Let's just say our younger readers can have no conception of how subversive this guy was when he arrived in the 1950s -- as a DIY underground sensation, who released his own records on his own label.
BTW, the song above got premiered on a 1965 prime-time TV show called That Was the Week That Was; Lehrer was a regular for a while and was very often a little too controversial for the suits at the network. I bring this up because it's particularly pertinent to today's repressive media climate, i.e. one where the Trump administration is installing an "official bias monitor" to censor CBS if they get too uppity in the future. (I did not make that last up, BTW; this is the world we're living in).
Anyway, the guy was a pop genius, and I can only imagine what he must have thought about the Manchurian Cantaloupe.
Oh, and here's what seems to have been the last song he wrote and recorded (it originally appeared as a bonus track on a Rhino Records Lehrer box set in 2000).
You're welcome very much.
8 comments:
Discovered him sophomore year of High School when a friend and I were cleaning out a school supply cabinet and found and original 10" of his second LP that was self distributed on his own label (before he rerecorded things for Reprise). What it was doing in that closet, I have no idea, but we took it home and played it to death before discovering the rest of his work.
And just to prove what a stand up guy he was, he put all of his music into public domain a few years ago. It is ALL (including songs never put on record) for streaming and download at https://tomlehrersongs.com
There is also a note from a couple of year's ago warning the site may close at anytime. Maybe someone knows someone who has the bucks to keep it open for a while longer.
RIP Tom Lehrer .
Another hero (unlike Ozzy and Hulk Hogan - pillars of our low-brow culture) falling like timbers in Yellowstone. "National Brotherhood Week" - lyric.... "Sheriff Clark and Lena Horne are dancing cheek to cheek" Genius indeed.
We don't deserve Tom Lehrer, he's too good for us.
Captain Al
Seconded.
After being a scientist at Los Alamos, he wrote 'We Will All Go Together When We Go.' You might call that satire, but I call it reporting.
That may be the second half of my favorite rhymed couplet of all time. 😎
Mr. Lehrer is not in my wheel house
The closest I can come is to the
Capital Steps.
That Was the Week That Was
VR
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