Tom Lehrer: Difference between revisions

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Lehrer is still alive, and occasionally performing. At the 80th birthday party of a fellow mathematician and friend Irving "Kaps" Kaplansky, [http://www.archive.org/details/lehrer he dusted off a handful of mathematics songs] to an appreciative crowd of students and fellow mathematicians.

[[~~Weird Al Yankovic|~~"Weird Al" Yankovic]] cites Tom Lehrer as one of his inspirations. Lehrer's own inspirations notably include [[Gilbert and Sullivan]] and [[Cole Porter]]. Allegedly, he invented the [[wikipedia:Gelatin dessert#Gelatin shots|Jell-O shot]].

[["Weird Al" Yankovic]] cites Tom Lehrer as one of his inspirations. Lehrer's own inspirations notably include [[Gilbert and Sullivan]] and [[Cole Porter]]. Allegedly, he invented the [[wikipedia:Gelatin dessert#Gelatin shots|Jell-O shot]].

[[Trope Namer]] for [[The Masochism Tango]].

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* [[Alma Mater Song]]

* [[Anti-Christmas Song]]

* [[Arab Israeli Conflict]]

* [[Arab-Israeli Conflict]]

* [[Beat Still My Heart]]

* [[Competition Coupon Madness]]

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* [[Plagiarism]]

* [[Protest Song]]

* [[~~Oedipus the King (Theatre)|~~Oedipus the King]]

* [[Oedipus the King]]

* [[Short Lived Big Impact]]

* [[Something About a Rose]]

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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.

* [[The Great Politics Mess-Up]]: A lot of the [[Gallows Humor]] in his songs is predicated on the fact that nuclear war with the USSR and the subsequent [[The End of the World As We Know It]] was considered inevitable at the time.

* [[The Great Politics Mess-Up]]: A lot of the [[Gallows Humor]] in his songs is predicated on the fact that nuclear war with the USSR and the subsequent [[The End of the World as We Know It]] was considered inevitable at the time.

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

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

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** For himself, Lehrer was very fond of a review he'd once received, and loved to quote it: "Mr. Lehrer's muse is [[The Unfettered|not fettered]] by such inhibiting factors as taste."

* [[Jukebox Musical]]: ''Tom Foolery''.

* [[Knows a Guy Who Knows A Guy]]: An exaggeratedly long example in "Lobachevsky". See [[List Song]] below.

* [[Knows a Guy Who Knows a Guy]]: An exaggeratedly long example in "Lobachevsky". See [[List Song]] below.

* [[Least Rhymable Word]]: Multiple examples. Lehrer loves working around this.

* [[List Song]]: "The Elements" is [[Exactly What It Says On the Tin]]; all of the chemical elements known at the time, set to "a possibly recognizable tune": "[[Major-General Song|The Major-General's Song]]" from ''[[The Pirates of Penzance]]''.

* [[List Song]]: "The Elements" is [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin]]; all of the chemical elements known at the time, set to "a possibly recognizable tune": "[[Major-General Song|The Major-General's Song]]" from ''[[The Pirates of Penzance]]''.

** "Lobachevsky" also includes a verse that's largely a list of towns in the Soviet Union.

*** ''I have a friend in Minsk, who has a friend in Pinsk, whose friend in Omsk has friend in Tomsk with a friend in Akmolinsk!''

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* [[A Love to Dismember]]: "I Hold Your Hand in Mine" "Masochism Tango".

* [[Lyrical Dissonance]]: Particularly his nuclear war songs.

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

** 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.

{{quote| We will all go directly to our respective Valhallas

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No need for you to miss a minute

Of the agonizing holocaust. (Yeah!) }}

** ''[[Oedipus ~~Rex~~ ~~(Theatre)~~|Oedipus Rex]]'':

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

{{quote| There was a man though, who, it seems

Once carried this ideal to extremes,

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* [[Murder Ballad]]: "The Irish Ballad".

* [[Noodle Incident]]: In the song "My Home Town," Tom Lehrer always omits a line while announcing something to the effect of, "We're recording tonight, so I'll have to leave this line out." (He subsequently admitted that he never found a satisfactory rhyme, and found the implication that he wanted to say something so unspeakably racy that it had to be censored much funnier.)

* [[Oedipus Complex]]: Has a song about [[Oedipus ~~Rex~~ ~~(Theatre)~~|the Trope Namer]].

* [[Oedipus Complex]]: Has a song about [[Oedipus the King|the Trope Namer]].

* [[Overly Long Gag]]: In the song "When You Are Old and Grey," he uses so much "-ility" rhymes that he (intentionally) gets worn-out about three-quarters of the way through.

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

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{{quote| ''Call him a Nazi, he won't even frown...''

''"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":

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

{{quote| "I have a song here which I realise should be accompanied on a folk instrument in which category the piano does not alas qualify so imagine if you will that I am playing an 88 string guitar"}}

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