[reagent_finder]

Oh man, THANK YOU for this. What an amazing article!

>He grew up on Manhattan's Upper East Side, the son of a pioneering necktie manufacturer, James Lehrer

That's just hilarious. I can't think of anything more appropriate than a necktie manufacturer family.

In any case, if anyone is unfamiliar with Tom Lehrer, I encourage you to take a wiki dive and then listen to his music. This guy taught mathematics at Harvard, then accidentally sold 10,000 copies of a vinyl of his songs in a few weeks, then went on to tour the US and the world.

His works remain some of the brightest, most convivial, most haunting and poignant works of song to date. He sings clever happy songs of things like pollution, patricide, nuclear holocaust, arson, murder, racism, plagiarism, criminal boy scouts, disease and crime in Mexico and, of course, the eternal desire of the common man to poison pigeons in the park.

Like "Weird Al" Yankovic says in that article, Tom Lehrer remains the modern Tom Lehrer today. There's just no one like him and the way his songs have remained so relevant up to this day is something I find myself in awe of. He just... took a look at society, grokked it on a primordial level and wrote songs that I will end up teaching my kids and they'll go "Wait, they had these things 80 years ago?"

EDIT: Also, OP title is wrong, Lehrer simply released his LYRICS to the public domain. My copy of "Too Many Songs by Tom Lehrer" with musical notation remains relevant, yay!

[MaxBarraclough]

Don't forget the brilliant introductions and epilogues that accompany his songs. They're just as smart and funny as the songs themselves, with not an ounce of fat on them.

> There's just no one like him and the way his songs have remained so relevant up to this day is something I find myself in awe of.

Much of Bob Newhart's comedy holds up very well today, but of course it's not music.

[fenomas]

I always particularly loved how Lehrer's subtle, erudite style let him get away with comparatively racy material for that buttoned-down age.

Like my all-time favorite line:

> His education began in agricultural school, where he majored in animal husbandry.. (beat) ..until they caught him at it one day..

[dllthomas]

Or how about the intro to We Will All Go Together When We Go where he says

> I particularly remember a heart-warming novel of his about a young necropheliac who finally achieved his boy-hood ambition by becoming coroner.

and there's a smattering of laughter and some awkward silence, and he says

> The rest of you can look it up when you get home.

[lb1lf]

Or the album intro to National Brotherhood Week -

"...This year, for example, on the first day of the week Malcolm X was killed which gives you an idea of how effective the whole thing is.

I'm sure we all agree that we ought to love one another and I know there are people in the world that do not love their fellow human beings and I hate people like that."

[golem14]

I think Stan Freberg should be mentioned here as well. "take an Indian to lunch today" still feels very relevant today, to give one example.

[EricE]

"St. George and the Dragonet" - one of my favorite tracks on the Dr. Demento anniversary set.

I still would like a .20 caliber sword.

[Chris2048]

> I can't think of anything more appropriate than a necktie manufacturer family.

Checkout the lyrics for https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jARdWfJulo around 1:35 :-)

Or https://tomlehrersongs.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/smut.p... , 4th paragraph