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Tom Lehrer, Musical Satirist With a Dark Streak, Dies at 97
NYT ^ | 7/27/25 | Peter Keepnews and Richard Severo

Posted on 07/27/2025 9:59:50 AM PDT by Borges

Tom Lehrer, the Harvard-trained mathematician whose wickedly iconoclastic songs made him a favorite satirist in the 1950s and ’60s on college campuses and in all the Greenwich Villages of the country, died on Saturday at his home in Cambridge, Mass. He was 97.

His death was confirmed by David Herder, a friend.

Mr. Lehrer’s lyrics were nimble, sometimes salacious and almost always sardonic, sung to music that tended to be maddeningly cheerful. Accompanying himself on piano, he performed in nightclubs, in concert and on records that his admirers purchased, originally by mail order only, in the hundreds of thousands.

But his entertainment career ultimately took a back seat to academia. In his heart he never quit his day job; he just took a few sabbaticals.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Music/Entertainment
KEYWORDS: deadleftist; harvard; lehrer; massachusetts; tomlehrer
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To: Borges

Here’s his most requested song:

https://youtu.be/I9C2v1oLXQo?si=292gfZScmvIIcsoy

Most requested to not play, that is.


21 posted on 07/27/2025 10:35:51 AM PDT by Disambiguator
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To: Borges

LOVED HIM. Years ago, John Backus of FORTRAN and Backus-Naur fame got his team together after work to watch a lot of my Tom Lehrer videos. Good memory.

NCIS - The Elements
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mlk2ZY-0Gn4

Starsky and Hutch - Fight Fiercely Harvard
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRq9yUTsKOo

Star Trek - New Math
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgE0HQtxpTc

Get Smart - Poisoning Pigeons In The Park
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgWsWvxzJa0

Simon and Simon - Old Mexico
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJNUYTNe9SM

Blakes 7 - We’ll All Go Together
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMixeJSlBNQ

Star Trek - Proud to be a Soldier
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UuGXSNSdy4

Blakes 7 - Old Dope Peddlar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_vS0iyTxTU

The Professionals - Send the Marines
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ca1iQ-ZJ6Mw

The Professionals - Hunting Song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kz9Z3Iud89A

Get Smart - Pollution
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKFwMhy7lpw

Starsky and Hutch - Vatican Rag
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxRVaWTW_wo

Blakes 7 - Be Prepared
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiAlbkTstwo

Blakes 7 - Masochism Tango
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5O1tfNmnNNs

Starsky and Hutch - Be Prepared
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UemjhMIA4AA

Man from Uncle - So Long Mom
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGrNCn4roe0

Mixed - Old and Grey
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SbIZ2_SxHI

Get Smart - LY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjTiGCSizhI

Blakes 7 - Poisoning Pidgeons
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sktz70MACQ

The Professionals - Be Prepared
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDYShSoK4JM

Cadfael - The Old Dope Peddler
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6SnV20UB-o

Farscape - Oedipus Rex
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZ9NzIkm9SE

Blakes 7 - Fight Fiercely Harvard
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vc-RHm3Tq8M

Farscape - New Math
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNCPnPQK06k

Due South - Masochism Tango
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdTqeruRdis


22 posted on 07/27/2025 10:39:11 AM PDT by mairdie
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To: Borges

I do remember him but I don’t know where I would’ve seen him but I’m pretty sure I did see him on some tv shows. Can’t find it on the net though.

Those days, even though if was leftist stuff, somehow are far more intelligent, intellectual, than what we have now.

Somehow makes me think of guys like William F. Buckley.


23 posted on 07/27/2025 10:42:22 AM PDT by Beowulf9
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To: Borges

Poisoning Pigeons in the Park!


24 posted on 07/27/2025 10:51:04 AM PDT by 6ppc (During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act -George Orwell)
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To: Borges

Unfunny and juvenile after the third hearing. But he made some people feel smart and hip, and I guess they cherished him for that.


25 posted on 07/27/2025 10:52:06 AM PDT by Romulus ( )
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To: Allegra

‘Who’s Next’.

It seems a little odd to have laughed at that, when we were kneeling under our little desks during bombing drills...

But humans are resilient.


26 posted on 07/27/2025 10:53:06 AM PDT by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, if you can keep it.")
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To: mairdie

Tomorrow Lehrer bookmark.


27 posted on 07/27/2025 10:54:43 AM PDT by 6ppc (During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act -George Orwell)
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To: Beowulf9

He was contracted to write songs for “That Was the Week That Was,” an NBC satirical show based on a BBC show. He appeared on occasion.


28 posted on 07/27/2025 11:02:13 AM PDT by Publius
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To: Beowulf9

He reminds me of Mark Russell, who says Tom Lehrer was an influence.


29 posted on 07/27/2025 11:05:18 AM PDT by BradyLS (DO NOT FEED THE BEARS!)
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To: Jamestown1630

I worked in a war zone for a few years. Gallows humor was the norm there and got us through it. I remember once when mortars were landing very close to and rocking our office trailer, we were all under our desks (like particleboard is going to do any good, but it made us feel safer…LOL) and one of the guys started taking pictures of us from under his desk. We found that hilarious for some reason and it generated much needed laughter from us all.


30 posted on 07/27/2025 11:05:49 AM PDT by Allegra (Thank you for your attention to this matter. )
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To: Borges

TL could be quite funny sometimes, we will miss him


31 posted on 07/27/2025 11:06:26 AM PDT by faithhopecharity ("Politicians aren't born, they're excreted." Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 to 43 BCE))
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To: Allegra

I think emergency medical service people have a lot of ‘gallows humor’ too.


32 posted on 07/27/2025 11:07:36 AM PDT by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, if you can keep it.")
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Bookmarking


33 posted on 07/27/2025 11:07:42 AM PDT by RandallFlagg (Democrats should have been barred from elections since The Battle Of Athens.)
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To: Calvin Cooledge
An awful debility, a lessened utility, a loss of mobility? 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 or we’ll soon reach senility and lose the ability.

34 posted on 07/27/2025 11:10:46 AM PDT by HIDEK6 (God bless Donald Trump)
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To: Borges

RIP Tom Lehrer! Was singing “we’ll all go together when we go” just the other day. Can’t remember why!

Oh, there will be no more misery
When the world is a rostissere
We all will go together when we go!


35 posted on 07/27/2025 11:24:55 AM PDT by jocon307 (DEMOCRATS DELENDA EST)
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To: Borges
I have enjoyed Lehrer's music since I was in elementary school (60s). I still carry a collection of his music on my cell phone. He will be missed.
36 posted on 07/27/2025 11:25:20 AM PDT by Myrddin
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To: Jamestown1630

Absolutely. And first responders in general.


37 posted on 07/27/2025 11:26:22 AM PDT by Allegra (Thank you for your attention to this matter. )
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To: Borges

RIP Tom. I loved his songs, especially Poisoning the Pigeons in the Park.


38 posted on 07/27/2025 11:28:42 AM PDT by NewHampshireDuo ( )
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To: Borges

He was great, another favorite I didn’t see posted:

https://youtu.be/lCveIYSwLqk?si=U7kDSWdA6anm5HCm

National Brotherhood Week


39 posted on 07/27/2025 11:30:13 AM PDT by skepsel ("A cat is more intelligent than people believe, and can be taught any crime", Mark Twain.)
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To: mairdie

I remember every one of those songs. We listened to Tom Leher all the time when we were kids. My favorite was Vatican Rag.


40 posted on 07/27/2025 11:39:20 AM PDT by wjcsux (On 3/14/1883 Karl Marx gave humanity his best gift, he died. )
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