Before attending college, Lehrer graduated from the Loomis Chaffee School in Windsor, Connecticut. As an undergraduate student at Harvard University, he began to write comic songs to entertain his friends, including Fight Fiercely, Harvard (1945). Those songs later became (in a joking reference to a leading scientific journal, The Physical Review) The Physical Revue. Influenced mainly by musical theater, his style consisted of parodying then-current forms of popular song. For example, his appreciation of list songs led him to set the names of the chemical elements to the tune of Gilbert and Sullivan's "Major-General's Song".
Inspired by the success of his performances of his songs, he paid for some studio time to record an album, Songs By Tom Lehrer, which he sold by mail order. Self-published and unpromoted, the album, which included the macabre (I Hold Your Hand in Mine), the mildly risqué (Be Prepared), and the mathematical (Lobachevsky), became a success via word of mouth. With a cult hit, he embarked on a series of concert tours and released a second album, which came in two versions: the songs were the same but More Songs by Tom Lehrer was studio-recorded, while An Evening Wasted with Tom Lehrer was recorded live in concert.
Lehrer's major break into the United Kingdom came as a result of the citation accompanying an honorary degree given to Princess Margaret, where she cited musical tastes as "catholic, ranging from Mozart to Tom Lehrer". This produced significant interest in his works, and helped secure distributors for his material. Ironically, it was in the UK where his music ended up more popular due to the proliferation of university newspapers referring to the material, and the willingness of the BBC to play his songs on the radio (something that was a rarity in the USA).
By the early 1960s, Lehrer had retired from touring (which he intensely disliked) and was employed as the resident songwriter for the US edition of That Was The Week That Was (TW3), a satirical TV show. An increased proportion of his output became overtly political, or at least topical, on subjects such as pollution (Pollution), Vatican II (The Vatican Rag), race relations (National Brotherhood Week), education (New Math), American militarism (Send the Marines), World War III nostalgia (So Long, Mom, premiered by Steve Allen), and nuclear proliferation (Who's Next? and MLF Lullaby). He also wrote a song which satirized the alleged amorality of Wernher von Braun. A selection of these songs was released in the album That Was The Year That Was.
The record deal with Reprise Records for the That Was The Year That Was album also gave Reprise distribution rights for Lehrer's earlier recordings, as Lehrer wanted to shut down his own Lehrer Records. The Reprise issue of Songs by Tom Lehrer was a stereo re-recording. This version was not issued on CD, but the songs were issued on the live Tom Lehrer Revisited on CD instead.
There is an urban legend that Lehrer gave up political satire when the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Henry Kissinger in 1973. He did say that the awarding of the prize to Kissinger made political satire obsolete, but has denied that he stopped doing satire as a form of protest, and asserts that he had stopped doing satire several years earlier. Another urban legend held that he had been sued for libel by the subject of one of his songs, Wernher Von Braun, and been forced to relinquish all of his royalty income to Von Braun. However, Lehrer firmly denied this in an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald. (He had also mentioned Frank Fontaine and Jerry Lewis in "National Brotherhood Week", in an uncomplimentary context, on the same album, but nothing resulted from that.)
When asked about his reasons for abandoning his musical career, he cited a simple lack of interest, a distaste for touring, and boredom with performing the same songs repeatedly. He has observed that when he was moved to write and perform songs, he did; when he wasn't, he didn't, and after a while the latter situation prevailed. It has been frequently observed that, though many of Lehrer's songs satirized the Cold War political establishment of the day, that he stopped writing and performing just as the 1960s counterculture movement gained momentum. Lehrer has stated that he doubts his songs had an impact on those not already critical of the establishment: "I don't think this kind of thing has an impact on the unconverted, frankly. It's not even preaching to the converted; it's titillating the converted... I'm fond of quoting Peter Cook, who talked about the satirical Berlin cabarets of the '30s, which did so much to stop the rise of Hitler and prevent the Second World War."
Lehrer's musical career was notably brief, stating in an interview in the late 90s that he had performed a mere 109 shows, and written 37 songs across his 20-year career. Nevertheless, the cult following that had grown around his music significantly bolstered the effect that he had on a global scale.
In the 1970s, Lehrer concentrated on teaching mathematics and musical theater, although he also wrote 10 songs for the children's television show The Electric Company. (Harvard schoolmate Joe Raposo was the show's musical director for its first three seasons.) In the early 1980s, Tom Foolery, a revival of his songs on the London stage, was a surprise hit. Although not its instigator, Lehrer eventually gave it his full support and updated several of his lyrics for the production.
On 7 June and 8 June 1998, Tom Lehrer performed in public for the first time in 25 years at the Lyceum Theatre, London as part of the gala show Hey Mr Producer! celebrating the career of impresario Cameron Mackintosh (who had been the producer of Tom Foolery). The 8 June show has been his only performance before the Queen. Lehrer sang Poisoning Pigeons in the Park and an updated version of "Who's Next". The DVD of the event includes the former song.
In 2000, a CD box set, The Remains of Tom Lehrer, was released by Rhino Entertainment. It included live and studio versions of his first two albums, That Was The Year That Was, the songs he wrote for The Electric Company, and some previously unreleased material, accompanied by a small hardbound book containing an introduction by Dr. Demento and lyrics to all the songs.
Lehrer celebrated his 80th birthday on April 9th 2008.
Introduction
Tom Lehrer Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I should like to introduce now the featured artist of this evening's... ordeal.
I'm sure that you will all agree without any hesitation that Tom Lehrer is the
most brilliant creative genius that America has produced in almost 200 years,
so perhaps a few words of biographical background might not be amiss.
Endowed by nature with perhaps the most glorious baritone voice to be heard
on an American stage since the memorable concert debut in 1835 of Millard
Fillmore; endowed also with twelve incredibly agile fingers; Mr. Lehrer has
nine years at Harvard University..., where it was that he first decided to
devote his life to what has since become a rather successful scientific
project – namely, the attempt to prolong adolescence beyond all previous
limits.
Even before he came to Harvard, however, he was well known in academic
circles for his masterly translation into Latin of "The Wizard of Oz",
which remains even today the standard Latin version of that work. A few
years ago he was inducted..., forcibly..., into the United States Army and
spent most of his indenture in Washington as sort of Army liaison to the
Office of Navel Contemplation. About his service record he is justifiably
modest, but it is known that in a short time he rose to the rank of brigadier
general. However, before he could acquire a tenure, he was discharged, and
owing to nepotism and intrigue, he emerged with only the rank of specialist
3rd class, which was roughly equivalent to the rank of corporal without
portfolio.
But to return to his career in show business: For several years he toured
vaudeville theaters with an act consisting of impressions of people in the
last throes of various diseases. I'm sure that many of you here tonight still
recall with pleasure his memorable diphtheria imitation. He is generally
acknowledged to be the dean of living American composers, and is currently
working on a musical comedy based on the life of Adolf Hitler.
Without further ado – Tom Lehrer:
– – – –
You'd be amazed at the money we save that way . . .
The lyrics to the song "Introduction" by Tom Lehrer are spoken and serve as an introduction to the performer himself. The singer introduces Lehrer as a creative genius with a beautiful baritone voice and twelve agile fingers. The introduction provides a brief background on Lehrer's academic career and his military service. The singer mentions Lehrer's vaudeville act of impersonating people with various diseases, particularly his memorable diphtheria imitation. Finally, the singer introduces the performer with the phrase "without further ado."
Through this introduction, Lehrer's comedic persona shines through. The absurd notion of "prolonging adolescence beyond all previous limits" and the Latin translation of "The Wizard of Oz" are humorous examples of Lehrer's wit. The mention of his vaudeville act and impression of a deadly disease show Lehrer's irreverent sense of humor. Ultimately, the introduction serves to set the tone for Lehrer's performance, establishing him as a clever and hilarious performer.
Line by Line Meaning
I should like to introduce now the featured artist of this evening's... ordeal.
I am about to introduce the main performer of tonight's show.
I'm sure that you will all agree without any hesitation that Tom Lehrer is the most brilliant creative genius that America has produced in almost 200 years,
Tom Lehrer is considered by many to be an incredibly talented and intelligent artist, perhaps one of the best America has had in two centuries.
so perhaps a few words of biographical background might not be amiss.
I will provide some biographical information to give context to his work.
Endowed by nature with perhaps the most glorious baritone voice to be heard on an American stage since the memorable concert debut in 1835 of Millard Fillmore; endowed also with twelve incredibly agile fingers;
Tom Lehrer has an amazing singing voice and is an exceptional pianist.
Mr. Lehrer has had a long and varied career in the field of entertainment starting with nine years at Harvard University..., where it was that he first decided to devote his life to what has since become a rather successful scientific project – namely, the attempt to prolong adolescence beyond all previous limits.
Tom Lehrer has had a diverse career in show business, but it all started during his nine years at Harvard where he began exploring ways to extend youthful behavior and attitudes well into adulthood, which he has now become quite famous for.
Even before he came to Harvard, however, he was well known in academic circles for his masterly translation into Latin of 'The Wizard of Oz', which remains even today the standard Latin version of that work.
Before Harvard, Tom Lehrer was already well-respected in academic circles for his expert translation of 'The Wizard of Oz' to Latin, which is still used today as the standard translated version.
A few years ago he was inducted..., forcibly..., into the United States Army and spent most of his indenture in Washington as sort of Army liaison to the Office of Navel Contemplation. About his service record he is justifiably modest, but it is known that in a short time he rose to the rank of brigadier general.
Tom Lehrer was drafted into the army a few years ago and served in Washington as a liaison to an office. He is humble about his time in service, but he did manage to quickly become quite a high-ranking officer.
However, before he could acquire a tenure, he was discharged, and owing to nepotism and intrigue, he emerged with only the rank of specialist 3rd class, which was roughly equivalent to the rank of corporal without portfolio.
Unfortunately, Tom Lehrer was discharged from the army before he could have a permanent position, and he left with a low rank due to unfair politics and bias.
But to return to his career in show business: For several years he toured vaudeville theaters with an act consisting of impressions of people in the last throes of various diseases.
Tom Lehrer toured the vaudeville theater circuit for a while, performing impersonations of people with serious illnesses in their final stages.
I'm sure that many of you here tonight still recall with pleasure his memorable diphtheria imitation.
I'm certain that some of you in the audience may remember his imitation of someone suffering from diphtheria, which was quite memorable and enjoyable.
He is generally acknowledged to be the dean of living American composers, and is currently working on a musical comedy based on the life of Adolf Hitler.
Tom Lehrer is considered one of the leading American composers alive today, and he's currently in the process of creating a musical comedy about Adolf Hitler.
Without further ado – Tom Lehrer:
And now, without any more delays or introductions, please welcome Tom Lehrer!
You'd be amazed at the money we save that way . . .
This line is not part of the introduction, but rather a humorous quip by Tom Lehrer at the end of his performance. It seems to imply that he saves money by skipping certain parts of his show or tour, possibly as an inside joke with his audience.
Contributed by Thomas E. Suggest a correction in the comments below.