Posted on 05/20/2008 12:53:37 PM PDT by jwalburg
My husband loves this guy. He is really good.
Tom Lehrer is the one exception to the rule that Liberals have no humor. His sense of humor is greatly underappreciated.
“New math”, “Alma”, “Whatever happened to Hubert?” and the “Vatican Rag” are sill priceless.
If he’s still around, he has to be late-80 year old. Anybody know what happpened to Tom?
I think so, too.
Sounds like he might still be around Santa Cruz: from Wikipedia — In 2001, Lehrer taught his last math class (on the topic of Infinity) and retired from academia. [11] He has remained in the area, and still “hangs out” around the University of California, Santa Cruz.[12]
Let’s not forget the “Silent E” song.
Who can turn a can into a cane?
Who can turn a pan into a pane?
It’s not too hard to see
It’s silent E
I am a public high school teacher of Advanced Placement History. On May 9 just passed all high school kids took the same test for college credit.
Just before my kids went into the test room (I could not be present) I reminded them, “always remember, minorities and women most affected”.
It’s the easiest way to get a good score on the big essay.
That’s a great animation to the song. I haven’t heard that one in a long time.
Let’s not forget the “Silent E” song.
Who can turn a can into a cane?
Who can turn a pan into a pane?
It’s not too hard to see
It’s silent E
I don’t remember that one, but I remember Pollution, Pollution.
Liberals have made sure that no one is able to learn from their (or others’) mistakes -
they make the rest of us pay for the consequences of those choices, thereby obliterating the effect of the lesson.
Ah, Age of Destruction. Those were the days. He actually had some pretty decent Christian songs after his conversion. Meek Willy was a good one. Quite a contrast to Age of Destruction.
He was a very witty guy who could rhyme anything. Lehrer even made a credible song out of the Periodic Table! I always assumed he was a political liberal (and may well be, for all I know) but this article by Art Marmorstein makes a good case for Lehrer's songs from the '60's being a perfect portrait as well as a send-up of the narcissistic youth that dominated pop culture back then. Tom Lehrer was apparently even witter and certainly more trenchant that I ever realized.
Good catch. Thanks.
Someone posted above the very song you mentioned, complete with a very cool animation of the words: http://www.privatehand.com/flash/elements.html
Base eight is just like base ten - - if you're missing two fingers."
Still cracks me up just thinking about it.
. . . it's done to a Gilbert & Sullivan patter song tune, more or less ("The Modern Major General") and you can jam almost anything into the tune if you sing it fast enough.
" . . . and these are all the ones of which the news has come to Hahvahd,
< very fast > and there may be many others but they haven't been dis-CAH-vahd. < shave and a haircut, two bits > "
The man is an absolute hoot! We have all his records (on both CD and 33 as well as a strange little undersized 33) and the book that he wrote with Ronald Searle ("Too Many Songs by Tom Lehrer, with Not Enough Pictures by Ronald Searle").
Forgot about that part.
It’s so simple, so very simple, that only a child can do it!
How many records did he put out? I think we only have That was the Week that Was and one other one. I’ll look for the book. Sounds great.
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