&w=3840&q=100)
Tom Lehrer, song satirist and mathematician, dies at 97
Tom Lehrer, the popular song satirist who lampooned marriage, politics, racism and the Cold War, then largely abandoned his music career to return to teaching math at Harvard and other universities, has died. He was 97.
Longtime friend David Herder said Lehrer died Saturday at his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He did not specify a cause of death.
Lehrer had remained on the math faculty of the University of California at Santa Cruz well into his late 70s. In 2020, he even turned away from his own copyright, granting the public permission to use his lyrics in any format without any fee in return.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
A Harvard prodigy (he had earned a math degree from the institution at age 18), Lehrer soon turned his very sharp mind to old traditions and current events. His songs included 'Poisoning Pigeons in the Park,' 'The Old Dope Peddler' (set to a tune reminiscent of 'The Old Lamplighter'), 'Be Prepared' (in which he mocked the Boy Scouts) and 'The Vatican Rag,' in which Lehrer, an atheist, poked at the rites and ceremonies of the Roman Catholic Church. (Sample lyrics: 'Get down on your knees, fiddle with your rosaries. Bow your head with great respect, and genuflect, genuflect, genuflect.')
Accompanying himself on piano, he performed the songs in a colorful style reminiscent of such musical heroes as Gilbert and Sullivan and Stephen Sondheim, the latter a lifelong friend. Lehrer was often likened to such contemporaries as Allen Sherman and Stan Freberg for his comic riffs on culture and politics and he was cited by Randy Newman and 'Weird Al' Yankovic among others as an influence.
He mocked the forms of music he didn't like (modern folk songs, rock 'n' roll and modern jazz), laughed at the threat of nuclear annihilation and denounced discrimination.
But he attacked in such an erudite, even polite, manner that almost no one objected.
'Tom Lehrer is the most brilliant song satirist ever recorded,' musicologist Barry Hansen once said. Hansen co-produced the 2000 boxed set of Lehrer's songs, 'The Remains of Tom Lehrer,' and had featured Lehrer's music for decades on his syndicated 'Dr. Demento' radio show.
Lehrer's body of work was actually quite small, amounting to about three dozen songs.
'When I got a funny idea for a song, I wrote it. And if I didn't, I didn't,' Lehrer told The Associated Press in 2000 during a rare interview. 'I wasn't like a real writer who would sit down and put a piece of paper in the typewriter. And when I quit writing, I just quit. … It wasn't like I had writer's block.'
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
He'd gotten into performing accidentally when he began to compose songs in the early 1950s to amuse his friends. Soon he was performing them at coffeehouses around Cambridge, while he remained at Harvard to teach and obtain a master's degree in math.
He cut his first record in 1953, 'Songs by Tom Lehrer,' which included 'I Wanna Go Back to Dixie,' lampooning the attitudes of the Old South, and the 'Fight Fiercely, Harvard,' suggesting how a prissy Harvard blueblood might sing a football fight song.
After a two-year stint in the Army, Lehrer began to perform concerts of his material in venues around the world. In 1959, he released another LP called 'More of Tom Lehrer' and a live recording called 'An Evening Wasted with Tom Lehrer,' nominated for a Grammy for best comedy performance (musical) in 1960.
But around the same time, he largely quit touring and returned to teaching math, though he did some writing and performing on the side.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
Lehrer said he was never comfortable appearing in public.
'I enjoyed it up to a point,' he told The AP in 2000. 'But to me, going out and performing the concert every night when it was all available on record would be like a novelist going out and reading his novel every night.'
He did produce a political satire song each week for the 1964 television show 'That Was the Week That Was,' a groundbreaking topical comedy show that anticipated 'Saturday Night Live' a decade later.
He released the songs the following year in an album titled 'That Was the Year That Was.' The material included 'Who's Next?' that ponders which government will be the next to get the nuclear bomb … perhaps Alabama? (He didn't need to tell his listeners that it was a bastion of segregation at the time.) 'Pollution' takes a look at the then-new concept that perhaps rivers and lakes should be cleaned up.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
He also wrote songs for the 1970s educational children's show 'The Electric Company.' He told AP in 2000 that hearing from people who had benefited from them gave him far more satisfaction than praise for any of his satirical works.
His songs were revived in the 1980 musical revue 'Tomfoolery' and he made a rare public appearance in London in 1998 at a celebration honoring that musical's producer, Cameron Mackintosh.
Lehrer was born in 1928, in New York City, the son of a successful necktie designer. He recalled an idyllic childhood on Manhattan's Upper West Side that included attending Broadway shows with his family and walking through Central Park day or night.
After skipping two grades in school, he entered Harvard at 15 and, after receiving his master's degree, he spent several years unsuccessfully pursuing a doctorate.
'I spent many, many years satisfying all the requirements, as many years as possible, and I started on the thesis,' he once said. 'But I just wanted to be a grad student, it's a wonderful life. That's what I wanted to be, and unfortunately, you can't be a Ph.D. and a grad student at the same time.'
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
He began to teach part-time at Santa Cruz in the 1970s, mainly to escape the harsh New England winters.
From time to time, he acknowledged, a student would enroll in one of his classes based on knowledge of his songs.
'But it's a real math class,' he said at the time. 'I don't do any funny theorems. So those people go away pretty quickly.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
18 hours ago
- Time of India
Gandhi My Father: Feroz Abbas Khan says Nobel Laureate Nadine Gordimer's praise 'remains a lifetime inspiration'
Feroz Abbas Khan's 'Gandhi My Father' continues to resonate deeply, 18 years after its release, earning respect in academia and from figures like Ramchandra Guha. The film's authentic portrayal garnered praise from Nobel laureate Nadine Gordimer and Nelson Mandela, with Gordimer even offering Khan the rights to adapt her works. Some movies are known to leave a lasting impression on the audience, and 'Gandhi My Father' is certainly one of them. The film has recently completed 18 years, and on the occasion, filmmaker Feroz Abbas Khan got candid about the enduring legacy of the film. Even after almost two decades, the movie resonates deeply with the audience. Shedding light on how 'Gandhi My Father' is much more than a movie, Feroz, in an exclusive conversation with us, shared, 'The film is becoming a cherished memory, but I am constantly reminded by people who are either making a period film, studying Gandhi, or students at film, drama, and media school. At Harvard and Oxford, it has found a place of respect, as told to me by professors teaching there.' 'It is much more than a film. Recently, on my tour of my stage adaptation of Mughal-E-Azam, I met a bunch of students in New York who had visited India and were told that they were made to watch my film along with Attenborough's movie as part of the orientation. It is hugely respected in academia. Ramchandra Guha was deeply moved by the film and praised it lavishly. Respect for its authentic and sensitive representation keeps pouring in. ' The movie garnered love from every corner, but one particular recognition that stood out for Feroz Abbas Khan was the letter he received from Nobel laureate Nadine Gordimer and Nelson Mandela. He said their lavish praise remains a lifetime inspiration. In the letter she wrote, 'I am happy to have the opportunity to express my admiration for 'Gandhi My Father.'' Praising the film, she added, 'A ground-breaking film in its originality and boldness. No one before in cinema has tackled like this one of the most difficult of human emotional situations. Further, Khan also met Ms. Gordimer, and reminiscing about that moment, he shared, 'When I visited South Africa, Ms Gordimer invited me to her home-made dinner with her own hands. She lived alone. We watched a play together, and that's not all.' 'She permitted me to make a movie of any of her works that she had not allowed anyone to. I cherish her generosity and humanity. She fought Apartheid till her last breath, sheltered rebels, survived physical attacks, but kept raising her voice. She is the closest living person to a saint I have experienced,' he concluded.
Hindustan Times
2 days ago
- Hindustan Times
Stella Rimington, Britain's first female spy chief, dies aged 90
By William James Stella Rimington, Britain's first female spy chief, dies aged 90 LONDON -Stella Rimington, the first female director general of Britain's MI5 security and counter-intelligence service who ushered in an era of greater transparency at the agency, has died aged 90. Rimington, who ran the domestic security agency between 1992 and 1996, was its first head to be publicly named and later wrote a memoir "Open Secret" about her career at the formerly secretive organisation. She went on to write a series of espionage novels and is also widely thought to have inspired actor Judy Dench's tough but playful characterisation of the fictional spymaster 'M' in several James Bond movies. "She died surrounded by her beloved family and dogs and determinedly held on to the life she loved until her last breath," a family statement quoted by local media said. Rimington was given one of the British state's highest honours when she was made a dame in 1996. She joined MI5 in 1969 and worked in roles including counter-subversion and counter-terrorism. Under her leadership MI5 took a more prominent role in Britain's fight against Irish republican militants, according to a profile on the MI5 website. "As the first avowed female head of any intelligence agency in the world, Dame Stella broke through long-standing barriers and was a visible example of the importance of diversity in leadership," current MI5 Director General Ken McCallum said in a statement. She committed the agency to a more transparent approach to its work, softening its post-Cold War image. "We are, of course, obliged to keep information secret in order to be effective, this is not to say that we should necessarily be a wholly secret organisation," she said in a publicly broadcast 1994 lecture. "Secrecy is not imposed for its own sake. It is not an end in itself." Foreshadowing her later literary career, Rimington opened that same speech with a nod to the British spy novel tradition and the fascination with the security services it had inspired among the general public. "It is exciting stuff and has led to the creation of many myths - and some lurid speculation - about our work. I must admit that it is with some hesitation that I set out tonight to shed some daylight," she said. "I have a sneaking feeling that the fiction may turn out to be more fun than the reality." This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
NDTV
2 days ago
- NDTV
Stella Rimington, Britain's First Female Spy Chief, dies At 90
London: Stella Rimington, the first female director general of Britain's MI5 security and counter-intelligence service who ushered in an era of greater transparency at the agency, has died aged 90. Rimington, who ran the domestic security agency between 1992 and 1996, was its first head to be publicly named and later wrote a memoir "Open Secret" about her career at the formerly secretive organisation. She went on to write a series of espionage novels and is also widely thought to have inspired actor Judy Dench's tough but playful characterisation of the fictional spymaster 'M' in several James Bond movies. "She died surrounded by her beloved family and dogs and determinedly held on to the life she loved until her last breath," a family statement quoted by local media said. Rimington was given one of the British state's highest honours when she was made a dame in 1996. She joined MI5 in 1969 and worked in roles including counter-subversion and counter-terrorism. Under her leadership MI5 took a more prominent role in Britain's fight against Irish republican militants, according to a profile on the MI5 website. "As the first avowed female head of any intelligence agency in the world, Dame Stella broke through long-standing barriers and was a visible example of the importance of diversity in leadership," current MI5 Director General Ken McCallum said in a statement. She committed the agency to a more transparent approach to its work, softening its post-Cold War image. "We are, of course, obliged to keep information secret in order to be effective, this is not to say that we should necessarily be a wholly secret organisation," she said in a publicly broadcast 1994 lecture. "Secrecy is not imposed for its own sake. It is not an end in itself." Foreshadowing her later literary career, Rimington opened that same speech with a nod to the British spy novel tradition and the fascination with the security services it had inspired among the general public. "It is exciting stuff and has led to the creation of many myths - and some lurid speculation - about our work. I must admit that it is with some hesitation that I set out tonight to shed some daylight," she said. "I have a sneaking feeling that the fiction may turn out to be more fun than the reality." (Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
