RIP Tom Lehrer, musical satirist

[LVSteve]

Gone at 97. He was not popular with everyone with his "in your face" dark satire and "nothing's sacred" attitude. In fact, the BBC banned his material in 1953. He was also a gifted mathematician who got his first degree at 18, and he taught music and math for many years. Interesting guy.

American musical satirist Tom Lehrer dies at 97, US media report

Lehrer, a Harvard-trained mathematician, wrote darkly humorous songs, often with political connotations.

www.bbc.com

 

[Neumann]

Off to the happy hunting grounds, for "Two game wardens, seven hunters, and a purebred Guernsey cow."

 

[jaydoc]

Guess I need to go poison some pigeons in the park in his honor

 

[jaydoc]

My parents used to have an album of his when I was a little kid. I would sneak a listen when they were upstairs.

 

[oldbrownhat]

Guess I need to go poison some pigeons in the park in his honor

As a lapsed Catholic I doubt I could do The Vatican Rag, and I SURE couldn't recite the Periodic Table! There's a YooToob vid of him doing the latter in Denmark in the early 60's to gales of laughter- pretty good for an audience of "English as a second language."

RIP Tom. Thanks for the laughs.

 

[jaydoc]

Dude was a twisted genius. Would love to hear what he would come up with for our current political /social landscape!

 

[ms]

From memory, so might be a little off: "Base eight is just like base ten, if you're missing two fingers."

 

[old bear]

May the gentleman rest in peace.

 

[Erich]

Ah, I sure wore out his LPs in the Seventies. God bless him and may Eternal Light shine upon him.

 

[Rudi]

I remember him from Dr. Dimento. RIP.

 

[Baxter6551]

My parents had his “That was the year that was” album. Very clever and a smart guy. RIP

 

[oldbrownhat]

From the NYT obit:
"Reflecting on his bicoastal life in a 1981 interview for Newsday, he said he planned to keep his Massachusetts home “until my brain turns completely to Jell-O, at which time I will of course move to California full time.”

 

[Marshwheeling]

I grew up listening to Tom Lehrer, along with Stan Freberg, Mort Sahl, Lenny Bruce, Bob Newhart, B.S. Pulley, Slappy White, Roy Aubrey, Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks, and Bob and Ray. Funny guys, all of them.

 

[robvious]

a true comic genius...
R.I.P. Tom.. and yes, I too have the urge to poison a pigeon in the park.

 

[dsf]

"Fight Fiercely Harvard" and "I Got it From Agnes" - not his best known but appreciated by those around Boston.

Wernher von Braun

 

[robertrwalsh]

He was a truly brilliant guy. I still have or two of his records. He did a lot of the music/lyrics for That Was The Week That Was, an American ripoff of a very similar British show, back in the 60s..

 

[delcrossv]

Comedian and mathematician Tom Lehrer passed at age 97. RIP Tom.

Here's one of my favorites of his:



Here's his bio:

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/jul/28/tom-lehrer-dies-aged-97-dead-musical-satirist#

 

[old bear]

May he rest in peace..

 

[S&W Fan]

My parents had one of his albums when I was a kid. I remember my late dad’s very unique laugh at some of the cuts. I appreciated some Lehrer’s songs when I became an adult and laughed at the same things my dad did.

 

[venomballistics]

A regular on the old Dr Demento show