R.I.P. Tom Lehrer
« previous post | next post »
"Tom Lehrer, Musical Satirist With a Dark Streak, Dies at 97", NYT 7/27/2025.
Nancy Friedman's skeet underlines who and what he outlived:
He outlived Henry Kissinger and New Math. RIP Tom Lehrer.
(Gift link) www.nytimes.com/2025/07/27/a…— Nancy Friedman (@fritinancy.bsky.social) July 27, 2025 at 1:14 PM
Nancy commemorated his 97th birthday with a 3/9/2025 post on Strong Language, "Smut".
I'll add links to a couple of LLOG posts from 2009, "Rhyming 'orange'" and "Rhymes with language".
The Tom Lehrer Fandom Wiki has a complete list of links to (information about) all of his songs.
To close it off on an orthographical note, here's his Electric Company song, "Silent E".
Paul Clapham said,
July 27, 2025 @ 1:36 pm
Funny — his song The Elements just popped into my mind this morning (before I read this).
Barbara Phillips Long said,
July 27, 2025 @ 1:51 pm
Tom Lehrer had some amazing rhymes. My favorite was the totally unexpected “adjec-“ with “tragic” in the opening of We Will All Go Together When We Go:
When you attend a funeral,
It is sad to think that sooner o'
Later those you love will do the same for you. And you may have thought it tragic,
Not to mention other adjec-
Tives, to think ofall the weeping they will do. But don't you worry.
No more ashes, no more sackcloth,
And an armband made of black cloth
Will some day never more adorn a sleeve: For if the bomb that drops on you
Gets your friends and neighbors too, There'll be nobody left behind to grieve.
And we will all go together when we go. What a comforting fact that is to know. Universal bereavement,
An inspiring achievement,
Yes, we all will go together when we go.
…
https://tomlehrersongs.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/we-will-all-go-together-when-we-go.pdf
Roscoe said,
July 27, 2025 @ 8:32 pm
And don’t forget his attempt at rhyming the unrhymable:
Eating an orange
while making love
makes for bizarre enj-
oyment thereof.
Chris Buckey said,
July 28, 2025 @ 2:20 am
RIP to a fellow Banana Slug.
Arthur Baker said,
July 28, 2025 @ 7:35 am
Always fondly remembered for his statement that political satire died when Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Relatedly, who's going to get that prize this year?
bks said,
July 28, 2025 @ 9:12 am
Here he's given credit for inventing the "jello shot":
https://www.wearethemighty.com/popular/tom-lehrer-invented-jell-o-shots/
Robert Coren said,
July 28, 2025 @ 9:37 am
@Roscoe: I didn't know that one, but it makes me think of Ogden Nash, who was also prone to playful/improbable rhymes.