Tom Lehrer, a well-known American track satirist who thwarted politics, racism and the Chilly Battle, largely deserted his music profession to return to educating arithmetic at Harvard and different universities. He was 97 years outdated.
Longtime buddy David Helder stated Lehler handed away on Saturday at his house in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He didn’t specify the reason for loss of life.
Harvard genius (he earned a arithmetic diploma from the power on the age of 18), Lehrer rapidly reworked his extraordinarily sharp thoughts right into a present occasion – together with the disappearance of the nuclear weapons and the specter of discrimination.
His darkish cartoon ballads included “addicting doves within the park,” “an outdated dope peddler,” and the controversial “vatican rag.”
A few of his most enduring songs embody “The Parts,” “I am a Pirate of Penzance,” and “I am a Very Mannequin of the Fashionable Basic” of Gilbert and Sullivan’s comedian opera. “The Masochism Tango,” consists of lyrics. ”I damage my lips, pricey / however extra for the contact of your whip, pricey…“And “Once we go all collectively, we go all collectively.” This consists of lyrics. ”Oh, all of us fry collectively / we fry / we shall be cleaned in French / we are going to quickly / we won’t have any extra distress / when the world is our rotisserie / Sure, we fry collectively once we fry.“
He chuckled on the type of music he did not like, attacking with such a erudite, well mannered angle that nobody opposed.
Apart from the BBC, which banned a lot of the 1953 assortment songs by Airwaves, a lot of the songs by Tom Lehrer.
“Tom Lehler is essentially the most superb track ever recorded,” musicologist Barry Hansen as soon as stated. Hansen co-produced the 2000 boxed LELLER track, “The Leves of Tom Lehrer,” and featured Liller’s music for many years on his syndicated “Dr. Demento” radio present.
Born in Manhattan in 1928, the profitable son of a tie designer, Lehler was a classically educated pianist.
After skipping sophomore in school, he joined Harvard College on the age of 15, incomes his grasp’s diploma after which spent a number of years finishing his Ph.D.
“I spent years assembly all the necessities as a few years as potential and began my thesis,” he as soon as stated. “However I simply needed to be a graduate pupil. That is an incredible life. That is what I needed. Sadly, you may’t be a PhD and a Graduate pupil on the similar time.”
Lehrer remained a arithmetic school member on the College of California, Santa Cruz within the late 70s. In 2020 he was kicked out of his personal copyright and granted public permission to make use of his lyrics not directly in return.
Lehrer was by no means married and had no kids.
RIP Tom Trainer: 1928-2025