He's 92 now and still alive... love a new kid on the block.. tell your friends, I always do... this is a musical and comedy genius you never ever get to find ever again....
Luckily for you Mr. Lehrer's particular style of Wit ages well. You should check out his Bio ; he is far, far more than a humorist / raconteur . I'll let you make those discoveries on your own . Enjoy . I can think of no better way to while away some time during our Shelter In Place solitude . Peace. Stay Safe .
Where I went to school, 1980-1984, the set I hung around loved Tom Lehrer. We memorized his songs and filked up our own. They thought it was odd that we sang Tom Lehrer songs in the math department, for when they were students, he was considered 'old'. His humor is timeless... and still fresh.
My family plays a game called ‘Finish the joke’ basically someone comes up with a random opener and the first person to come up with a funny punchline wins. I barely win. My sister started a game with “What do you call an incestous dinosaur?” No one could come up with a punchline for hours. Cut to half two in the morning and I’m running into her room screaming “An Oedipus Rex!” It remains my crowning achievement.
It reminds me of the fact that it was questioned whether it was “adolescent” (i.e. juvenile) to include Johnny B Goode on the Voyager golden record. I thought that was bizarre in reading about it but if you do the math it would be the temporal (though not cultural) equivalent of including eg Somebody Told Me by the Killers or Breakaway by Kelly Clarkson on a disk launching this year (2004 song in 2023 vs a 1958 song in 1977)
@@AlexSh789 It's also not a word, never mind how much you try to excuse it. If you were trying to write things as they were pronounced consistently... boy would this comment section be way different.
@@js66613 - I'm not making any excuses. If you want excuses, ask Tom Lehrer. He wrote the song. He wrote the songbook. I copied the lyrics from the songbook. As. They. Are.
To everyone, every last one of you, hating on Alexander about spelling ‘platypus’ ‘pledipus,’ you’re missing the point! Go find a book of poetry by Ogden Nash; he was a master of “if there isn’t a word that rhymes, by God I’ll make a word!”
Just because person pronounces it some way, doesn't mean it should be spelt that way. Imagine if someone tried to search up duckbilled pledipus and felt annoyed whenever it came up with platypus instead. But also, the word is platypus. And even then when trying to write it by the way it's pronounced, it's still not quite right. Might as well write everything as it's pronounced. "Ahyd, rahthr mahree a duck-billd pladypeus just doesn't look all that great either, but if you listen closely...
It’s written the way Tom Lehrer pronounces it. It’s probably how he wrote it is his own lyrics when composing the song. Yes, the right word is ‘platypus’ but ‘platypus’ is the wrong word to use here. Lehrer said ‘pledipus’ and he meant to say ‘pledipus’ all for the sake of a silly rhyme. Spelling it any other way would be incorrect.
No, I spelled it exactly as Tom Lehrer did in his own album's songbook. "Platypus" doesn't rhyme with "Oedipus," but "pledipus" does. It's a forced rhyme, so to speak, similar to rhyming "funeral" with "sooner o' l-"-ater or "tragic" with "adjec-"-tives.
@@AlexSh789 Not only the forced rhyme of 'platypus' & 'Oedipus' worked, it made the song end on an even more absurd note than it already was up till that moment!
I cannot believe at 97 years of age I have just hear of Tom and his gut busting humour. Surely he would make a great Maths teacher.
In my opinion the best CD collection of his is "an evening wasted with Tom lehrer" I'd highly recommend it.
Please tell me you are still okay
@@MURDERPILLOW. still alive and kicking. How do you do?
@paulmitford5189 im alright, could be better
Oedipus doesn't curse, because he kisses his mother with that mouth.
I cant believe I'm 23 and only heard of Tom Lehrer three days ago...
I feel betrayed, the man is a genius.
He's 92 now and still alive... love a new kid on the block.. tell your friends, I always do... this is a musical and comedy genius you never ever get to find ever again....
Luckily for you Mr. Lehrer's particular style of Wit ages well. You should check out his Bio ; he is far, far more than a humorist / raconteur . I'll let you make those discoveries on your own . Enjoy . I can think of no better way to while away some time during our Shelter In Place solitude . Peace. Stay Safe .
I can't believe I'm 19 and only heard of Lehrer recently
I'm 3 years into him
Where I went to school, 1980-1984, the set I hung around loved Tom Lehrer. We memorized his songs and filked up our own. They thought it was odd that we sang Tom Lehrer songs in the math department, for when they were students, he was considered 'old'. His humor is timeless... and still fresh.
My family plays a game called ‘Finish the joke’ basically someone comes up with a random opener and the first person to come up with a funny punchline wins. I barely win.
My sister started a game with “What do you call an incestous dinosaur?” No one could come up with a punchline for hours. Cut to half two in the morning and I’m running into her room screaming “An Oedipus Rex!” It remains my crowning achievement.
"You're way ahead of me!" 😄😄
I like his gentle ribbing of his audience at the end.
And the beginning! "... you're WAY ahead of me." 😅
Why's this gotta be so gosh dang catchy!! I can't freaking sing his around my family!!
Well. . . You can but, that'll be the last thing you'll sing to them
Sure you can. My parents let us listen to it when I was only 10.
Oedipus, Schmedipus. It’s nice a boy should love his mother.
He's a true genius!!
I feel no-one mentions that he claims that rock and roll is for young people. Makes me wonder what pop will be 50 odd years.
It reminds me of the fact that it was questioned whether it was “adolescent” (i.e. juvenile) to include Johnny B Goode on the Voyager golden record. I thought that was bizarre in reading about it but if you do the math it would be the temporal (though not cultural) equivalent of including eg Somebody Told Me by the Killers or Breakaway by Kelly Clarkson on a disk launching this year (2004 song in 2023 vs a 1958 song in 1977)
Best Mothers' Day song ever!
THE OUTPATIENTS ARE OUT IN FORCE TONIGHT I SEE
i'm using that line on a daily basis
perhaps you should use it on a /nightly/ basis, rather
I have to put on this song whenever I fight Malekith.
I've hadn't had the laughing fits in quuite a few years despite how much drugs I used, but this song did it!
Ayd rahthr mahree a duckbilld pledepeus
Then end uhp laykuh old Edepeus Rehx.~
You're welcome for writing it as it is pronounced.
Sublime!
Song starts at 1:52 for my fellow impatient kin
That's like commenting on a comedy show saying "at x time is where the punchline is"
Zaren k not really. We’re here for the song, not for the buildup to the song.
That doesn't change what i said at all..
If you're just here for the punchline and not the rest of the joke , then you actually just proved my point.
@@josh4601 I agree, the pre-song skit is important to the quality of the songs comedy. The song it's self is funny but it's a riot WITH the sketch.
Platypus
Pledipus should be spelled: platypus. Brilliant song !
Not in this instance. See previous comments.
hehehehe the outro music........
that coughing
+Dylan Regan - Yeah, sorry. Nothing I can do about that. I wasn't on Earth in 1959.
Alexander Shekhtman epic reply
ploedipus
wtf is duck-billed PLEDIPUS???
Minkymoo222 - Something that rhymes with Oedipus.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platypus
@@AlexSh789 It's also not a word, never mind how much you try to excuse it. If you were trying to write things as they were pronounced consistently... boy would this comment section be way different.
@@js66613 - I'm not making any excuses. If you want excuses, ask Tom Lehrer. He wrote the song. He wrote the songbook. I copied the lyrics from the songbook. As. They. Are.
To everyone, every last one of you, hating on Alexander about spelling ‘platypus’ ‘pledipus,’ you’re missing the point! Go find a book of poetry by Ogden Nash; he was a master of “if there isn’t a word that rhymes, by God I’ll make a word!”
That's duckbill platypus.
I think its supposed to be a play on words of "Oedipus". Tom does say it pretty weird in the song, so I think thats what he was going for.
Agreed.
“That’s duckbill platypus” said the fellow who said “Klaatu Barada necktie.”
Just for the record, he said, “A duck-billed platypus” NOT “a duck billed pledipus.” You may want to fix this for the sake of accuracy.
If you listen closely, he pronounces it /ˈplɛdɪpəs/, not /ˈplætəˌpʊs/, in order to make it rhyme with "Oedipus".
Why don't people get your edits for the rhyme?
this guy again
Just because person pronounces it some way, doesn't mean it should be spelt that way. Imagine if someone tried to search up duckbilled pledipus and felt annoyed whenever it came up with platypus instead. But also, the word is platypus.
And even then when trying to write it by the way it's pronounced, it's still not quite right. Might as well write everything as it's pronounced. "Ahyd, rahthr mahree a duck-billd pladypeus just doesn't look all that great either, but if you listen closely...
It’s written the way Tom Lehrer pronounces it. It’s probably how he wrote it is his own lyrics when composing the song. Yes, the right word is ‘platypus’ but ‘platypus’ is the wrong word to use here. Lehrer said ‘pledipus’ and he meant to say ‘pledipus’ all for the sake of a silly rhyme. Spelling it any other way would be incorrect.
Whitney Avalon brought me here!
What is a duck-billed Pledipus?
It's a joke of rhyming "duck-billed platypus" with oedipus
I suspect it is as simple as the creator just cannot spell.
No, I spelled it exactly as Tom Lehrer did in his own album's songbook. "Platypus" doesn't rhyme with "Oedipus," but "pledipus" does. It's a forced rhyme, so to speak, similar to rhyming "funeral" with "sooner o' l-"-ater or "tragic" with "adjec-"-tives.
@@AlexSh789 Not only the forced rhyme of 'platypus' & 'Oedipus' worked, it made the song end on an even more absurd note than it already was up till that moment!