Obituary
My mum loved him and I learned to play piano along with his song book. This has hit me.
Tom Lehrer
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Musings on the byways of popular culture
Musings on the byways of popular culture
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Altogether now: “we will all go together when we go”
“Oh we will all char together when we char.
And let there be no moaning of the bar.
Just sing out a Te Deum
When you see that I.C.B.M.,
And the party will be come-as-you-are.”
Very clever guy.
Very funny guy.
I like so many of his songs.
97. Good innings.
Always enjoyed his songs, sad to hear.
Passed my love of Lehrer onto my son who performed Poisoning Pigeons on a school trip which I don’t think was the usual repertoire performed.
Just messaged my son with the news.
“That’s sad to hear, I loved singing along to his stuff with you as a kid.”
I also passed my love of Lehrer on to my son. There was a time when the lad could sing the whole of The Elements from memory.
Ah bugger – possibly because he retired from music decades ago I thought he was immortal.
Which is my cue to quote (yet again) his answer when asked how he spent his time in retirement: ‘I try to get all my shillying done in the morning so that I’ve got the afternoon free for shallying.’
As someone who has recently retired I’m having that!
RIP Mr Lehrer
A most singular talent
Loved how he retired from writing and per forming after Henry Kissinger was jointly awarded The Nobel Prize in the mid70s because satire could no longer compete with reality
So sad. It’s my fault for finding a 3xCD box set of his best songs & rarities in a charity shop recently.
https://www.discogs.com/release/19453618-Tom-Lehrer-The-Remains-Of-Tom-Lehrer
I found the same thing happened to me I’d get a biography or autobiography and a couple of weeks later the person died. I’m thinking of buying/borrowing a copy of ‘the art of the deal’
Found my copy of that in a chazza to (Oxfam Music in Henley – stock in there is often more eclectic and interesting than other chazzas in the area).
Tom Lehrer put all of his songs into the public domain a few years ago. Along with a website to download them from: https://tomlehrersongs.com
I loved his work and he seemed to be a genuinely decent guy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Lehrer
For years I was convinced I was the only person who had ever heard of him. An amazing songwriter and still makes me laugh out loud. I downloaded everything a couple of years ago, and will need to work my way through it again now.
Many of his songs in my repertoire. What with having an American pope, I already felt that The Vatican Rag was a song whose time had come. It may not be trad, but Sidmouth’s getting it next week.
When he appeared at the inaugural Adelaide Festival of Arts in 1960, there were police posted at Adelaide Town Hall ready to arrest him if he played any of the five songs that the SA Chief Secretary had banned.
There will never be another. This is laser-sharp
My Dad brought a TL record home one day, it would have been mid-late sixties. One of his university colleagues had lent it to him. Dad was so impressed that Lehrer, as well as writing wonderful songs, was by profession also a university lecturer, in mathematics. That somehow gave him added credibility.
A couple of decades later Dad came home with a Kris Kristofferson album, bought purely on the basis that he’d heard KK had been a Rhodes scholar.
One of the things that bonded my GLW and I during our fairly brief engagement was Tom Lehrer.
We probably deserve each other.
Obvs we love The Elements, and Pigeons… but a particular favourite of mine was National Brotherhood Week.
https://tomlehrersongs.com/824-2/
I don’t know if he still performs it, but a couple of years ago Peter Gill was touring a show of all Tom’s best songs. And very fine it was too. Princess Margaret was famously a big fan of Lehrer.
Presumably this is not Peter “Ped” Gill, drummer for Frankie Goes to Hollywood? If so, that is quite a change in musical style.
In trbute, I played my LP of An Evening Wasted With… last night. What a fella.
Nice in the New Yorker…
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/postscript/how-tom-lehrer-escaped-the-transience-of-satire
Never heard Alma before…
This is a nice curio that was put on yt 3 weeks ago, but I only spotted it this morning.
The Guardian.
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/jul/29/wit-of-tom-lehrer-by-those-who-knew-him