Posted on 07/28/2025 2:27:50 PM PDT by Governor Dinwiddie
Tom Lehrer, the popular and erudite song satirist who lampooned marriage, politics, racism and the Cold War, then largely abandoned his music career to return to teaching math at Harvard and other universities, has died. He was 97.
Lehrer had remained on the math faculty of the University of California at Santa Cruz well into his late 70s. In 2020, he even turned away from his own copyright, granting the public permission to use his lyrics in any format without any fee in return.
A Harvard prodigy (he had earned a math degree from the institution at age 18), Lehrer soon turned his very sharp mind to old traditions and current events. His songs included “Poisoning Pigeons in the Park,” “The Old Dope Peddler” (set to a tune reminiscent of “The Old Lamplighter”), “Be Prepared” (in which he mocked the Boy Scouts) and “The Vatican Rag,” in which Lehrer, an atheist, poked at the rites and ceremonies of the Roman Catholic Church. (Sample lyrics: “Get down on your knees, fiddle with your rosaries. Bow your head with great respect, and genuflect, genuflect, genuflect.”)
Accompanying himself on piano, he performed the songs in a colorful style reminiscent of such musical heroes as Gilbert and Sullivan and Stephen Sondheim, the latter a lifelong friend. Lehrer was often likened to such contemporaries as Allen Sherman and Stan Freberg for his comic riffs on culture and politics and he was cited by Randy Newman and “Weird Al” Jankovic among others as an influence.
He mocked the forms of music he didn’t like (modern folk songs, rock ‘n’ roll and modern jazz), laughed at the threat of nuclear annihilation and denounced discrimination.
But he attacked in such an erudite, even polite, manner that almost no one objected.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
“I really have a yen, to go back once again
To the place where no one ever wears a frown
To see once more the super special just plain folks
In my home town.”
He seems like a very conventional group thinker, despite his undoubted brilliance; he checked all the boxes.
Are you talking about Lehrer, or was that meant for another thread? I ask because I know little about him, but Doomcock sings a lot of his songs on his Friday livestreams and the songs do seem pretty leftist.
Academics are insufferable leftists. Their claim to omniscience exempts them from having to produce.
Therefore they plunder.
I meant to type “Yes.”
Loved him. Had a couple of his comedy albums way back when. My two brothers and I could sing a few by heart. “Be prepared” was our favorite.
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