# Which Tom Lehrer album should I buy? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 20, 2002, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-tom-lehrer-album-should-i-buy/115091 "2002-06-20T16:29:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2002, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-tom-lehrer-album-should-i-buy/115091/21 "2002-06-21T19:51:03Z")
Speaking of tortured rhymes, which album has “Bright College Days”? Open up the spigot Pour the beer and swig it And Gaudeamus Igit- ur. And Soon you’ll be out amid the cold world’s strife Soon you’ll be sliding down the razor blade of life ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2002, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-tom-lehrer-album-should-i-buy/115091/22 "2002-06-21T20:23:01Z")
And “AN Evning Waste…” also has the “Masochism Tango” on it! _I ache for the touch of your lips, Dear, But much more for the touch of your whips, Dear. You can raise welts Like nobody else, As we dance to the Masochism Tango._ ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2002, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-tom-lehrer-album-should-i-buy/115091/23 "2002-06-22T00:59:58Z")
Now it’s fiesta time In Ak-ron Oh-hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh-iiiiii-o ---
**Author:** ![richardb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/96bed5/32.png) [@richardb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/richardb)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2002, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-tom-lehrer-album-should-i-buy/115091/24 "2002-06-22T02:42:23Z")
OK, a slight hijack here: > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jsc1953 \* > \*\*Speaking of tortured rhymes, which album has “Bright College Days”? > > Open up the spigot > Pour the beer and swig it > And Gaudeamus Igit- > ur. > \*\* I’ve been a Tom Lehrer fan for about 30 years now, and there’s one or two lyrics I’ve never figured out. This is one of them! What the f\*\*k does “Gaudeamus Igitur” mean? Or what’s the reference/joke? And if anyone really wants to contribute to my Tom Lehrer reference understanding, I think my very first post on these boards asked about the “Stanleyville” reference from _MLF Lullaby_: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=81383](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=81383) Answers to these will give me the same satisfaction I received after reading the lyrics from Tom Foolery and learning that the “Take us to your leader (sorry about that)” line from _Whatever Became of Hubert_ was a pun on the German “lieder”. Back to the OP: **Get them ALL!** ---
**Author:** ![dwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwyr/32/363_2.png) [@dwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwyr)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2002, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-tom-lehrer-album-should-i-buy/115091/25 "2002-06-22T02:59:59Z")
richardb As I understand it, Gaudeamus Igitur is a student drinking song written during the 18th century, which makes it kind of funny that it’s sometimes sung at graduation. As for Lehrer, I grew up listening to him and have all three of his original albums. They still make me laugh. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![pesch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pesch/32/4925_2.png) [@pesch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pesch)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2002, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-tom-lehrer-album-should-i-buy/115091/26 "2002-06-22T04:08:15Z")
That’s funny; I always thought he was singing something like “Golly I will zing to her” which means this song the intellectual equivalent to “Louie, Louie.” ---
**Author:** ![lawoot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@lawoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawoot)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2002, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-tom-lehrer-album-should-i-buy/115091/27 "2002-06-22T06:47:35Z")
_Gaudeamus Igitur_ it is… at least according to **Too Many Songs by Tom Lehrer** a book of Lehrer sheet music that I have (I am slowly learning to play **The Masochism Tango** ) from [The Annotated Pratchett File](http://www.co.uk.lspace.org/books/apf/equal-rites.html) : > [@](#): > > the old student’s (drinking) song ‘Gaudeamus Igitur’, written in 1781 by Christian Wilhelm Kindleben, a priest in Leipzig who got kicked out because of his student songs. The song is still in use at many universities and schools, where it gets sung during graduation ceremonies. The actual lyrics are: > > “Gaudeamus igitur, iuvenes dum sumus. > Post iucundam iuventutem, > Post molestam senectutem, > Nos habebit humus, nos habebit humus.” > > Which roughly translates to: > > “Let us be merry, therefore, whilst we are young men. > After the joys of youth, > After the pain of old age, > The ground will have us, the ground will have us.” ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2002, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-tom-lehrer-album-should-i-buy/115091/28 "2002-06-24T18:47:22Z")
More on “Gaudeamus Igitur” (since I brought it up) for the benefit of **richardb** …it was featured in the 1924 Sigmund Romberg operetta, _The Student Prince_. (I was raised on the soundtrack from the 1954 Mario Lanza movie, and will burst into a chorus of “Beloved” at the drop of a hat…) Anyway, it became a Hollywood cliche: if you want a shorthand way to establish that a scene is taking place on a college campus, just show an ivy-covered building, students clutching books walking to and fro, and play 4 bars of “Gaudeamus Igitur” on the soundtrack. Click [here](http://http://www.junis.ni.ac.yu/Engl/dno.htm) and you’ll hear what I mean. ---
**Author:** ![Zappo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b3f665/32.png) [@Zappo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zappo)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2002, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-tom-lehrer-album-should-i-buy/115091/29 "2002-06-24T19:15:07Z")
_I remember Sam! He was the villiage idiot And though it seems a pity it Was so He loved to burn down houses just to watch the glow But nothing could be done Because he was the mayor’s son_ Haven’t listened to Tom for awhile. I think I’ll break out the CD’s tonight. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-tom-lehrer-album-should-i-buy/115091.md?page=1)