# Tom Lehrer **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 13, 2004, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-lehrer/279577 "2004-12-13T10:41:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**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:** [December 14, 2004, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-lehrer/279577/41 "2004-12-14T01:26:01Z")
My wife and I knew we were compatible since we both had memorized most of the songs. Our dedication can be shown by the fact that when she was pregnant, we went to see the previews of Tomfoolery at the Top of the Village Gate. Why the preview? When a woman at our table asked when she was due, she truthfully answered “today.” When correctly viewed, everything is lewd. Words I’ve always lived by. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-lehrer/279577/42 "2004-12-14T03:02:28Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > I wish I had the talent with rhyming he did. Even the songs he did for _The Electric Company_ had some kick-ass rhymes in them. For instance, in the “S N” song: _I love to sniffle, It surely feels nice; Just one handkerchief’ll Never suffice!_ ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-lehrer/279577/43 "2004-12-14T09:54:12Z")
> [@Reno Nevada](#): > > He is, or at least in the late 80’s was on the Math faculty at UC Santa Cruz, where I was pursuing a graduate degree in computer science. Is. Or at least, is still listed on their website in the faculty directory. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-lehrer/279577/44 "2004-12-14T09:56:39Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > Any fans of TL should also do themselves the favor of investigating the brilliant British team of **Flanders and Swann** , who preceded him by a few years, but are stylistically very similar. Now, see, that was MY post. Definitely check them out - not quite so satirical or politically topical, but brilliant lyrics and catchy songs: Michael Flanders was the lyricist, Donald Swann the songwriter. Still available on CD. As a completely trivial aside, Swann also recorded an album of several of Tolkien’s songs from LOTR, for which he composed the music: one of these was “The Road Goes Ever On”. In the movie of Fellowship Of The Ring, as Bilbo finally leaves Bag End, he is quietly singing Donald Swann’s arrangement of the song. A tiny little touch, but pure mastery. Other recommendations? Stan Freberg is still pretty funny - again, topical {1950’s} but not mostly non-political - great send-ups of TV Westerns and Rock & Roll. Compilations still available on Rhino, last time I looked. Mostly non-musical, but still untouchable in terms of sheer jaw-dropping, blasphemous, scatological, offensive hilarity are Peter Cook and Dudley Moore’s “Derek and Clive” recordings from the 60’s - basically they used to get pissed, sneak into the BBC recording studios at night, and ad-lib brilliantly funny filth. Also still available on CD. And lastly, The Simpsons: Songs In The Key Of Springfield and Go Simpsonic With The Simpsons {Rhino, I think} are recordings of somgs and musical interludes taken from TV episodes, and divorced from the images, allow you to appreciate just how brilliant Alf Clausen’s songwriting and the writers’ lyrics were. They stand up in comparison with anything: See my loafers? Former gophers. It was that Or skin my chauffers. Imagne the sheer joy at being able to write lines like that. Peter Cook and Dudley Moore’s ---
**Author:** ![Long\_Time\_First\_Time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@Long\_Time\_First\_Time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Long_Time_First_Time)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-lehrer/279577/45 "2004-12-14T15:23:19Z")
Second the support of Clausen. My favorite from the Simpson’ Planet of the Ape Musical: " I hate every ape I see, from Chimp-an-a to Chimp-an -zee" This Tom Lehrer forced me to give up my months of lurking and respond. I was raised on Lehrer, and absolutely love him to this day. My dad has published some song parodies and, at 85, he still wants to be Tom Lehrer when he grows up. I was under the impression that Lehrer had passed away, so it’s good news to hear that he’s still above dirt. HI everbody! ---
**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:** [December 14, 2004, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-lehrer/279577/46 "2004-12-14T16:26:16Z")
Another “If you like …you might also like…” is Anna Russell. Her preferred subject is classical music, but although it will help to be familiar with the works and genres mentioned it’s not absolutely necessary. Her take on Wagner’s Ring cycle is very funny indeed. ---
**Author:** ![sagitta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/76d3ee/32.png) [@sagitta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sagitta)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-lehrer/279577/47 "2004-12-14T21:44:37Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > Any fans of TL should also do themselves the favor of investigating the brilliant British team of **Flanders and Swann** , who preceded him by a few years, but are stylistically very similar. Stylistically, but not so much substantially: see [what Michael Flanders had to say about satire](http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?FlandersAndSwann). ---
**Author:** ![sagitta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/76d3ee/32.png) [@sagitta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sagitta)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-lehrer/279577/48 "2004-12-14T22:05:02Z")
Oh, and [Lehrer told _The Onion_](http://www.theavclub.com/feature/index.php?issue=3619&f=1): _My favorite dead comedians: Bob & Ray, Nichols & May, Flanders & Swann [Bob Elliott, Mike Nichols, and Elaine May are still alive. —ed.]_ [That’s _The Onion_’s ed., not one of ours —Sagitta] ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-lehrer/279577/49 "2004-12-14T23:46:12Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Another “If you like …you might also like…” is Anna Russell. Her preferred subject is classical music, but although it will help to be familiar with the works and genres mentioned it’s not absolutely necessary. Her take on Wagner’s Ring cycle is very funny indeed. _“The story opens in the Rhine river. In it.”_ ---
**Author:** ![look\_ninjas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b2d939/32.png) [@look\_ninjas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/look_ninjas)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-lehrer/279577/50 "2004-12-14T23:54:05Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > One more rare song, which I don’t believe has ever been recorded - The Boston Subway Song. Isaac Asimov quotes the lyrics at the beginning of In Joy Still Felt, the second volume of his first autobiography. It lists the stations of the Boston Red line, which went to Harvard and MIT, to the tune of the song mother. At the end it goes “Put them all together, they spell HCKCP…” (the initials of the stations), "which is what Boston means to me. " It comes out as a spit. Actually, there must be a recording of this song, because I’ve heard it before. Judging by by some dialogue after the song, it was recorded during an interview. The interview itself was probably being conducted by a Harvard student (at one point, the interviewer says something like “It’s still true today”). I’ll see if I can find out more about it. “P is Pack Street, busy Boston Center And W is Washington, you see. Put them all together, and they spell (makes spitting sound) Which is just about what Boston means to me.” ---
**Author:** ![YellowTail](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/b5ac83/32.png) [@YellowTail](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YellowTail)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2004, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-lehrer/279577/51 "2004-12-15T00:53:52Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > No one since W.S. Gilbert even comes close to Lerher as a lyracist. His rhymes are simply brilliant. I recently read an interview with Mr. Lerher where he said Sondheim was the best songwriter ever. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2004, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-lehrer/279577/52 "2004-12-16T00:36:32Z")
> [@look!ninjas](#): > > > [@Voyager](#): > > > > One more rare song, which I don’t believe has ever been recorded - The Boston Subway Song. > > Actually, there must be a recording of this song, because I’ve heard it before. Judging by by some dialogue after the song, it was recorded during an interview. The interview itself was probably being conducted by a Harvard student (at one point, the interviewer says something like “It’s still true today”). [http://www.geocities.com/Vienna/7784/nonalbum.htm](http://www.geocities.com/Vienna/7784/nonalbum.htm) says > [@](#): > > he performed this live during an interview on WTBS, the MIT radio station, which is now WMBR. The interview was aired 10-20-65, and also featured … some songs from his album _That Was The Year That Was_, which he was promoting at the time. The interviewer does say “It’s still very, very, true.” Dr. Demento has played it a few times. ---
**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:** [December 16, 2004, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-lehrer/279577/53 "2004-12-16T01:03:45Z")
> [@look!ninjas](#): > > "P is Pack Street, busy Boston Center That’s Park. But probably pronounced Pahhhhk, so I can understand your spelling. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-lehrer/279577.md?page=2)