Since I was a teenager, I've loved his songs. I have two of his albums and a published songbook that I still play from. Many friends don't know his work and when I play the music for them, they crack up (even though the material is dated).

"The Vatican Rag," "Who's Next?," "The Masochism Tango," "Poisoning Pigeons In The Park" and "The Elements" are among my favorites.

RIP to a man of his time who shared his cynical ideas with great insight and humor.


ETA:

I quote his lyrics often.

"Once the rockets are up, who cares where they come down? That's not my department,"
said Werner von Braun.

Back then, the local music shops sold his albums under the counter because of the controversial nature of his songs. A great talent.

I loved his music and his records. Especially the table of the elements that like you mentioned that one cracked me up every time. And the very essence of dark humor

I loved his songs.

He also wrote many songs for "The Electric Company", many of which my kids knew by heart. "Vincent the Vegetable Vampire" was a great favorite that they belted out frequently. Several years ago he released all his songs into the public domain.

RIP, Tom. You gave many of us great joy and a lot of laughs, and our kids wonderful ways of learning.

Indeed! A much greater loss than Hulk Hogan.

I was going to post some of his songs, but you beat me to it.

My wife and I heard Tom Lehrer at the Hungry I (a night club) in San Francisco in the 1960s. His act had top billing. The other act that evening was a then-unknown group called the Kingston Trio (!).

There's so much I could say about Tom Lehrer's music and lyrics, but I'll limit my comments to just the first song you posted.

Does anybody but me ever listen, I mean really listen, to the piano accompaniment? I keep asking people if they noticed the musical quotations. The songs quoted are the German National Anthem and "Ach du lieber Augustine". The former occurs at the very beginning of the song. Think: "Deutschland, Deutschland über alles." It is disguised by changing the time signature from 4/4 to 3/4. In other words, what was originally a march is turned into a waltz.

I would like to encourage everyone, and particularly musicians, to listen to "Wernher von Braun" again, and pay attention this time!

I knew he was a great musician, but I hadn’t noticed the instrumental satire! Wow, what a talent.

So anybody can record or perform his songs, royalty free.

I guess his pension from teaching math at UCSC was enough so that he didn’t need the income from his songs.

Reposted by Aaron Reichlin-Melnick
https://bsky.app/profile/reichlinmelnick.bsky.social

My last living musical hero is still my hero but unfortunately no longer living. RIP to the great, great Mr. Tom Lehrer.

— Al Yankovic (@alyankovic.bsky.social) 2025-07-27T17:33:23.137Z

And saw a musical in Boston called Tomfoolery based on his songs.

RIP

Last edited Mon Jul 28, 2025, 01:58 AM - Edit history (1)

Front page story of maggot Hulk Hogan passing, not a word of Tom Lehrer anywhere on CNN.

It might be time to add all of CNN to my ad-blocking software, it's just ridiculous.

Edited to add: CNN finally put a story up. I guess it was the weekend and most of them had gone home.

RIP

I’m in awe of this guy’s ability as a lyricist, pianist, and vocalist. His mordant wit will live on.

Good stuff.

I am unsure so we will keep it at once. He was a riot. My Mother who could barely stand me would take me to some concerts because I was a musician and she wanted to see the funny people mostly. It actually worked out well and we had a good time together those few times. He really was a funny guy.

RIP

but I never saw him perform, a real pity since his stage patter was legendary. I did hear him on the local PBS stations in Boston from time to time.

Poisoning Pigeons in the Park" is an enduring favorite of mine, that one just never gets old.

Back when my husband and I were doing songvids by putting clips of TV shows to songs, we did two of them to Tom Lehrer songs - Masochism Tango (Farscape) and Be Prepared (Andromeda).

Tom Lehrer was a fucking genius. But please, someone go find Weird Al and wrap him in bubble wrap!

I loved his stuff.

RIP Tom Lehrer, your music will live on.

. . .on several posts regarding migrant labor.

It was from the song "George Murphy" (former US Senator from CA)

I replaced "George" with "Trump" and "Mexican" with "immigrant". My revised version:

Should Americans pick crops? Trump says no,
'Cause no one but an immigrant would stoop so low,
And after all, even in Egypt, the Pharaohs
had to import. . . .Hebrew braceros"

… at Borders, decades later. My gods that man was brilliant! The first time I heard the Periodic Table put to music was when I got the CDs, and I just knew if I had that back in high school my Chem class experience would have been much better — because for whatever reason I really remember things set to music.

I’m glad he had a long life. Did I mention he was brilliant?

the group I hung out with were insane Tom Lehrer fans. A couple of the guys were taking the first semester of Art History which featured pre-Columbian art, and they actually parodied "national Brotherhood Week"! What I remember is:

Oh, the Olmecs hate the Toltecs,
And the Toltecs hate the Zapotecs,
And the Mayans hate the Aztecs,
And everybody hates Peru!
But during Meso-American Week,
Meso-American Week,
Tlaloc and Quetzalcoatl are dancing cheek to cheek!
It's fun to sacrifice
Someone you despise
And let the others hang around and drool!

I told you we were crazy back then. Too much pot.

Idk if he did a anti-nuclear power song....but I remember the lyrics;
"stand in the fountain, and light up the park"
Referring to the glow from radiation.

I probably heard them through WBAI; a Pacifica Radio station.

Loved his satire. At the time there were very few political satirists. A must to listen to while the Vietnam War was raging.

So sad, he was one of a kind.

Some of our best Lehrer-inspired efforts.
Strangers On The Right: