Tom Lehrer: Difference between revisions

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.

 

 

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

 

* [[Alma Mater Song]]

* [[Arab Israeli Conflict]]

* [[Beat Still My Heart]]

** "Fight Fiercely Harvard", it is actually a parody of a [[Football Fight Song]] but Harvard is Tom Lehrer's Alma Mater.

* [[Anti Christmas Carol]]: "A Christmas Carol".

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

{{quote| And when at last the police came by<br />

** 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"

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

{{quote| ''You will all go to your respective Valhallas.''<br />

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 each time he saw her he'd holler:<br />

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

* [[Wacky Fratboy Hijinks]]: "Bright College Days"

* [[With Catlike Tread]]: "O-U (The Hound Song)" from ''[[The Electric Company]]''.