[HerrBlucher]

I liked Folk Song Army a lot better, which I think is his best work.

When I was an Atheist I thought Vatican rag was funny but now I think it is offensive, especially the sarcastic references to the Eucharist. But I am for free speech, and so if he wants to write garbage like that then so be it.

[NurdlyPeon]

Tom Lehrer is the only man whose work I felt was worthy of being memorized. Memorizing “The Elements” was a bit tricky, but I like to think of it as a testimony to the depths that boredom can drive a man to. P.S. Also a Catholic here, no problem with Vatican Rag.

[Some Fat Guy in L.A.]

For some reason, Tom Lehrer’s song “The Irish Ballad” has been stuck in my head the last few days. God telling me to keep an eye on my daughter?

[ssaftler]

Tom Lehrer by a long shot. Weird Al has done some funny things in his day. A lot of his stuff, however, was a mere perversion of the lyrics of an actual song. Funny, yes, but my mother could “fracture” popular songs, although not to the success of Weird Al.

Professor Lehrer, on the other hand, (yes, he was a professor of mathematics in his day) wrote most of his lyrics from scratch and even did his own tunes from time to time. If I had to compare him to someone more contemporary, I’d have to go with Mark Russell.

By the way, thanks for the YouTube link to Daniel Radcliffe doing “The Elements”. A group of us were going to do that for a talent show at our engineering college back in the 1970s, but we just couldn’t get through the entire list without flubbing it or totally losing it.

[trebb]

Used to watch Lehrer in “That Was The Week That Was’ way back in the ‘60s - can still see him at his piano and seemingly making up the songs as he went.