Tom Lehrer: Difference between revisions

* [[Anti-Love Song]]: Numerous examples.

* [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking]]: The final verse of "The Irish Ballad":

Her [[Understatement|little prank]] she did not deny<br />

For to do so she would have had to lie...<br />

* [[Creator Backlash]]: One of the reasons he retired was that he grew to despise touring to perform his songs.

* [[Creator Breakdown]]: The reason he stopped doing political satire was apparently because the politicians became too corrupt. He abandoned his singing career before [[Richard Nixon]] was even President, and things [[It Got Worse|haven't gotten better...]]

** That's part of the reason, but not the entire reason. There's also the fact that the political issues of later eras became much more complex, and it's hard to get good laughs out of a song that presents both sides of the issue. [http://www.casualhacker.net/tom.lehrer/jmazner/lehrhtml.html Here]'s a piece that has a lot more elaboration from Lehrer. That said, the devolution of politics certainly has not made Lehrer any more enthusiastic about the idea of writing music.

* [[Creepy Souvenir]]: "I Hold Your Hand in Mine"

* [[December-December Romance]]: Satirized in "When You Are Old and Gray".

* [[Do Not Pass Go]]: "We Will All Go Together When We Go" (singing about the global nuclear holocaust) has:

''Go directly, do not pass Go, do not collect 200 [[Painful Rhyme|dollas]].'' }}

* [[Filk Song]]: Virtually everything he wrote has been adopted as "Found Filk," notwithstanding--or perhaps in spite of--Lehrer's feelings about folk music. There have even been full Tom Lehrer Sing-Alongs.

* [[Filth]]: The subject matter of "Smut".

* [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]]: "I Got It From Agnes." What "it" is is never specified, but we can guess.

Whatever we get, we share. }}

** Sadly, Lehrer did ''not'' originally get this past the radar, as his recording of it was not released until 1997 as a bonus track on ''Songs & More Songs by Tom Lehrer'', a compilation rerelease of two albums from the 1950s. The first released recording of it was from the ''Tom Foolery'' soundtrack in 1980.

* [[Having a Heart]]: "I Hold Your Hand in Mine" and "[[The Masochism Tango]]".

* [[Hollywood New England]]: "The Elements":

And there may be many others but they haven't been discahvard. }}

* [[In the Style Of]]: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7i4f8oohdi0&NR=1 'Clementine']

** Also, "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park" is a bright, happy, song about [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|guess what.]]

** Special mention has to go to "We Will All Go Together When We Go," a cheery, toe-tapping number about the complete extinction of the human race. And how that's a good thing because it means there'll be nobody left alive to feel sad about it afterward.

Go directly, do not pass Go, do not collect two hundred dolla's ... }}

** "So Long Mom" is also a song about nuclear war set to a cheerful tune. The narrator is a pilot in [[World War III]] adressing his mother:

Of the agonizing holocaust. (Yeah!) }}

** ''[[Oedipus the King|Oedipus Rex]]'':

[''merry melody''] }}

* [[Meaningful Name]]: "Lehrer" is German for "teacher".

** Taken to [[Patter Song]] extremes in [[The Musical]] production "Tomfoolery."

* [[Painful Rhyme]]: Sometimes spectacularly so, and [[Invoked Trope|entirely deliberate]]. For instance, these lines from "We Will All Go Together When We Go":

...tives to think of all the weeping they will do }}

* [[Parental Bonus]]: While most of his songs are still funny, there are lines he says that are rather topical to the 1960s. An example would be when he mentions that Massachusetts is the only state with ''three'' senators, it's because Robert Kennedy (from Massachusetts) happened to be a New York senator at the time.

* [[Reclusive Artist]]: And how!

* [[Reckless Gun Usage]]: "The Hunting Song" talks about accidents usual for an opening of the hunting season. With a "recipe":

And when something moves, you shoot!" }}

* [[Refuge in Audacity]]: His 1953 debut album included a tune singing the praises of the neighborhood dope peddler. Lehrer felt he would unable to perform "The Abortionist", and "The Old Dope Peddler" was his second choice.

* [[Take That]]: As noted, folk-singers, but his "ode" to Wernher von Braun also stands out. Also the MLF Lullaby.

* [[Take Me to Your Leader]]: Spoofed in "Whatever Became of Hubert?":

''[[Incredibly Lame Pun|Take us to your Lieder'']]<br />

(''sorry about that'') }}

* [[Those Wacky Nazis]]: As mentioned above, he references Wernher von Braun's Nazi past:

''"Heh heh. Nazi Schmazi," says Wernher von Braun!'' }}

* [[Three Chords and the Truth]]: He has a dig at this trope in the spoken intro to "Folk Song Army":

** Then he does it again in the song itself, where he also pokes fun at the lyrical version:

And it don't even gotta rhyme--excuse me--rhyne. }}

* [[Trophy Husband]]: "Alma", a ballad dedicated to socialite Alma Mahler Gropius Werfel, whom he praises for managing to marry three of the greatest minds of the day and having the raciest obituary he had ever had the pleasure of reading.

"Ach, that is the fräulein I [[Painful Rhyme|moost have]]!" }}

* [[Viewers Are Geniuses]]: The historical stuff nowadays, thanks to the topical aspect (see [[The Great Politics Mess-Up]], [[Parental Bonus]]). His scientific songs, though, definitely qualify; in fact, before Lehrer even recorded an album, he performed the "[http://www.haverford.edu/physics/songs/lehrer/physrev.htm Physical Revue]" to a group of Harvard physics students.