Tom Lehrer RIP

I love hello mudda hello fada

Take me home oh mudda fades, take me home from camp Granada don’t leave me in the forest where I might be eaten by a bear….Just a minute it’s stopped raining, guys are fishing guys are sailing…..

It always makes me smile.

Fadda not fades

CountessFosco

He graduated from Harvard aged only 19 - not many people manage that feat

I read it was 15! (Times obituary).
He was brilliant. I have a CD of some of his greatest songs.

silverlining48

I love hello mudda hello fada

Take me home oh mudda fades, take me home from camp Granada don’t leave me in the forest where I might be eaten by a bear….Just a minute it’s stopped raining, guys are fishing guys are sailing…..

It always makes me smile.

Wasn't that Alan Sherman?

Yes, I was responding to an earlier post,

Didn’t Alan Sherman also sing ‘The Streak’?

No. He didn't sing the streak.
Alan Sherman was quite amusing but mainstream. Tom Lehrer was a massive cut above. So clever and such a brilliant performer considering he was a mathematician. Apparently, he only gave up when Kissinger got a Nobel prize as 'irony is now dead'.

Yes, I was a great fan. His humour was just right for that era. We introduced our kids to him and they loved him too. I played a couple of his songs in my class to highlight a point and get them talking. One teacher gave an assembly using his 'It's National Brotherhood Week' - ending with 'be grateful that it doesn't last all year'. The kids loved it - and got the point. Probably wouldn't be allowed to do that now. He'll never die in our house 'cos he'll still be played. Like great granny's christmas pudding recipe, passed down the generations. RIP

We used to sing Lehrer songs in the car on long journeys.
The children all loved him too.

Did anyone else ever listen to him on desert island discs?

youtu.be/-15Bb728w-c?si=5TlnvKv8CHu4_F6c

No, but thanks for the link. I will make a point of listening.

I think he was 15 when he started at Harvard.
He only skipped two years, not five I think, Paperbackwriter.

Here's a link to "The Elements" - a favourite of our family but really hard to sing!

youtu.be/AcS3NOQnsQM?si=ETsvpbHrWCRxwGlr

I have to say I'm surprised more Gransnetters didn't know (and love) him.

Mollygo

Magenta8

He had a special brand of black humour. I remember laughing out loud at "Poisoning the Pigeons in the Park" and then thinking I shouldn't have.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=yhuMLpdnOjY
I thought of that a few weeks ago.

It's ok, Magenta - it was actually a protest son pg but irony!!

I got it wrong, it was Boston City:

It is said that the song was inspired by the city of Boston’s attempts to keep numbers under control. They were literally poisoning pigeons. The practice wasn’t very contentious at the time, but times have changed.

Forgot to say, Devorgilla you have to find the pieces/songs separately.
Presumably for copyright reasons?

Aveline

No. He didn't sing the streak.
Alan Sherman was quite amusing but mainstream. Tom Lehrer was a massive cut above. So clever and such a brilliant performer considering he was a mathematician. Apparently, he only gave up when Kissinger got a Nobel prize as 'irony is now dead'.

You’re quite right, he didn’t it was Ray Stevens.

I'm sorry now I killed you, for our love was something fine, but until they come to get me I will hold your hand in mine.

"The Elements" was magnificient - how you can sing and play piano so fast, simultaneously, is quite a feat.

Absolutely a favourite of mine and in the 50's and 60's used to sing them all. The clever thing was that his melodies sounded very pleasant but you got a shock when you heard the lyrics. I have performed quite a few of them in my time and of course Poisoning Pigeons in the park was well known, but I loved The Masochism Tango!! I used to do ballroom and latin american dancing and gave exhitition Pasa Doble . so at our christmas party get togethers loved performing the masochism tango! Of course we can all be singing And We'll all go together when we go, and loved the Vatican Rag "genuflect, genuflect, genuflect" Since I heard of his death my brain has been running through all the songs and it is surprising how many of them I can sing from memory, Oh what a shame he didnt get round to writing something about wretched D Trump, but of course you couldnt make him up so perhaps he was difficult to satirise. May he rest in peace, and I shall be singing all the songs as I go round doing jobs, and will hopefully introduce some younger people to his work. That is where U tube can come in useful!!






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