Tom Lehrer in general

Around 80 years ago Thomas Andrew Lehrer was born (April 9, 1928), known now to many as Tom Lehrer, the man has done it all since. Usually a person stays in one form or another of work, but Lehrer has managed to mix all of his together at times, which has seen not only a cynical look at the army, a satire based look at education and just a few fun songs based on music we might already recognise. Much like contemporary Allan Sherman (best known for "Camp Granada") Lehrer's music was fun to listen (I admit thats what I'm sticking to mainly here in this article). Songs like "The Elements" (based on putting the elements of the periodic ...

Tom Lehrer is, in my opinion, one of the funniest (and sickest) men who ever lived. It therefore comes as a surprise to many people that he was in fact a professor of mathematics (although I am sure this would be no surprise to other mathematicians). This fact is hinted at in one of his better known songs, Lobochevsky, in which he passes on to future generations the true secret to success in mathematics -- plagiarism! Many of Lehrer's numbers cover topics that don't usually make it into song. I will share with you a few lines of one of my favourites, the beautiful romantic ballad "I Hold Your Hand In Mine"... "I hold your hand in ...

Have you ever pondered the incongruities of life? You know, the great unanswered questions of our time, which include: How does the man who drives the snowplough get to work? What is a Ulay? Where are they going to get the seeds for next year's crop of seedless grapes from? Of course there are many, many more that cause me to spend seconds, nay minutes of sleeplessness every single night, pondering the injustices of our society. No, I am not going to go off on a rant about the Conservative party, mainly because I want to write about people who actually do have a sense of humour! There is one term in the field of musical ...