Lehrer has said of his musical career, "If, after hearing my songs, just one human being is inspired to say something nasty to a friend, or perhaps to strike a loved one, it will all have been worth the while." Liner notes, Songs & More Songs By Tom Lehrer, Rhino Records, 1997.
I found this brilliant musician/scientist.. in 1973. Boy it changed my life...being a musician and scientist! ...i have a friend in Minsk... who has a friend in ...nowadays, in my retirement years, i tutor mathematics!
This is probably perhaps the last and probably the final documented recording (audio or video) of Tom Lehrer performing for an audience. This should be preserved in The Library Of Congress for perpetuity.
Was this later than the appearance on Parky (Parkinson - a chat show on UK TV) where he performed "I got it from Agnes"? That had an audience. It was about (because it was more or less promoting) the opening of "Tom Foolery" (a stage show of Tom's songs, organised by Robin Ray).
The First Ladies' Cookbook presents the favorite meals of the Presidents, wherein Thomas Jefferson's favorite meal has Jello shots, for desert. (Made from scratch, of course.)
Dear, dear Tom Lehrer, born April 9, 1928, will turn 91 in a few weeks. I hope he's comfortable and still with it. His live recording of The Elements, taken at breakneck speed without any mistakes, defies belief.
In the mid 80's, a friend of mine asked him why he had given up political satire. Tom replied, "Political satire went out of date when Henry Kissinger won the Nobel Peace Prize."
“Political satire became obsolete when Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace.” It’s been widely reported, and repeated by Lehrer himself in the half dozen or so interviews he’s given.
Interesting. After looking up the man, Kissinger is a major communist. He’s a nazi. Tom had to have known the mans’s intentions and it’s a joke that he received a “Noble Peace” prize.
No offense intended, but Lehrer said that in 1973 - not when "a friend" of yours asked the question a decade later on an unspecified date on an unspecified occasion. Best wishes from Vermont 🍁
I was 16 and had just moved to Boston and had been a fan since I was 6! Walking past Filene's I ducked into a phone booth, and checked a phone book (seriously). Much to my surprise Tom Lehrer, Cambridge was a LISTED number. Yup, I called. AND HE ANSWERED! It was 1977 and that voice was unmistakable. I told him I was a fan, and he seemed surprised that anyone still listened to them, making a joke of course. He was a very nice fella.
His song "Pollution Pollution" was ahead of his time. In a newspaper article I read about him years ago, he aaid he wanted people to think and reflect more. He went back to teaching math because he said he didn't want to end up doing covers of himself. He was a great person. I'm SO glad my parents had his records!
Apparently Axel doesn't get the fact that these Lehrer songs mock the concept of an elite intelligensia knowing what's good for everyone else. Lehrer was from an era that largely recognized the Nazis were Socialists, just like the Democrat Party, & that Trump hardly has a monopoly on this sort of arrogance. Heck, he even mocked post-modernism in the opening.
First time I heard Tom Lehrer was in 1960. I had found a hidden record in my father's collection. The record actually belonged to his younger brother. I listened to it and couldn't stop laughing. Scary thing though, I understood it was humor and I understood that humor and the songs. I was 8 yrs old. To this day, satire and satirical items are my favorite. Thank you, Mr. Lehrer.
I, too, found him at the young age (of nine)! Understood most of it and really liked what he opined upon. Funny how kids that young were attracted to his type of "grown-up" humor!
The lighthearted way he plays the keys through his education in pop (1930's pop, so essentially cabaret) make that much clear to any infant. I think even a baby would be smiling at those tunes.
I was 5, I think, when I first heard Lehrer. We were living in Limestone, Maine. My dad was a SAC bomber pilot. Lehrer was always played at my parents’ cocktail parties, along with Oscar Brandt’s military songs. I loved memorizing those songs. I found “The Old Dope Peddler” terrifying, however. But “The Masochism Tango” has remained a favorite, as has “I wanna go back to Dixie,” even though I’m thrilled I was born in Savannah. Tom Lehrer’s songs always make me feel happy. “The Old Dope Peddler” no longer terrifies me, but its truth is chilling.
I was six. New Orleans. Father (newspaperman) brought home "That Was the Year That Was"; parents and grandmother listened to it and decided it was OK for the kids. We danced to The Vatican Rag. Etc. All-American....
I guess this type of humor doesn’t pass up on generations, understood the meanings at age 4[born 1998] and when I saw news of the war that was cause by an event a year prior I also understand another song called Watch World War 3 on PayTV.
He's making some VERY FUNNY jokes that his audience doesn't get. Like "find the Fourier series" of the written in script word "minimum"., which looks like a sinusoid with phase trouble.
He reminds me of, especially in middle age, a teacher I had in elementary school. He was in charge of teaching the ‘accelerated’ class algebra and other things like that. Instead, he mainly taught us all kinds of the things that interested him, and when he absolutely had to teach us 3rd-5th (8-11y/os) graders Algebra, he always encouraged us to express ourselves by cursing loudly and passionately. He once had his author friend look over a story I wrote, and she wrote me a letter telling me everything she loved about it - to me as an 8-11year old kid, he and his friend were the coolest, smartest most inspiring, funniest people ever. Recently I’ve gotten into TL and he brings me a similar feeling - it’s very comforting to be reminded so much of someone like that.
Ive followed Tom for 65 years, played his songs over and over and still remain AMAZED at his ability to rhyme all of his thots. A MASTER OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE!!!!
I grew up listening to Tom Lehrer. My Dad went to Princeton and thus was "in the know" in the Ivy League circuit. While in grad school he and my Mom heard someone in the next apartment (the rooms were called the Princeton "projects") playing Lehrer's first LP, a 10-incher entitled "Songs of Tom Lehrer." My Mom told me once they heard it, they knew they "had to get it." The initial pressing was only 400 copies but M&D were able to get one. One of my earliest memories is enjoying this record (as well as Spike Jones' 78s). I was too young to fully understand all of his satire (as well as some of the more risque songs) but knew it was funny since my parents enjoyed it. I listened to the record so much I easily memorized all the songs. (Many years later I was at a music clinic with a friend of mine and was chatting with a piano player. We discovered a mutual love for Lehrer, and before you knew it, the guy had sat down at a piano and I was singing all of the songs from the first LP--both of us from memory!) As a young adult I rediscovered Lehrer, bought all his other albums and enjoyed listening to them with my parents. Later on, as an adult living in Massachusetts, I really to meet him, so one day I looked him up in the phone book--and his number was there! I called him (he was living in Cambridge) and asked him if he could give me piano lessons. He kind of chuckled and said he "probably wouldn't be very good at it" (which is understandable, since he was mostly self-taught.) Anyway, Tom Lehrer has played a big part in my life in terms of developing both my sense of humor as well as my musical sense. Hats off to him! 🙂
"They in an ivory steeple, far away from all people, they do research in sociology." This song was the contraband that got me through a sociology course years ago. I don't know if there's a formula one could use to quantify how much Lehrer's wit can help one to laugh at and withstand the world's absurdities but I'm sure the results would be statistically significant. :-)
You have to do a poll listing piano satirists including Lehrer and ask people to answer "yes or no which one made you laugh". to come up with a hypothesis statement: h0=/= mew = Tom Lehrer made less than 700 people laugh as much as other piano playing satirist h1 > mew = Tom Lehrer made more thab 700 people laugh with alpha = 5% determine the mean from the population, then sample mean and, use t-test stastistic to find value of t and use that to find the p-value (you can do this in excel). Compare P-Value to alpha, if it's less than alpha= 5%, reject null hypothesis I personally would bet the null hypothesis will be rejected, because there's not many piano satirists of his ilk in the first place as there woul be sufficient evidence that Tom Lehrer made more than 700 people laugh Disclaimer: I'm not a good statician. Take this as education at your own risk. or cut the crap, just do a poll.
Hmmm. The Professor speaks of a date that he took a class at Harvard in 1943, and refers to it having been 54 years ago, so, using New Math, this recording must have occurred in 1997. Unless he was speaking in Base 8, which as the Professor taught us all, is really like Base 10...if you're missing two fingers.. :-)
I'm 15 and a half and listen to him often, so there's at least 2 of us out there. I've gotten my Brother to listen a little. I sent him this song when he had his Calc 3 class and said the first song could get me through the Calc AB final.
@@rileymccullough1349 Make it three people, discovered him through The Hunting song. Tried to share his work, but most people aren't interested for long.
About the rhyme with algebra: Maybe some song about a young, eager marine biologist who is frustrated by having to study something he's not interested in pursueing later? Something like Why would I want to study algebra? When I want to explore the deep sea? I'll only have to fiddle with algae bras when the mermaids pleasure me? ...I'll see myself out now. 😂
I cannot adequately communicate the respect and affection I have for this man’s work. He is simply amazing and I wish he could live happily forever because the world will be a much poorer place when he passes.
I have loved Tom Lehrer since I was about eight; admittedly, I had little comprehension of his content, but he presented his creations so happily and I was swept along by his clever ivory-tickling and tongue-tripping exercises. The Element Song is my go-to but, really, anything delights me. Great to hear these 'new' songs. How prescient he was with 'The Old Dope Peddler,' as we learned in the Sixties! Thank you, Tom Lehrer, for hours and hours and years and years of intelligent and entertaining lullabies and shanties.
This such a wonderful find. I am guessing this was a treat for his students at the end of the semester. I'll bet he had a number of students who showed up just to hear him sing.
The main problems with Mathematics is that there is virtually no emphasis on vocabulary words or rote learning. Think of it this way: Math is not "studied," it is "practiced."
I love Tom Lehrer. A sibling of mine has his records that were in our family. He designed his record album covers. There were quite a few parodying humorous singers back then. I like Alan Sherman's parody of "Downtown." There was Stan Freberg (?), Rich Little's parody of Nixon, and other comedians. The 60s didn't just pop out of pablum. There was a precursor. Thanks to all the great and WEIRD humorists and to utube for preserving them!
The delta and epsilon song brings back unpleasant memories of the first course I dropped in university. It was callled Calculus! I was out of my depth from day 3 (days 1 and 2 were revision). Everything the prof said made sense at the moment, but after that it was gone. Fortunately I was able to get by on Mathematics for the Social Sciences.
I didnt get it either, was in year 11 as it is called now..but i had my personal maths tutor..my dad. He explained it in 5 mins. It made mathematics make sense to me! I went on to get school prize in maths, and have been tutoring for 35 years. Go Calculus! Trigonometry too!
I was first sent to a Russian school because my parents escaped from the Soviets and then my American teacher played me all the songs by Tom Lehrer, how refreshing, if am screwed up I know why and I enjoyed every minute of it
So, he's no longer in Santa Cruz, which is approx 40 miles from where I live? I've been enjoying his songs for several decades. He is amazing and seems like a whole lot of fun. Richard Feynman gave off the same vibe, imo.
One of the underrated talents of our time - and a master of maths and the English language to boot. It's interesting that the word "Lehrer" means teacher. In a similar vein, Allen Sherman is worth checking out. Different style, but they always remind me of each other. Funny that.
Thank goodness 'common core' is dead. Tom Lehrer is my lifelong hero. Just love his work. 90 years old next year. I recommend Ernesto Lecuona's music. At almost any moment I expect Tom to start singing....what a genius!
Utterly brilliant, as usual. Lehrer is the thinking man's Cole Porter, a real (perverse) treasure! One of the greats who makes this miserable world bearable. Thank you a thousand times for posting this!
Amazing man, born in 1928, so he is 90 now and 86 in this video and he sounds the same. A big talent and great man thanks for the musical satire Tom, songs like Verner Von Braun are things no one else even dared to say.
My first exposure to this genius was a promotional 45 RPM (remember 45's? Anybody? Please? Anybody?) record from Perkin Elmer, one side was a humorous "Diatribe on Detection Limits" by one or another executives of Perkin Elmer, the other side of which was Lehrer's "The Elements". It came in handy in Major "Marbles" Chamber's chemistry class. Anybody remember Major Chambers?
He said he first intersected with Cap (or whatever the guy's name was) in 1943, then said Cap was 54 at the time it was filmed. That makes this filmed in 1997. Lehrer was born in 1928, so he was roughly 69, assuming he was correct on the years given (depending on when this was filmed and if he had his birthday yet). There's a more recent one of him giving a performance on TH-cam (although still pretty old) and he didn't use music sheets or even look at the piano during that performance. I'd love to hear something from present day.
@@MisterAppleEsq yeah I think I was doing two things at once or under the influence of Ambien when I wrote this. He actually said that was 54 years ago, not that Cap was 54. I wrote it wrong. He said Cap was 26 at the time. It's around the 45 second mark.
Well, people like eminem would find a million things to rhyme or sort of rhyme with algebra and they could do wonders with it, maybe even rhyming the first part of it. Algebra, steal her bra, taking algebra, eating algae bread I can't really do this because I got no skills, but you get it.
I absolutely love seeing him have such fun playing these pieces. He looks so lighthearted, and is enjoying himself so much. After years of performing, in his time off when he started into more fulltime teaching i wondered what he played for himself, and whether he got together still with friends to share the fabulously wickedly funny ideas he has running around in that brilliant head. I should also confirm here that my husband and i FELL IN LOVE OVER TOM LEHRER RECORDS!! I'm sure Professor Lehrer wouild roll his eyes upon hearing that although i'd still love to meet him in person. I'm in San JOse and he;'s in Santa Cruz. So if anyone out there knows how to reach him, please do let me know.
Tom Lehrer was a very important part of our family's humor. Our (then) children learned a lot from him. They grew up listening to his music and irony and made our family life richer. We now share a special vocabulary that still comes up in our conversations
The first two records I learned to put on the record player by myself were Tom Lehrer's "That Was The Year That Was" and the Doors' "Morrison Hotel". When I was six I knew the words to "Smut" and "Proliferation" (First we got the Bomb) by heart . . . People who know me say this explains a lot.
Your mother must have been pleased. Mine took her Tom Lehrer albums away from me and hid them one day after she heard me singing "We Will All Go Together" at the top of my lungs.
@@josephgreeley5569 Nevertheless, I'm sure that having a cherubic six-year-old belt out, "Smut! Give me smut and nothing but!" exceeds Tom Lehrer's wildest dreams of success as a songwriter.
We *actually went through* the "New Math" situation with our son's "Common Core" class, as they *literally* said "It's more important to know what you're doing than get the right answer!" Then a few weeks ago, I heard my son cackling over a youtube song (he made it to college). Asking what was so funny, he said *"It's a new guy named Tom Lehrer!"* I bust a gut, having known all Lehrer's stuff from childhood. The *awesome* part is that my son is a math/music/chess talent who can sound exactly like Lehrer, and is a *huge* fan (as am I). For the perverse pleasure of it, we both sing along with such hits as "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park" and the "New Math." Mr. Lehrer, I challenge you to revive the best old ones and write a few new ones. There is always enough absurd news to feed a talent like yours! Much of your old material is just as pertinent as ever. Even the black plastic 50's and 60's glasses are "in" again, so before we "All Go Together" let's hear a few more hits!
I have actually posted a youtube link (there are several examples to choose from) to Tom's "new math" on some facebook "only for geniuses" type math problem memes. More than once, I have come back to find other replies that assumed that "new math" was actually a new song written about the common core method, crazier yet was the one person who claimed the singer (Tom) didn't know what he was talking about (math). Then I find myself seeking out a link to a biography of Tom Lehrer so that people understand 1) how old the song is and 2) that yes, Mr Lehrer does know what he is talking about.
He taught Bach to play the organ. My Dad introduced me to Lehrer's work in the late sixties through a promotional disc with Lehrer's "The Elements" on one side, and a humorous ""Diatribe on Detection Limits" by a professorial-type lecturer on the other, promoting the virtues of Perkin-Elmer lab equipment. Nerd that I am, I actually enjoyed the lecture (and it was really funny, as I was just learning the value of irony in the course of logic) almost as much as the song.
For me the funny thing about “new math” is that this was how everybody in my country (including me) learnt to calculate since long before my parents went to school. However, in the late sixties when my little sister started in school, the new thing was to learn it like Americans did before their “new math” - a system that still feels very strange to me. So to me “new math” is good old math.
In the 1960s we listened to Tom Lehrer's LPs and learned all the words. I knew "The Vatican Rag" as I also knew the words of the Beatles' songs. I also loved "The New Math" which is still relevant today. I have not been able to find the song about Vice President Hubert Humphrey on TH-cam, also very funny. It is a shame that the modern generation are not familiar with his very funny songs.
@@totalitaer. Given today's ways with language his songs would've sadly been too sophisticated with today's gen. I'm in my mid-20s and his songs have been major inspirations to me since my teens, but many of my peers don't get or appreciate it, especially those slightly younger than me.
Great! This presentation was done after Fermat's conjecture had turned into a theorem. Tom Lehrer looked young. I happened to find his videos abou a month ago. I am glad he was alive and young at that very important moment for mathematics. The mathematician that I admire most is Kurt Gödel because of his completude theorems, however Tom Lehrer never wrote a song to him. When I was presented to Kurt Gödel and those two theorems, the professor said that Kurt Gödel had divided the history of mathematics. Why not a song for him?
If you hear me say I was brainwashed by Tom Lehrer (Especially THAT WAS THE YEAR THAT WAS), I say it as a GOOD THING. How recollections of the words happen with so many events/words... THANK YOU PROFESSOR LEHRER! OH, and the Engineering friend who (Pulled over by the police and asked to count backward from 100), recited the Periodic Table of Elements. Lucky it turned out OK.
I've gone through the same thing, though I for one term it being mentored by the great man, who is happily rotting(humor intended) at the ripe age of 95!
Well, according to the website "Dead or Alive?" Tom Lehrer is still alive. So can we get him out of retirement long enough to compose a song about common core? He doesn't have to sing it, just compose it and give it to someone he thinks is worthy of singing it.
Obviously, since Common Core didn't exist then, but it's a very similar theme, and more relevant than That's Mathematics. I suspect it's the song J Parker Adair was thinking about.
Angela Brett Yeah, but still, a song specifically about common core and how stupid it is would be more effective than New Math is. New Math, which for us is old math now, makes sense. But Common Core doesn't make sense to teachers, students, or parents. The answers are bull. The kids are getting screwed over majorly. It's just government nonsense.
If the professor is not clearly understood by his students, there can be only one reason: There is simply not enough emphasis on vocabulary words, and/or rote practice of mathematical equations and procedures.
I wish I'd been able to take a mathematics course from Mr. Lehrer when I was a student at UC Santa Cruz. Who knows, I might have passed Calculus, stayed with my original major of Biology, and avoided switching to the social sciences as my consolation prize!
Integral calculus is bacterial plaque which covers an entire tooth with one unbroken layer. Differential calculus is bacterial plaque which covers one part of the tooth with a layer thicker than that covering another part of the tooth.
I can only repeat what Lehrer said when asked why he didn't write a funny song about Watergate: "Asking an American to write a funny song about Watergate is like asking a resident of Pompeii for some humorous comments on lava."
I took Algebra II which always included Trigonometry for half a year. Then there was this full year course called Math Analysis. Only then did one wade into Calculus.
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Lehrer has said of his musical career, "If, after hearing my songs, just one human being is inspired to say something nasty to a friend, or perhaps to strike a loved one, it will all have been worth the while."
Liner notes, Songs & More Songs By Tom Lehrer, Rhino Records, 1997.
What a legend
Every next thing i learn about this genius makes me admire him more.
@Disobedient Nomead It is for a noble cause
I found this brilliant musician/scientist.. in 1973. Boy it changed my life...being a musician and scientist! ...i have a friend in Minsk... who has a friend in ...nowadays, in my retirement years, i tutor mathematics!
IT WORKED! FOR THE ENTIRE COUNTRY!!
This is probably perhaps the last and probably the final documented recording (audio or video) of Tom Lehrer performing for an audience. This should be preserved in The Library Of Congress for perpetuity.
man, you scared me
We need much better quality resolution video for posterity...
He’s still around, believe it or not. So there might be another one yet…
Was this later than the appearance on Parky (Parkinson - a chat show on UK TV) where he performed "I got it from Agnes"? That had an audience. It was about (because it was more or less promoting) the opening of "Tom Foolery" (a stage show of Tom's songs, organised by Robin Ray).
This was in 1997, and in 1998, he did Poisoning Pigeons in the Park for Hey, Mr. Producer
This man is so talented. He's a professor of mathamatics, a fantastic satirist, and the inventor of the jello shot.
The First Ladies' Cookbook presents the favorite meals of the Presidents, wherein Thomas Jefferson's favorite meal has Jello
shots, for desert. (Made from scratch, of course.)
@@nancyjanemahler9555 Happen to be family of Gustav Mahler, who Alma had bed and wed?
His math is nothing without R. E. Fagen. Claim to fame is Jello Shot and 2 song reprints in Mad Magazine.
Dear, dear Tom Lehrer, born April 9, 1928, will turn 91 in a few weeks. I hope he's comfortable and still with it. His live recording of The Elements, taken at breakneck speed without any mistakes, defies belief.
Watching it in the Copenhagen performance is more incredible
There's earth and air and fire and water.
Can I get famous now pls?
When Mozart was his age, he had been dead for 59 years.
We have the SAME BIRTHDAY?!?!?! I’ve never felt more VALIDATED
In the mid 80's, a friend of mine asked him why he had given up political satire. Tom replied, "Political satire went out of date when Henry Kissinger won the Nobel Peace Prize."
Lol that has to be false
@@cailyndempster I wasn't on the phone call, but I heard it shortly after from the guy who had called to wish him a happy birthday.
“Political satire became obsolete when Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace.” It’s been widely reported, and repeated by Lehrer himself in the half dozen or so interviews he’s given.
Interesting. After looking up the man, Kissinger is a major communist. He’s a nazi. Tom had to have known the mans’s intentions and it’s a joke that he received a “Noble Peace” prize.
No offense intended, but Lehrer said that in 1973 - not when "a friend" of yours asked the question a decade later on an unspecified date on an unspecified occasion.
Best wishes from Vermont 🍁
"Dear Algebra: Please stop asking us to find your ex. She's not coming back, and we don't know why."
She's imaginary anyway, let's just be glad she's gone.
🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤣🤣🤣
I was 16 and had just moved to Boston and had been a fan since I was 6! Walking past Filene's I ducked into a phone booth, and checked a phone book (seriously). Much to my surprise Tom Lehrer, Cambridge was a LISTED number. Yup, I called. AND HE ANSWERED! It was 1977 and that voice was unmistakable. I told him I was a fan, and he seemed surprised that anyone still listened to them, making a joke of course. He was a very nice fella.
That is an amazing memory, I’m amazed and, I’ll admit, a little bit jealous. What a cool guy.
His song "Pollution Pollution" was ahead of his time. In a newspaper article I read about him years ago, he aaid he wanted people to think and reflect more. He went back to teaching math because he said he didn't want to end up doing covers of himself. He was a great person. I'm SO glad my parents had his records!
IS. He turned 96 yesterday!
Time jumps:
1:45 The Derivative Song
2:58 There is a δ for every ε
4:48 The Professor's Song
8:25 Sociology Song
11:17 That's Mathematics
Thanks!!
Delta? I thought that symbol meant Prince!
th-cam.com/video/MTcEm-C6l2U/w-d-xo.html
Tom's one of the biggest brains of the 20th century. Go look up his credentials. The songs alone are incredible but his whole life is awesome.
Smart people like him should be President , Not idiots like trumps.
But they have no interest in power, that's the problem... or maybe our salvation.
Apparently Axel doesn't get the fact that these Lehrer songs mock the concept of an elite intelligensia knowing what's good for everyone else. Lehrer was from an era that largely recognized the Nazis were Socialists, just like the Democrat Party, & that Trump hardly has a monopoly on this sort of arrogance.
Heck, he even mocked post-modernism in the opening.
Actually, Trump is smarter than Democrats like Clinton, Obama, Bush and McCain.
David Lafleche Not bush.
First time I heard Tom Lehrer was in 1960. I had found a hidden record in my father's collection. The record actually belonged to his younger brother. I listened to it and couldn't stop laughing. Scary thing though, I understood it was humor and I understood that humor and the songs. I was 8 yrs old.
To this day, satire and satirical items are my favorite. Thank you, Mr. Lehrer.
I, too, found him at the young age (of nine)! Understood most of it and really liked what he opined upon. Funny how kids that young were attracted to his type of "grown-up" humor!
The lighthearted way he plays the keys through his education in pop (1930's pop, so essentially cabaret) make that much clear to any infant. I think even a baby would be smiling at those tunes.
I was 5, I think, when I first heard Lehrer. We were living in Limestone, Maine. My dad was a SAC bomber pilot. Lehrer was always played at my parents’ cocktail parties, along with Oscar Brandt’s military songs. I loved memorizing those songs. I found “The Old Dope Peddler” terrifying, however. But “The Masochism Tango” has remained a favorite, as has “I wanna go back to Dixie,” even though I’m thrilled I was born in Savannah. Tom Lehrer’s songs always make me feel happy. “The Old Dope Peddler” no longer terrifies me, but its truth is chilling.
I was six. New Orleans. Father (newspaperman) brought home "That Was the Year That Was"; parents and grandmother listened to it and decided it was OK for the kids. We danced to The Vatican Rag. Etc. All-American....
I guess this type of humor doesn’t pass up on generations, understood the meanings at age 4[born 1998] and when I saw news of the war that was cause by an event a year prior I also understand another song called Watch World War 3 on PayTV.
He's making some VERY FUNNY jokes that his audience doesn't get. Like "find the Fourier series" of the written in script word "minimum"., which looks like a sinusoid with phase trouble.
Tom Lehrer is the epitome of just an adorable person.
Yeah! ☺️
J'adore!
Yeah :)
And he's even more adorable as a middle-aged man!
He reminds me of, especially in middle age, a teacher I had in elementary school. He was in charge of teaching the ‘accelerated’ class algebra and other things like that. Instead, he mainly taught us all kinds of the things that interested him, and when he absolutely had to teach us 3rd-5th (8-11y/os) graders Algebra, he always encouraged us to express ourselves by cursing loudly and passionately. He once had his author friend look over a story I wrote, and she wrote me a letter telling me everything she loved about it - to me as an 8-11year old kid, he and his friend were the coolest, smartest most inspiring, funniest people ever. Recently I’ve gotten into TL and he brings me a similar feeling - it’s very comforting to be reminded so much of someone like that.
I just heard he turned 95 yesterday. Many happy returns Mr. L.
Ive followed Tom for 65 years, played his songs over and over and still remain AMAZED at his ability to rhyme all of his thots.
A MASTER OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE!!!!
I grew up listening to Tom Lehrer. My Dad went to Princeton and thus was "in the know" in the Ivy League circuit. While in grad school he and my Mom heard someone in the next apartment (the rooms were called the Princeton "projects") playing Lehrer's first LP, a 10-incher entitled "Songs of Tom Lehrer." My Mom told me once they heard it, they knew they "had to get it." The initial pressing was only 400 copies but M&D were able to get one. One of my earliest memories is enjoying this record (as well as Spike Jones' 78s). I was too young to fully understand all of his satire (as well as some of the more risque songs) but knew it was funny since my parents enjoyed it. I listened to the record so much I easily memorized all the songs. (Many years later I was at a music clinic with a friend of mine and was chatting with a piano player. We discovered a mutual love for Lehrer, and before you knew it, the guy had sat down at a piano and I was singing all of the songs from the first LP--both of us from memory!)
As a young adult I rediscovered Lehrer, bought all his other albums and enjoyed listening to them with my parents. Later on, as an adult living in Massachusetts, I really to meet him, so one day I looked him up in the phone book--and his number was there! I called him (he was living in Cambridge) and asked him if he could give me piano lessons. He kind of chuckled and said he "probably wouldn't be very good at it" (which is understandable, since he was mostly self-taught.) Anyway, Tom Lehrer has played a big part in my life in terms of developing both my sense of humor as well as my musical sense. Hats off to him! 🙂
"They in an ivory steeple, far away from all people, they do research in sociology." This song was the contraband that got me through a sociology course years ago. I don't know if there's a formula one could use to quantify how much Lehrer's wit can help one to laugh at and withstand the world's absurdities but I'm sure the results would be statistically significant. :-)
Well first you have to gather the data from a large sample size, then you make it a function of x that you then name y...
@@feartheghus....... y ?
You have to do a poll listing piano satirists including Lehrer and ask people to answer "yes or no which one made you laugh". to come up with a hypothesis statement:
h0=/= mew = Tom Lehrer made less than 700 people laugh as much as other piano playing satirist
h1 > mew = Tom Lehrer made more thab 700 people laugh
with alpha = 5%
determine the mean from the population, then sample mean and, use t-test stastistic to find value of t and use that to find the p-value (you can do this in excel). Compare P-Value to alpha, if it's less than alpha= 5%, reject null hypothesis
I personally would bet the null hypothesis will be rejected, because there's not many piano satirists of his ilk in the first place as there woul be sufficient evidence that Tom Lehrer made more than 700 people laugh
Disclaimer: I'm not a good statician. Take this as education at your own risk.
or cut the crap, just do a poll.
Hmmm. The Professor speaks of a date that he took a class at Harvard in 1943, and refers to it having been 54 years ago, so, using New Math, this recording must have occurred in 1997. Unless he was speaking in Base 8, which as the Professor taught us all, is really like Base 10...if you're missing two fingers.. :-)
it's definitely the '90s because if you notice he drops Ted kaczynski aka the Unabomber
I'm 15, almost 16. It's sad that nobody young appreciates this kinda stuff anymore. I listen to Tom Lehrer almost every day.
I do! Though yes, it is very sad. I have tried my best to share his amazing work with as many people that I can :D
I'm 15 and a half and listen to him often, so there's at least 2 of us out there. I've gotten my Brother to listen a little. I sent him this song when he had his Calc 3 class and said the first song could get me through the Calc AB final.
@@rileymccullough1349 Nice
I was 17 when i first heard this guy.... that was 50 years ago. Still come to listen.
@@rileymccullough1349 Make it three people, discovered him through The Hunting song. Tried to share his work, but most people aren't interested for long.
I first heard him on the radio when I was a wee tad back in the early 1950's and thus began my long career as a misanthrope!
About the rhyme with algebra:
Maybe some song about a young, eager marine biologist who is frustrated by having to study something he's not interested in pursueing later? Something like
Why would I want to study algebra?
When I want to explore the deep sea?
I'll only have to fiddle with algae bras
when the mermaids pleasure me?
...I'll see myself out now. 😂
Well 10 points for trying!
That's pretty good you know.. Thanks for the laugh... I see you got a bit of Mr Lahrer in yourself.
Now - we here in Germany are concerned about the gendering stuff - so do you think that using feminine suffixes instead of the masculine does the job?
MG, oh the fertile ground for Lehrer lyrics: he/she/him/her/they/them !
@@bobdavis2689"I just quietly cough "eh-hem" so they can listen to me~"
I'll show myself out now.
I cannot adequately communicate the respect and affection I have for this man’s work. He is simply amazing and I wish he could live happily forever because the world will be a much poorer place when he passes.
I have loved Tom Lehrer since I was about eight; admittedly, I had little comprehension of his content, but he presented his creations so happily and I was swept along by his clever ivory-tickling and tongue-tripping exercises. The Element Song is my go-to but, really, anything delights me. Great to hear these 'new' songs. How prescient he was with 'The Old Dope Peddler,' as we learned in the Sixties! Thank you, Tom Lehrer, for hours and hours and years and years of intelligent and entertaining lullabies and shanties.
This such a wonderful find. I am guessing this was a treat for his students at the end of the semester. I'll bet he had a number of students who showed up just to hear him sing.
Was this one of the performances he gave during lectures long after he stopped performing publicly? What a gem!
Algebra - Isn't that what mermaids wear on the upper part of their bodies
?
Perhaps 'we'd see' in time.
@@Flatscreening I saw what you did there.
Fuck, I made my comment before I saw yours. 😆
What variable do they always solve for?
C!
Maybe I would have done better in Differential Equations in college if my professor had a piano. :)
The main problems with Mathematics is that there is virtually no emphasis on vocabulary words or rote learning. Think of it this way: Math is not "studied," it is "practiced."
You only get the piano at the end of the semester. It's the carrot to keep you moving forward. ;-)
Happy 95th, Professor Lehrer! 🎉
First heard his song 'Lobachevsky' (and others) around 1956. Indelible childhood memory. "Once upon a time in Berkeley..."
i just love this guy. it would be one of my dreams to meet him.
Glad to know someone else has that same perverse dream of meeting the Professor. My husband and I fell in love over his music!
"How sad, how cruel, how tragic
How pitiful, and other adjec-"
The second I heard this, I lit up. A perfect throwback to Lehrer's golden days!
Right. We Will All Go Together When We Go. It hit me with same vigor it had 60 years ago. Delightful.
I love Tom Lehrer. A sibling of mine has his records that were in our family. He designed his record album covers. There were quite a few parodying humorous singers back then. I like Alan Sherman's parody of "Downtown." There was Stan Freberg (?), Rich Little's parody of Nixon, and other comedians. The 60s didn't just pop out of pablum. There was a precursor. Thanks to all the great and WEIRD humorists and to utube for preserving them!
I wish the crowd laughed more 😭 I’m laughing so much and loudly, hes hilarious
The delta and epsilon song brings back unpleasant memories of the first course I dropped in university. It was callled Calculus! I was out of my depth from day 3 (days 1 and 2 were revision). Everything the prof said made sense at the moment, but after that it was gone. Fortunately I was able to get by on Mathematics for the Social Sciences.
I didnt get it either, was in year 11 as it is called now..but i had my personal maths tutor..my dad. He explained it in 5 mins. It made mathematics make sense to me! I went on to get school prize in maths, and have been tutoring for 35 years. Go Calculus! Trigonometry too!
I was first sent to a Russian school because my parents escaped from the Soviets and then my American teacher played me all the songs by Tom Lehrer, how refreshing, if am screwed up I know why and I enjoyed every minute of it
When I think of my high school algebra,
It brings up a sense of nostalgia, brah.
An international treasure. Why doesn't somebody do a doco about him? I'd be up for it, if I had the funds.
They have done a stage revue of his songs, called "TOMFOOLERY"
It'd be a 'fun fund'!
Yes, that was good value!
Brilliant. The one & only Tom Lehrer.
He is such a hero to me. I was introduced to his work in 1981. God bless the teacher who did it in Phoenix, AZ
I wanna meet him before I or he dies. He's so inspiring to me.
I met him several weeks ago at his home in Cambridge. He was absolutely charming and personable. I recommend you do, and I hope to see him again!
So, he's no longer in Santa Cruz, which is approx 40 miles from where I live? I've been enjoying his songs for several decades. He is amazing and seems like a whole lot of fun. Richard Feynman gave off the same vibe, imo.
He said he spends most of his time in SC/CA. Keep hope alive.
Sure wish I got to meet Feynman. Loved his book!
One of the underrated talents of our time - and a master of maths and the English language to boot. It's interesting that the word "Lehrer" means teacher.
In a similar vein, Allen Sherman is worth checking out. Different style, but they always remind me of each other.
Funny that.
Also Flanders and Swann, kind of like Tom Lehrer, but British and not as rough-edged.
Thank goodness 'common core' is dead. Tom Lehrer is my lifelong hero. Just love his work. 90 years old next year. I recommend Ernesto Lecuona's music. At almost any moment I expect Tom to start singing....what a genius!
What I remember about Sociology class: I walked around a mall eating crickets and documenting people’s reactions.
Utterly brilliant, as usual. Lehrer is the thinking man's Cole Porter, a real (perverse) treasure! One of the greats who makes this miserable world bearable. Thank you a thousand times for posting this!
And one of the inspirations for Weird Al Yankovic (along with MAD magazine), They Might Be Giants and Animaniacs.
emtube sure maybe, but ironically Lehrer left show business, far away from the boom boom boom of the city!
@@markostermayer3614 she was so pretty, what a pity
Cole Porter was also the thinking man's Cole Porter :)
Amazing man, born in 1928, so he is 90 now and 86 in this video and he sounds the same. A big talent and great man thanks for the musical satire Tom, songs like Verner Von Braun are things no one else even dared to say.
I would love to hear him write a song about today.
Or tomorrow, or the day after....😉
Genius. If my grasp of acedemia was firmer I'd be able tell why this is so funny.
THERES A DELTA FOR EVERY EPSILON IS SUCH A BANGAR🔥🔥🔥🔥
Sounds like a lot of professors we have all had at least once.
My first exposure to this genius was a promotional 45 RPM (remember 45's? Anybody? Please? Anybody?) record from Perkin Elmer, one side was a humorous "Diatribe on Detection Limits" by one or another executives of Perkin Elmer, the other side of which was Lehrer's "The Elements".
It came in handy in Major "Marbles" Chamber's chemistry class. Anybody remember Major Chambers?
I love this man.❤
I cossecant get these songs out of my head!
Having played that role I love this song. I also love Tom Lehrer songs. This is great!
I love Tom for writing and performing this and I love you for uploading them.
I didn't know that Mahler was still alive and that he'd decided to become a jazz pianist!
Great to see this - Tom Lehrer is brilliant - but it would also be great if people who put up such recordings would date them please.
+Deirdre Clancy, he says "it was in 1943, and that was 54 years ago..." so it would have been 1997.
This man is a true genius
How old is he here? Greater and lesser men couldn't have sung and played piano at the same time at his age. He's incredible.
He said he first intersected with Cap (or whatever the guy's name was) in 1943, then said Cap was 54 at the time it was filmed. That makes this filmed in 1997. Lehrer was born in 1928, so he was roughly 69, assuming he was correct on the years given (depending on when this was filmed and if he had his birthday yet).
There's a more recent one of him giving a performance on TH-cam (although still pretty old) and he didn't use music sheets or even look at the piano during that performance. I'd love to hear something from present day.
@@Birdnerd1968 Wait what, that doesn't track, he won't have met Cap the year Cap was born.
@@MisterAppleEsq yeah I think I was doing two things at once or under the influence of Ambien when I wrote this. He actually said that was 54 years ago, not that Cap was 54. I wrote it wrong. He said Cap was 26 at the time. It's around the 45 second mark.
@@Birdnerd1968 Ah, that makes sense.
@@MisterAppleEsqär
New (to me) TL material... I can’t believe it! Thanks so much.
While algebra has no true rhymes, algebraic rhymes with mosaic, prosaic, archaic, and Judaic among others
Doesn’t zebra rhyme with algebra?
Fearghus Keitz is does in British English, not so much in American English.
Maybe "Wonderbra"
Well, people like eminem would find a million things to rhyme or sort of rhyme with algebra and they could do wonders with it, maybe even rhyming the first part of it.
Algebra, steal her bra,
taking algebra, eating algae bread
I can't really do this because I got no skills, but you get it.
Ogden Nash could rhyme any two words in the English language ;-)
I absolutely love seeing him have such fun playing these pieces. He looks so lighthearted, and is enjoying himself so much. After years of performing, in his time off when he started into more fulltime teaching i wondered what he played for himself, and whether he got together still with friends to share the fabulously wickedly funny ideas he has running around in that brilliant head. I should also confirm here that my husband and i FELL IN LOVE OVER TOM LEHRER RECORDS!! I'm sure Professor Lehrer wouild roll his eyes upon hearing that although i'd still love to meet him in person. I'm in San JOse and he;'s in Santa Cruz. So if anyone out there knows how to reach him, please do let me know.
Tom Lehrer was a very important part of our family's humor. Our (then) children learned a lot from him. They grew up listening to his music and irony and made our family life richer. We now share a special vocabulary that still comes up in our conversations
Just loved this genius for 50 years. Was 17 when I first heard him. 🎉🎉 half century!
"I remember drinking champagne from her slipper and almost choking on a corn pad!"
Yecch.
The first two records I learned to put on the record player by myself were Tom Lehrer's "That Was The Year That Was" and the Doors' "Morrison Hotel". When I was six I knew the words to "Smut" and "Proliferation" (First we got the Bomb) by heart . . . People who know me say this explains a lot.
Your mother must have been pleased. Mine took her Tom Lehrer albums away from me and hid them one day after she heard me singing "We Will All Go Together" at the top of my lungs.
@@oliverbrownlow5615 I don't think my parents even noticed . . . I like your choice of songs though.
@@josephgreeley5569 Nevertheless, I'm sure that having a cherubic six-year-old belt out, "Smut! Give me smut and nothing but!" exceeds Tom Lehrer's wildest dreams of success
as a songwriter.
We *actually went through* the "New Math" situation with our son's "Common Core" class, as they *literally* said "It's more important to know what you're doing than get the right answer!" Then a few weeks ago, I heard my son cackling over a youtube song (he made it to college). Asking what was so funny, he said *"It's a new guy named Tom Lehrer!"* I bust a gut, having known all Lehrer's stuff from childhood. The *awesome* part is that my son is a math/music/chess talent who can sound exactly like Lehrer, and is a *huge* fan (as am I). For the perverse pleasure of it, we both sing along with such hits as "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park" and the "New Math." Mr. Lehrer, I challenge you to revive the best old ones and write a few new ones. There is always enough absurd news to feed a talent like yours! Much of your old material is just as pertinent as ever. Even the black plastic 50's and 60's glasses are "in" again, so before we "All Go Together" let's hear a few more hits!
I have actually posted a youtube link (there are several examples to choose from) to Tom's "new math" on some facebook "only for geniuses" type math problem memes. More than once, I have come back to find other replies that assumed that "new math" was actually a new song written about the common core method, crazier yet was the one person who claimed the singer (Tom) didn't know what he was talking about (math). Then I find myself seeking out a link to a biography of Tom Lehrer so that people understand 1) how old the song is and 2) that yes, Mr Lehrer does know what he is talking about.
"NEW guy" ??? Lehrer is so friggin' old, his first music lesson was on a stone xylophone.
He taught Bach to play the organ. My Dad introduced me to Lehrer's work in the late sixties through a promotional disc with Lehrer's "The Elements" on one side, and a humorous ""Diatribe on Detection Limits" by a professorial-type lecturer on the other, promoting the virtues of Perkin-Elmer lab equipment. Nerd that I am, I actually enjoyed the lecture (and it was really funny, as I was just learning the value of irony in the course of logic) almost as much as the song.
I spent a lot of time during my 46 year career as a computer programmer doing arithmetic in base 8 and base 16 (what is A + F?)
For me the funny thing about “new math” is that this was how everybody in my country (including me) learnt to calculate since long before my parents went to school. However, in the late sixties when my little sister started in school, the new thing was to learn it like Americans did before their “new math” - a system that still feels very strange to me. So to me “new math” is good old math.
In the 1960s we listened to Tom Lehrer's LPs and learned all the words. I knew "The Vatican Rag" as I also knew the words of the Beatles' songs. I also loved "The New Math" which is still relevant today. I have not been able to find the song about Vice President Hubert Humphrey on TH-cam, also very funny. It is a shame that the modern generation are not familiar with his very funny songs.
Put on the Black List, and replaced by the garbage the people are being fed today.
th-cam.com/video/hUnHZAUR6hE/w-d-xo.html
His legacy lives on threw the "new media" 😁
Whatever became of "Whatever Became of Hubert?"
@@totalitaer. Given today's ways with language his songs would've sadly been too sophisticated with today's gen. I'm in my mid-20s and his songs have been major inspirations to me since my teens, but many of my peers don't get or appreciate it, especially those slightly younger than me.
my HERO
Great! This presentation was done after Fermat's conjecture had turned into a theorem. Tom Lehrer looked young. I happened to find his videos abou a month ago. I am glad he was alive and young at that very important moment for mathematics.
The mathematician that I admire most is Kurt Gödel because of his completude theorems, however Tom Lehrer never wrote a song to him. When I was presented to Kurt Gödel and those two theorems, the professor said that Kurt Gödel had divided the history of mathematics. Why not a song for him?
Tom Lehrer is still alive. Why don't you email him and find out?
awesome
haha what a dork. I've been a fan for decades
Fan f(n) tastic!
If you hear me say I was brainwashed by Tom Lehrer (Especially THAT WAS THE YEAR THAT WAS), I say it as a GOOD THING. How recollections of the words happen with so many events/words... THANK YOU PROFESSOR LEHRER!
OH, and the Engineering friend who (Pulled over by the police and asked to count backward from 100), recited the Periodic Table of Elements. Lucky it turned out OK.
I've gone through the same thing, though I for one term it being mentored by the great man, who is happily rotting(humor intended) at the ripe age of 95!
Tom Lehrer had a vision, that is what my American teacher taught me
I love this! Thank you for doing this.
Ooooh! And it's Gama's song from "Princess Ida," doubly excellent!
I would of love to meet this man ;-;
Great entertainer!
Tom lehrer reminds me of the genius Randy Rogel ⭐🌟⭐🌟🎼🎵🎶🎹
I wish he was my math teacher .... I may have paid attention lol
Post-modern algebra? Where do I attend a course in that?
Well, according to the website "Dead or Alive?" Tom Lehrer is still alive. So can we get him out of retirement long enough to compose a song about common core? He doesn't have to sing it, just compose it and give it to someone he thinks is worthy of singing it.
That's basically what "That's Mathematics" is.
I would say rather that that's what "New Math" is.
New Math is about New Math, not Common Core.
Obviously, since Common Core didn't exist then, but it's a very similar theme, and more relevant than That's Mathematics. I suspect it's the song J Parker Adair was thinking about.
Angela Brett Yeah, but still, a song specifically about common core and how stupid it is would be more effective than New Math is. New Math, which for us is old math now, makes sense. But Common Core doesn't make sense to teachers, students, or parents. The answers are bull. The kids are getting screwed over majorly. It's just government nonsense.
If the professor is not clearly understood by his students, there can be only one reason: There is simply not enough emphasis on vocabulary words, and/or rote practice of mathematical equations and procedures.
"MIT did not have a sociology department; they hadn't sunk THAT low." Rotfl
Tom .... Get the dance..
Y - you must -C
He has made me happy and furthermore 😊 Joy to my existence
It's time for a Noble Prize for comedy. Tom gets the first one!
This may be 9 yesrs old but it is still grand! Thank you!
I wish I'd been able to take a mathematics course from Mr. Lehrer when I was a student at UC Santa Cruz. Who knows, I might have passed Calculus, stayed with my original major of Biology, and avoided switching to the social sciences as my consolation prize!
Integral calculus is bacterial plaque which covers an entire tooth with one unbroken layer.
Differential calculus is bacterial plaque which covers one part of the tooth with a layer thicker than that covering another part of the tooth.
It's true what they say: he really is pretty acceptable with the piano.
Thought I knew all this is new. JOY.
The world needs a good Midas Touch song about Trump by this man, particularly!
I can only repeat what Lehrer said when asked why he didn't write a funny song about Watergate: "Asking an American to write a funny song about Watergate is like asking a resident of Pompeii for some humorous comments on lava."
My first Calculus teacher was just like this. She could not explain how to do the problems. A different teacher made all the difference to me.
According to Wikipedia, Wagner was born in 22nd May. But ALW and Sondheim actually have the same birthday which is my favorite new fact
When art and logic mix. To beautiful conclusions.
I took Algebra II which always included Trigonometry for half a year. Then there was this full year course called Math Analysis. Only then did one wade into Calculus.
Push-up bra
Matzo-Brie (pronounce second part as "brah")
Algebra
I am wondering what kind of a family Tom grew up from... What are the elements that build such a genius !!!
Listed in th-cam.com/video/yaFxrYEDmCs/w-d-xo.html ;)
Genius parents who open the door to genius 'stuff'.
Antimony, arsenic, aluminum, selenium...
Algebra and "bruh" rhyme. I mean you can argue that bruh is not a word but whatever. Poetry is the peasants' literature anyway.
vjm3
Anything can be a word.
It's how language evolves.
Complex numbers make me long for days of pre-modern algebra
Real roots of simple functions, ah, they give me such nostalgia, bruh
wow, really raggin' on sociology. XD