Tom Lehrer was our Jim Morrison. Like a god, and how could he have stopped after only three of the finest albums of all time? There must have been a conspiracy, the Catholic Church must have pressured him after 'Vatican Rag'

Those were the years that was

I remember the Tom Lehrer LPs positioned near Pete Seeger and Jacques Brel in my house growing up. We would listen and howl. He was my favorite.

My dad loved Pete Seeger and the Weavers. My mom, being Belgian and all, ADORED Jacques Brel. Yankee Mama, that could have been our record collection. LOL

... and everyone hates the Jews. I never forget that line. So sad.

My mom loved Tom Lehrer as well. I grew up in a pretty conservative town with a large Catholic contingent. Mom told us to be careful which of our friends we played 'The Vatican Rag' for, but it turned out they all thought it was hilarious. The rest of my parents collection included Sinatra, Nat King Cole, 'My Fair Lady', Bill Cosby and several hundred Eastern-European and Israeli folk dance records (my father was a folk dance leader).

For several years in the 60's I had a math/science teacher who worshiped Tom Lehrer. He would bring his albums to school and when we did what we needed to do he'd play them on the little phonograph he kept in the closet. I'll never forget how much fun that was; two people I really admire - Tom Lehrer and my old teacher.

[3] One of my assignments in digital photography last semester Champlain College was to do a slide show. I drove up and down Shelburne Road and took pictures of the out-of-business places and stores for sale or rent. i set the images to music, choosing the Weavers singing Buddy Can You Spare a Dime. i played it for the class. The professor asked if anyone knew who the Weavers were. One person said, "people who played with yarn." Not really. What would they say about Tom Lehrer?

i LOVE Tom Lehrer! brilliant genius!

[1] i believe the 3 albums have been released on 2 cd's - Songs & More Songs and That Was The Year That Was. wait, i think there is more - An Evening Wasted With Tom Lehrer and ...Revisited. i have the aforementioned 2 cd's. am i missing any?

[2] my pop loves Pete Seeger. he's a folk musician. (my dad, that is). he took the fam to see Seeger & Arlo Guthrie at Carnegie Hall when i was like 8 years old...

[4] i've always loved that line too! it's true! (i'm jewish, btw). i play music professionally and worked with a piano player for 7 years who covered numerous Tom Lehrer songs. they were hilarious. that's how i got turned onto him.

whenever we played "National Brotherhood Week" and it got to that line, the band stop and i stood up from behind the drumkit and pointed at myself while the singer laughed thru the line of "and everyone hates the Jews". it was all good fun!

[8] There's "The Remains of Tom Lehrer", which is mainly songs on his other albums but does have a few others (including some he wrote for "The Electric Company" -- I bet Chyll Will is a fan of those).

My favorite might be "The Bomb". Israel's getting tense/wants one in self-defense/the Lord's our shepherd says the psalm/ but just in case... we better getta bomb! Although "Oedipus Rex" is fun just for its shock value.

So be sweet and kind to mother,
Now and then have a chat.
Buy her candy or some flowers or a brand new hat...
But maybe you had better let it go at that!

Oh, and spending Hannukah in Santa Monica, that's a kind of Adam Sandleresque bit.

Yeah, good old Tom. Hey, now that Sandy Koufax is giving a public interview, maybe Tom Lehrer will do a concert?

[9] oh, who asked you?! HA! ; )

oh cool, i'll check into some other lehrer cd's. i enjoy the 2 i have.

some of the songs we used to perform in that band:

national brotherhood week
the irish ballad
poisoning the pigeons in the park
the masochism tango

he tried 'the elements' but i don't remember if he ever got it...

oh man, a tom lehrer concert would be terrific!

btw, RI - i hope your travels from Atl to Az and back to RI were safe, easy & uneventful! i also figured your favorite Tom Lehrer tune would be "New Math"!!!

Oh, "New Math" is great. The best part is where he gets the wrong answer, but says it doesn't matter because the important thing is to understand the concepts. "The Elements", yeah, I can see how that one might be hard to memorize. But it's Gilbert and Sullivan, so it's worth it.

You don't really like folk music, though.

Oh, and yeah, the traveling part was uneventful. And they have awesome sunrises in Tucson. And it wasn't, you know, 18 degrees, like it is here, or even 30, like it was in your town, thelarmis. That was a nice break.

[11 / 12] doh, sorry i couldn't stick around for your replies - had to go practice!

i'd like to go to arizona one day. i've never been to the southwest. far as i toured, was halfway thru texas. i wanna see the grand canyon...

i'm also psyched they reopened Lady Liberty's crown. i HAVE to see her one day. i need special company first...

yeah, it made it down into the teens here! it's warming up a bit now. 30's/40's...

if by folk music, you mean thrash/speed metal, then yes, i most certainly love it. with mustard!

[9] Hee-hee, that depends on their level of subversiveness... >;)

just a side-note to say that i think Chad Jennings is doing a tremendous job over at LoHud. he did great in the playoffs, is doing great in the offseason and i imagine will be kicking all kinds of ass over there during the season. which hopefully starts sometime next week, when Tim Raines will be voted into the Hall of Fame, receiving 89% of the vote.

via mlb trade rumors, heyman 'tweets' that the tiggers might have interest in damon. we know the braves do. apparently, cash does not...

snakes might release eric byrnes to make room for laroche. we best NOT be getting him. i highly doubt we will. reed johnson would be alright. but i'd still rather johnny. or tom lehrer.

fuck, i need some money. i'll take up a roster spot to be the yankees' "pinch stand there"! (hat tip to mattpat!)

[3] AB. Our coincidences no longer surprise me. Keep em coming.

[5] I vaguely remember Israeli Folk Dance records My grandfather had all the Eastern-European stuff. He was a mandolin player in Russia.

[8] I loved Arlo. I must've seen Alice's Restaurant a dozen times. I had his records too.

[17] I'm sad about Damon. It seems like he's really not in the team's plans or else Cash deserves an Oscar for his performance of disinterest. I, for one would like to see Damon remain in Pinstripes. If not, Reed Johnson is ok.

Cash knows what he's doing.

My wife had Tom Lehrer as a math teacher at UC Santa Cruz, "Math for Non-Math Majors" or some such thing. I would sit in on that class whenever I got the chance. Needless to say, it was about as entertaining a math class as you can get, even if he didn't sing.