Tom Lehrer

In the earliest days of my life things in America were not as they are now. On our tiny black and white TV tube images of Joe McCarthy interrogating people as if they were convicted felons filled the day. Newspapers daily reported on Tail Gunner Joe's antics, except that they often called him a Crusader for Democracy.

Occasionally, however, another voice came through. Edward R. Murrow, another early hero and subject of an upcoming hub I am going to write, and yet another voice, satirical, came from the insane circus of those trying times.

Yes, he is Tom Lehrer.

True, most of his fame came after the McCarthy days, and he was fortunate not to have been deported to the Soviet Union as Un-American by the McCarthy thugs, but Tom Lehrer would find his voice put to excellent use commenting on the various issues of the day.

In the early 1960's there certainly was a lot to sing about, especially if one was a satirist of great talent. From what I have read Tom Lehrer did not think of himself in grandiose terms. His first efforts at selling his records was by personally exchanging them for $3 cash on the campus of Harvard University. This was mainly because his words and themes were considered a hot-potato for the conventional recording studios of the day.

Remember, we were still struggling to get Elvis Presley's full image on the screen - up to that time they only showed him from the waist on up due to his jiggling hips.

Ah, America! How far we've come! Now we can see Britney Spear's jiggling belly in all its self-proclaimed glory!

Nevertheless, it was Tom Lehrer's lyrics that caused most of the problem for mainstream Americans. As a youth, however, rebellious by nature and nurture, I loved his songs! This was still the era of Father Knows Best, Leave it to Beaver and other such shows which in hindsight were pretty boring to me.

I occasionally saw Tom Lehrer in the news, because he, much like Lenny Bruce, was vilified by many. (Yes, I'll also be doing a hub on Lenny Bruce, too.) After all, Lenny Bruce used words that you couldn't say on TV, and Tom Lehrer proposed ideas that were dangerous to minds young and old alike. Satire, it seems is seldom either appreciated or enjoyed by those at whom it is focused.

After about 109 shows and 37 songs, however, Tom had had enough. He never liked touring and definitely didn't take to singing the same songs over and over again. Thus, it is pleasing to see that many of his live performances were indeed captured for our viewing pleasure today!

He did occasional work for The Electric Company and an earlier TV satirical show called That Was The Week That Was(TW3), which I remember watching like a voracious wolf awaiting the next Tom Lehrer song. However, I personally do not remember him being on the show. I recall that someone else sang his songs in that format. Maybe my memory is faulty, but I can't actually conjure an image of him on the show.

Tom went back to Harvard ostensibly to get his Doctorate in Mathematics, but never did get his Ph.D. He worked as a professor at M.I.T and later at the University of California, Santa Cruz for a time until he retired in 2001. Tom often said that he retired from the musical satire field when Henry Kissinger received the Nobel Peace Prize. I guess that act of oddity was simply too much for him.

He is quoted as having said that his music really had little impact on politics or the shape of things to come. He pointed out, satirically, of course, the impact the Berlin Cabarets had on stopping the rise of Hitler and the prevention of WWII. Maybe he is right in the larger sense, but his music, his words, and the satricial bent of his on-stage nature influenced at least one person - me.

I am proud to say that even today Tom Lehrer remains one of my heroes, whether he wants to be such or not. Rock on, Tom!

Yes, it is a strange song, and at times it take several times listening to get the full meaning behind the lyrics. I have my own ideas, and I'd be happy to read yours in the comments below. Enjoy!

Werner von Braun was the famous rocket scientist Hitler employed to build the V2 rockets that fell on England in WWII. After the war, when the Soviets turned from allies to enemy #1, von Braun and other former Nazi rocket engineers were hastily brought to the U.S. to head up the U.S. missle program. His usage was criticized by some as using Nazi technology, which both we and the Soviets freely used to get one up on each other.

His Nazi past was more or less forgotten if not always forgiven, thus the refence to widows in London and their pensions in the song. Hope you enjoy!

A lot of Tom's musical stylings remind me of Groucho Marx and also those English sad songs from WWI and WWII. The light, airy piano with a pleasant, calming voice and punch in the face lyrics is a combination hard to resist!

In the crazy world of today we need a new Tom Lehrer! Someone who can see through the hyjinks and agendas of today, tell us in a comical way things we need to know. Maybe they would have no concrete impact on the world at large, but maybe the next "me" will be inspired to sing the praises of such a person!