed - while using a long pointer stick (that simply must have a real name) to point out the respective elements on a large periodic table behind him. For the full speed version, he didn’t even turn to look at the table, but remarkably managed to hit every single element without looking. It was hilarious.
Also, when our youngest was in high school, they impressed their chemistry teacher by singing The Elements.
Nice!
I don’t think Mr Lehrer would approve if this thread were pure hagiography. 
Undisputed master of the fractured rhyme! What talent. I don’t think anyone could do musical satire/commentary/humor like he did.
I absolutely agree.
And i think he stopped performing in part because he was no longer as good an audience for his songs as he had been when he recorded them.
His website says “This website will be shut down at some date in the not too distant future, so if you want to download anything, don’t wait too long.” I wonder if he posted that because he knew he was old, and expected it to go down shortly after he died?
I learned of him from an old Uni prof who played a song of his many years and became a fan, he’s pretty cool. However, I’m quite glad that we, in fact, did not all go together when he passed. Cheers Lehrer.
True in some states. Five songs banned in South Australia, and Vatican Rag also looked down upon. Despite, and perhaps because of that ban he was popular in Australia.
His two 10" records stayed right through to the final cull of my collection, but the CD box set is still there and will be cracked open later on this sad day.
My introduction to Tom Lehrer was in 10th grade, when our Chemistry teacher played “The Elements” for us in class one day. I loved it, so I asked him who the artist was. Later, I went home and mentioned it to my parents over dinner: “Mr. Robinson played music from this cool, funny guy named Tom Lehrer in class today. Have you ever heard of him?”
“Hold on a minute,” my dad said, and disappeared into the other room. He returned with three Lehrer albums, which he gave me. I loved everything on them! I didn’t discover Dr. Demento until a couple years later in college, and was glad to learn there was even more music I hadn’t heard yet.
RIP, professor. You made a lot of people laugh–and think.
An awful debility,
A lessened utility,
A loss of mobility
Is a strong possibility.
In all probability
I’ll lose my virility
And you your fertility
And desirability,
And this liability
Of total sterility
Will lead to hostility
And a sense of futility,
So let’s act with agility
While we still have facility,
For we’ll soon reach senility
And lose the ability.
While enjoying our compatibility,
I am cognizant of its fragility,
And I question the advisability
Of relying on its durability.
You’re aware ofmy inflexibility
And my quintessential volatility
And the total inconceivability
Of my showing genuine humility.
Though your undeniable nubility
May excuse a certain puerility,
Your alleged indispensability
Underestimates my versatility,
And your boyish irresponsibility
And what now is charming juvenility
Will in time lose their adorability
And appear much more like imbecility.
The one that always left me cold, despite my best efforts, was “New Math.” As someone who learned subtraction via the “look for the four in the tens place” method, I could never get past my initial reaction of “He’s just using fast-paced tongue-twisting lyrics to make it sound more confusing than it is!”
(OTOH, Lehrer deserves credit for keeping the memory of “the old math” alive - without that song, I doubt anyone under 40 would know that the “three from two is nine” method ever existed.)
In a 2003 interview he noted “I’m not tempted to write a song about George W.Bush. I couldn’t figure out what sort of song I would write. That’s the problem: I don’t want to satirise George Bush and his puppeteers, I want to vaporise them.”
Probably more like anyone under 60. “New Math” was introduced in the late '50s and was fairly widespread by the mid '60s. I’m well over 60 and learned “New Math” in elementary school. My parents wondered out loud while they were helping me with homework, “What is this stuff?” Dad was an engineer by education and profession and thought it was unnecessarily fussy. Mom, the teacher, gently explained to me that in their day, they learned subtraction by rote, rather than ‘learning the concepts’.
Damn. I loved his songs. Still to this day whenever I hear “Vatican Rag” I feel an overwhelming urge to get up and dance maniacally.
I’m glad he had a long and fulfilling life.
And genuflect, genuflect, genuflect!
First time I heard that I burst out in guffaws,
I shall remember these words of wisdom and hold them close to my heart for the rest of my days:
“Six parts gin to one part vermouth.”