Latest news with #FightFiercely
Edmonton Journal
19 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Edmonton Journal
Tom Lehrer, song satirist and mathematician, dies at 97
Article content Lehrer's body of work was actually quite small, amounting to about three dozen songs. Article content '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.' Article content 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. Article content 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. Article content Article content 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. Article content But around the same time, he largely quit touring and returned to teaching math, though he did some writing and performing on the side. Article content Lehrer said he was never comfortable appearing in public. Article content '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.' Article content 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. Article content Article content 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. Article content He also wrote songs for the 1970s educational children's show The Electric 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. Article content 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. Article content 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. Article content 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. Article content '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 Phd and a grad student at the same time.' Article content 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 enrol in one of his classes based on knowledge of his songs. Article content '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.'
Metro
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Metro
American musician and satirist Tom Lehrer dies aged 97
Tom Lehrer, best known for his satirical songs in the 1950s and 60s, has died at the age of 97. The singer died on Saturday at his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, as confirmed by his friend, David Herder to The New York Times. The singer was a popular satirist in his early career and the inspiration behind other satirists, including Weird Al Yankovic. Lehrer was a Harvard-trained mathematician and had teaching posts at Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and the University of California. He had success in the music industry but spent much of his life pursuing a life in academia, never quitting his original role as a mathematician and just taking sabbaticals when needed. In 1960, he stopped performing, before returning in 1965, and then leaving the industry for good in 1967. In 2000, he spoke to the New York Times about his enduring success: 'When I made that first record, it was just to sell around Harvard. 'It never dawned on me that all these years later, well, I wrote 'Fight Fiercely, Harvard' in 1945 and the band plays it at half-times now, 55 years later.' He added that despite his success, he was never interested in fame. 'I don't feel the need for anonymous affection,' he said. 'If they buy my records, I love that. But I don't think I need people in the dark applauding. It's nice to be reassured once in a while, but a real performer has to do it over and over again. I can't understand the Yul Brynner phenomenon, 'The King and I' night after night.' 'I'm not interested in promoting myself, or revealing to total strangers anything about me. That's not my job. More Trending 'I read some of these things with people who will tell you all about their abortions, and their affairs and their divorces and their nervous breakdowns and their parents, and why are they doing that? And I'm sure if you asked them how much money they made last year, they'd tell you it's none of your business.' The singer was best known for his songs The Masochism Tango, Send the Marines, and The Hunting Song. In Poisoning Pigeons in the Park, he detailed the birds' appetite for 'peanuts coated with cyanide' and in I Hold Your Hand in Mine, he sang about necrophilia, and in I Got It From Agnes, he spoke about catching a venereal disease. His tune, The Elements, was a list of the chemical elements set to the tune of I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General from The Pirates of Penzance and popularised in The Big Bang Theory. Got a story? If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@ calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you. MORE: Dame Cleo Laine, first lady of British jazz, dies aged 97 MORE: Hulk Hogan 'lost a lot of weight in final weeks before death' MORE: 70s jazz musician Chuck Mangione dies aged 84
Sydney Morning Herald
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
Legendary Cold War satirist Tom Lehrer dies aged 97
'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.' 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, Massachusetts, while he remained at Harvard to teach and obtain a master's degree in maths. 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 maths, though he did some writing and performing on the side. 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?, which 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. 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 honouring that musical's producer, Cameron Mackintosh. Lehrer was born in 1928, in New York, 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, 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 PhD and a grad student at the same time.' 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 enrol in one of his classes based on knowledge of his songs.
The Age
a day ago
- Entertainment
- The Age
Legendary Cold War satirist Tom Lehrer dies aged 97
'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.' 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, Massachusetts, while he remained at Harvard to teach and obtain a master's degree in maths. 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 maths, though he did some writing and performing on the side. 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?, which 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. 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 honouring that musical's producer, Cameron Mackintosh. Lehrer was born in 1928, in New York, 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, 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 PhD and a grad student at the same time.' 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 enrol in one of his classes based on knowledge of his songs.
USA Today
a day ago
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Tom Lehrer, singer and influential political satirist, dies at 97: Reports
Singer-songwriter Tom Lehrer, a satirist who gained prominence in the 1950s and 1960s for his acerbic take on politics and social life, has died, according to reports. He was 97. Lehrer died on Saturday, July 26, at his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Lehrer's friend David Herder confirmed to The New York Times and The Associated Press. A cause of death was not disclosed. Representatives for Lehrer were not available for comment at the time of publication. Born in New York City to parents Morris and Anna Lehrer in April 1928, Lehrer showed a penchant for musical composition early on. The precocious musician began studying classical piano at the age of 7 and later pivoted to pop music. Around this time, Lehrer began composing show tunes, which would become the basis of his songwriting prowess. Lehrer displayed a similar level of mastery in his academic life. After graduating from the Loomis Chaffee School, a college preparatory school in Windsor, Connecticut, Lehrer enrolled at Harvard University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics. Lehrer's musical direction began to take shape during his time at the Ivy League university. He often wrote comic songs to entertain his friends, including the satirical college fight song "Fight Fiercely, Harvard." Lehrer later put together the "Physical Revue," a compilation of his academic satire songs named after the scientific journal Physical Review. Lehrer performed his parodies at coffeehouses and student gatherings throughout the Cambridge, Massachusetts, area. As interest in his music grew among the Harvard University student body, Lehrer went into the studio and recorded his debut album, "Songs by Tom Lehrer." Ozzy Osbourne dies: Black Sabbath singer and heavy metal icon was 76 The 10" LP, recorded in a one-hour studio session that cost $15, quickly sold out its 400-copy pressing and, after several reissues, reportedly went on to sell 350,000 copies. The album was rereleased in 1997 and inducted into the National Recording Registry in 2004. In a retrospective review of the album for the National Recording Registry, author Ronald L. Smith reflected that Lehrer pioneered the "sick" comedy genre. "The love song 'I Hold Your Hand in Mine' was about a severed hand. 'Be Prepared' urged Boy Scouts to pimp their sisters," Smith wrote. "'My Home Town' gleefully recalled a collection of idiots, perverts and the store owner named Dan: 'He was swell. He killed his mother-in-law and ground her up real well. And sprinkled just a bit over each banana split.'" Lehrer obtained a master's degree from Harvard in 1947 and remained in the school's doctoral program for several years, even amid his burgeoning music career. He also taught at universities such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of California, Santa Cruz, and his own alma mater, Harvard. Malcolm-Jamal Warner dies in drowning: 'Cosby Show' star was 54 Tom Lehrer becomes satire legend despite short-lived career Aside from his intellectual and musical pursuits, Lehrer also enjoyed a two-year stint in the U.S. Army after he was drafted in 1955. His military experience, which involved working at the National Security Agency, provided ample inspiration for his songwriting. Lehrer's sophomore album, 1959's "More of Tom Lehrer," featured the track "It Makes a Fellow Proud to Be a Soldier." Lehrer released his final album, the live record "That Was the Year That Was," in 1965, which earned him a top 20 entry on the Billboard 200 chart. Following a tour of Sweden, Denmark and East Germany in 1967, the witty singer-songwriter retreated from the spotlight, per the National Recording Registry. Lehrer didn't leave music fully behind, however. The musician, joining the faculty of the University of California, Santa Cruz, in 1972, taught a musical theater course in addition to teaching mathematics. Despite his relatively short career, Lehrer has inspired several musicians and satirists over the years, including "Weird Al" Yankovic, Swedish actor Lars Ekborg and Argentinian singer Nacha Guevara. Lehrer was not married at the time of his death. He had no children.
