I wasted my *"QUARANTINEWHILE"* by not learning "The Elements" (it's like the Periodic Table but it's got a beat and you can dance to it!) P.S. It's out of date.
@@WilliamRWarrenJr If you have the money, you can commission an updated one by hiring a pianist and singer (or a two-for-one kind of person) and writing the updated lyrics yourself - the rhyming has already been done by the scientists who named the newer elements anyway.
Like Lewis Carroll -- Alice in Wonderland. and Through the Looking Glass and an Oxford professor of maths! The story goes that Queen Victoria was very taken with the first Alice, so she wrote to him and asked him to send her his next book. He did, but it was a very erudite and obscure book on..........maths. I believe that she, once again, was not amused!
Oh, it's Lehrer who should be thanked, he is the cool guy here, making it safe for an enthusiast to share out some American comedy history on video (in reasonable quality).
Thank YOU and everyone who keeps this music alive to torment and educate the next generation. I mean, being made to think is so difficult. I had all of his original LPs until they were stolen. :P
YuriHabadakas: Norwegian audiences are hard to warm up. They usually need some time, and even then you don't get a huge response - even if they like you and get your jokes. And that's today. I don't think people back then were less closed up than we are now.
Tom Lehrer...and a few others...got some of through the traumas of the mid-sixties and early seventies with a modicum of suavity and grace...hail to thee, very,very clever and pointed spirit...
The thing is, if I were performing, I think polite laughter would be a lot less distracting, and would make it a lot easier to perform. It's still a positive vibe, I would definitely prefer this kind of vibe if I were performing. But that's just me. :P
It’s easier to hear all the lyrics with a quiet audience as many American and British audiences knew all the words and tended to laugh in anticipation.
Thank you, Dr. Demento, on KMET in Hollywood Los Angeles! or I never would have heard of Tom Lehrer, this brilliant satirist who is now 94! He recorded in the 1950s and 1960s. How anyone can play piano with such ease and facility, while singing something so darn funny simultaneously gets my respect. Like the Vatican Rag.
whitekudu, if this is all it takes to be considered "left wing" I think the world is a scary place. To us Norwegians both the Democrats and the Republicans are very conservative. But many people don't get it, because this is NOT about politics, it's about comedy!
Sure it is..its about the absurdity of politics. About the hypocrisy of humanity. You can just proclaim something is about some concept in a word but that is misleading wothout acknowlagment of that concepts meaning. What is comedy without a base of cultural understanding to make light of? You can't be critical out of criticisms sake without something sensible to be critical of or it just isn't funny. Airplane food! What's up with that! Haha Airplane food! What IS up with that!?
The wonderful thing about all the songs you will see/hear on this site is that Tom Lehrer wrote all of them so they are all original and he owns the copyright to them all. To see his fingers rippling over the keyboard as he plays is a joy! I feel lucky and privileged to have known him for so many years.....
Some ppl have been annoyed because of the never-ending intro and end credits on the HQ-versions of Lehrer's songs. They have a point, but if they want this concert uninterrupted they should get the fab DVD, out in the U.S. on April 13.
Lyrics were changed somewhere along the way. Heard this on vinyl 50 years ago and first chorus had "Lena Horne and Sheriff Clarke are dancing cheek to cheek." Either way, did not kill in Norway, back in the day!
used to listen to him in the early 60's when i was just a wee pup..........50 years later......i still find him just as pertinent nowadays as he was then. i can appreciate his humor WAY more now!!
so good we need more good performers like Tom, good songs about science and society and lets work to have more songs like poisoning Pigeons in the park!
Hi Cailin, not just “pretty handsome” - Tom is gorgeous! Such a lovely personality too. He used to share our house with my husband and me and I really miss him now he’s not here any more.....
Heard this for the first time like 3 years ago and haven't listened to it much since. Judt listened tl it again and now that I know who Wallace was I can't help but chuckle at the line of Miss Wallace.
@6funswede Norsk folk er slik høflig. Thank you for the upload, Tom's satire is timeless, but he spoiled my golf last Sunday. I couldn't get 'National Brotherhood Week' out of my head. It's impossible to focus when you're laughing inside.
I liked his song about math. Some o his songs were really stretching it considering it was in the 60's, like National Brotherhood Week.... Thanks for uploading them...
I'm a Jewish kid, and Tom Lehrer is my IDOL. He's a genius comedian. I'm writing a song called "The GOP Dance" and am thinking of putting it up on my channel. To Lehrer!
Im a jewish kid too, but I have a question, it is very common that in other communities people mostly laugh with each other of how almost every one hate us jews?
My family, like the David Dodge family, sang these with all the words in my childhood. His suggestion for American references is reminiscent of Richard Feynman's ""note to foreign readers" elucidations.
What makes you say that? They are laughing at the jokes. They get it. This isn't the USA where people start screaming and clapping for 10 minutes at every tiny joke. This is how the rest of the world laughs.
@@unematrix Please, that is only in crappy talent shows like American Idol or in laff tracks in TV shows. Americans are people too, who react in human ways.
@dannycraft24, that's a very good question. The only thing I know is that people read books in the days when this song was written. Thanks for watching the song. Click the Lehrer icon to enjoy the whole 1967 performance :-)
@ThirteenthMuse, you know, the man to thank here is Tom Lehrer, not me. Even after the Shout! Factory release I got a message through his gatekeepers, stating that he is still OK with "6funswede's" Lehrer channel.
randomstick43, thanks. Click on the Tom Lehrer icon, visit the channel's front page, check the whole HQ main playlist and tell your friends about this rare stuff :-)
@mabarry3, well yes, it's hard to contradict his message in "When You Are Old And Gray", isn't it? How about sending an email with the video link to a married couple you know? But they must have a sense of humor...
I finally managed to buy a copy of Tom Lehrer’s CD “That Was The Year That Was”, which he recorded at the hungry i nightclub in San Francisco. It’s brilliant, as all Tom’s music is, and I’m so pleased that the copy I ordered quite a while ago has finally arrived! It will embarrass Tom though, when he finds that not only do I now have several copies of that CD but also 2 copies of his boxed set, The Remains of Tom Lehrer. Horrible title! The
@colinkueny, thank you for this comment. Click on my (stupid) username 6funswede and visit the channel. It's Tom Lehrer, and Lehrer only, so please read the profile description and use the links under "preview" and "more". If you like it, tell your friends :-)
My granddaughter, part Jewish herself, hated hearing the line “Everybody hates the Jews”. I pointed out to her that the man she has always known as “Uncle Tom” is himself Jewish, which cheered her up a little...
National Brotherhood Week caused some problems in my household. Not only are many of my granddaughter’s school friends Muslim but also she is of a Jewish family so “everyone hates the Jews” did not go down well with her! We told her not to take it personally, that Tom would not know that her granddad is Jewish but that the man she has always known as “Uncle Tom” is himself Jewish!
@erede007 Thank God Tom Lehrer is retired so this can't happen. Millions of geeks (myself included) would die from joy and an overload of pure awesome.
@YellowMagi, lol, you know, if you click on the stupid username "6funswede" and visit the channel page, find the link for the favorite reviews and read that ;D
Tom Lehrer, is like Weird Al's classy, original, great uncle.
Except Tom wrote all his own songs, except for "the Elements Song"
Discusdream ............delicious comedy😎
And Tom Lehrer has a different feel. However, I won’t disagree with you
I was thinking that Tom leherr is definitely in a influence to bo Burnham.... I have no proof but still lol
That would be Allan Sherman
To give a little context to "and everyone hates the Jews" he's Jewish.. I think that makes it funnier tbh
that's just how we roll lmao. makes it easier to deal with everyone running us out all the time...
To give even more context, he's atheist, which makes the entire religion thing ridiculous.
I wasted my *"QUARANTINEWHILE"* by not learning "The Elements" (it's like the Periodic Table but it's got a beat and you can dance to it!)
P.S. It's out of date.
@@WilliamRWarrenJr If you have the money, you can commission an updated one by hiring a pianist and singer (or a two-for-one kind of person) and writing the updated lyrics yourself - the rhyming has already been done by the scientists who named the newer elements anyway.
Because its true. Lmfao
I want to hear his private collection that he dare not publish.
YEAHHHHH
He wrote more? Would love to hear them.
I was not aware so many words ended with "ility"...
No matter how many times I hear his songs, I can never believe they were sung in the 60's. These would be controversial today lol.
Nonprophet It was controversial back then as well. That’s part of the joke.
he was banned for his songs....... bit more than controversial back then
the difference is that he would be arrested for this on the 60´s ,nowdays he just would be cancelled on twitter
He sang these things at coffehouses near Harvard in the 1940s. I used to have a stack of his early releases too heavy to move between countries.
The 40s I think.
All this AND a brilliant mathematician to boot!
Like Lewis Carroll -- Alice in Wonderland. and Through the Looking Glass and an Oxford professor of maths! The story goes that Queen Victoria was very taken with the first Alice, so she wrote to him and asked him to send her his next book. He did, but it was a very erudite and obscure book on..........maths. I believe that she, once again, was not amused!
I bet he plays chess too
Oh, it's Lehrer who should be thanked, he is the cool guy here, making it safe for an enthusiast to share out some American comedy history on video (in reasonable quality).
Thank YOU and everyone who keeps this music alive to torment and educate the next generation. I mean, being made to think is so difficult.
I had all of his original LPs until they were stolen. :P
I have only just discovered this man. Absolutely amazing. Thanks to my dad.
I too discovered him in 2018.❤
He was a favorite of my dad’s.
He taught mathematics at Harvard too.
Fifty years later and still a hundred times better than any other Musician.
Parodist, not musician.
There's Tim Minchin! :)
There is a man who is very like TOM Lehrer in style and simplicity working now called ROY ZIMMERMAN enjoy! He is incredible too.
TIM IS AMAZING....no for you ROY ZIMMERMAN
+Josef Trumpeldor he did write the music, they are original tunes
I always had a bit of crush on him.
ScattySafari He's still alive and lives in Cambridge, MA. Go get 'em!
me too
ScattySafari haven’t we all??
Tom’s gorgeous and such a lovely person to be with, but sadly I keep inviting him to join me for coffee and he never arrives!
@@leemumbray-williams2440 i know your pain bro XD
"...and everyone hates the jews." :'D he really got humor man.
Jews have a great self-depreciating sense of humour.
Hazel Bourget If we can't laugh at ourselves, who CAN we laugh at???
Tom Lehrer’s joke is that he is, of course, Jewish!
Best part is he's Jewish lol
we have a long tradition of bullying ourselves
YuriHabadakas: Norwegian audiences are hard to warm up. They usually need some time, and even then you don't get a huge response - even if they like you and get your jokes. And that's today. I don't think people back then were less closed up than we are now.
So finally I found where Weird Al and Bo Burnham got their inspirations to their style
Tom Lehrer...and a few others...got some of through the traumas of the mid-sixties and early seventies with a modicum of suavity and grace...hail to thee, very,very clever and pointed spirit...
I still have the 45 RPM of Poisoning Pigeons in the Park b/w The Masochism Tango. It's one of my most precious possessions.
If you listen to his performances in America people are laughing and cheering, its a completely different vibe
The thing is, if I were performing, I think polite laughter would be a lot less distracting, and would make it a lot easier to perform. It's still a positive vibe, I would definitely prefer this kind of vibe if I were performing. But that's just me. :P
Henry Mead To be expected, esp at this period, good sir.
Ninja Taco From listening to his recordings before Live US audiences, he LOVED the happy noise all right. :-)))
It’s easier to hear all the lyrics with a quiet audience as many American and British audiences knew all the words and tended to laugh in anticipation.
Apart from his intelligence, wit and musicality, he was really attractive, especially his wicked smiles
Growing up this was the kind of entertainment I enjoyed during my formative years.
Thank you, Dr. Demento, on KMET in Hollywood Los Angeles! or I never would have heard of Tom Lehrer, this brilliant satirist who is now 94! He recorded in the 1950s and 1960s. How anyone can play piano with such ease and facility, while singing something so darn funny simultaneously gets my respect. Like the Vatican Rag.
The original Bo Burnham
Danielle Stryker Infinitely more talented than that other fellow.
Danielle Stryker bo Burnham is still good tho
The who???
YES!! I was just thinking this last night!
whitekudu, if this is all it takes to be considered "left wing" I think the world is a scary place. To us Norwegians both the Democrats and the Republicans are very conservative. But many people don't get it, because this is NOT about politics, it's about comedy!
Sure it is..its about the absurdity of politics. About the hypocrisy of humanity. You can just proclaim something is about some concept in a word but that is misleading wothout acknowlagment of that concepts meaning. What is comedy without a base of cultural understanding to make light of? You can't be critical out of criticisms sake without something sensible to be critical of or it just isn't funny. Airplane food! What's up with that! Haha Airplane food! What IS up with that!?
Love this song and love watching performances by the great Tom Lehrer, the greatest pianist ever seen and a brilliant lyricist!
I’m always so impressed that my dear friend Tom Lehrer can play the piano so brilliantly without needing to look at the pian keyboard!
My grandchildren love going to the park and singing the famous pigeon song!
The wonderful thing about all the songs you will see/hear on this site is that Tom Lehrer wrote all of them so they are all original and he owns the copyright to them all. To see his fingers rippling over the keyboard as he plays is a joy! I feel lucky and privileged to have known him for so many years.....
I hope that he's working on a sequel to his classic album "That Was the Year that Was". For 2020, it would be "That Was the Year that Wasn't".
Some ppl have been annoyed because of the never-ending intro and end credits on the HQ-versions of Lehrer's songs. They have a point, but if they want this concert uninterrupted they should get the fab DVD, out in the U.S. on April 13.
Lyrics were changed somewhere along the way. Heard this on vinyl 50 years ago and first chorus had "Lena Horne and Sheriff Clarke are dancing cheek to cheek." Either way, did not kill in Norway, back in the day!
He frequently switched lyrics for the local audience and city he would play it in.
@@112428 Or to better reflect current events
A timeless genius.
I was there! Students' club in Oslo 1968.
used to listen to him in the early 60's when i was just a wee pup..........50 years later......i still find him just as pertinent nowadays as he was then. i can appreciate his humor WAY more now!!
ArisztidZ, thanks. If you really want to scare your friends and enemies, tell them about the live videos on The Tom Lehrer Wisdom Channel :-)
so good we need more good performers like Tom,
good songs about science and society and lets work to have more songs like poisoning Pigeons in the park!
And it's very relevant in 2020.
i cant even.
Hi Cailin, not just “pretty handsome” - Tom is gorgeous! Such a lovely personality too. He used to share our house with my husband and me and I really miss him now he’s not here any more.....
this guy helped me make it laughing through high school
That’s where I was introduced to him!
What I would give to get the entire complete live recording. This is spectacular and I would love to watch the entire special.
It’s sold on DVD in a box set
If you look up "Tom Lehrer full performance" here on UA-cam, both his Oslo and Copenhagen performances are there!
Heard this for the first time like 3 years ago and haven't listened to it much since. Judt listened tl it again and now that I know who Wallace was I can't help but chuckle at the line of Miss Wallace.
@6funswede Norsk folk er slik høflig. Thank you for the upload, Tom's satire is timeless, but he spoiled my golf last Sunday. I couldn't get 'National Brotherhood Week' out of my head. It's impossible to focus when you're laughing inside.
It is now my life goal to dance the Viennese waltz at the age of 65 with someone to "When you are old and grey"
Tom Lehrer was universe-bending, because he is out on DVD on April 2010. Yup, this performance, but in much better quality ;D
Conspicuously republished on my birthday, isn't that nice? Including the full introduction to the show as well. This is a lovely gift! Thanks a lot...
I liked his song about math. Some o his songs were really stretching it considering it was in the 60's, like National Brotherhood Week.... Thanks for uploading them...
I love this guy!
We could really use national brotherhood week again....
I'm a Jewish kid, and Tom Lehrer is my IDOL. He's a genius comedian. I'm writing a song called "The GOP Dance" and am thinking of putting it up on my channel. To Lehrer!
Im a jewish kid too, but I have a question, it is very common that in other communities people mostly laugh with each other of how almost every one hate us jews?
I just realize that that comment is 12 years old XD
BRILLIANT MAN AND HILARIOUS
Who disliked?and why this man is a genius
Mark Russell saw this as a young man and said "Hey i can do that much much worse"
One of the sexiest men on the planet.
love him!!!
I need to learn an instrument.
Yes, you really should.
I need to play the piano again.
If you can ever play the piano as well as Tom Lehrer can, it will be a miracle!
of course this is the kind of guy that Horace Mann and Harvard produce!!! :) Love him!
I don't think those institutions produced him, he was who he was before then.
I love this, absolutely fantastic :P
He's Brilliant.
You don't understand an American reference???? Don't worry, just call the American embassy
Incredible man my grandfather taught with him at UCLA
I love you too :-)
My family, like the David Dodge family, sang these with all the words in my childhood. His suggestion for American references is reminiscent of Richard Feynman's ""note to foreign readers" elucidations.
Hey this was posted in my birthday!
All the jokes are totally going over the head of this audience... I wonder how many phone calls the embassy got :)
What makes you say that? They are laughing at the jokes. They get it.
This isn't the USA where people start screaming and clapping for 10 minutes at every tiny joke. This is how the rest of the world laughs.
@@unematrix Please, that is only in crappy talent shows like American Idol or in laff tracks in TV shows. Americans are people too, who react in human ways.
@@unematrix Tom Lehrer was a math professor at Harvard before he started publicizing these songs.
@dannycraft24, that's a very good question. The only thing I know is that people read books in the days when this song was written. Thanks for watching the song. Click the Lehrer icon to enjoy the whole 1967 performance :-)
Yes, I agree. Tom Lehrer was a good-looking satirist as well as a clever satirist :-)
@ThirteenthMuse, you know, the man to thank here is Tom Lehrer, not me. Even after the Shout! Factory release I got a message through his gatekeepers, stating that he is still OK with "6funswede's" Lehrer channel.
Is Lehrer still alive? That'd be too bad if he wasn't. He was really ahead of his time and an amazing artist.
He is 93 or smh
@@Heckishretching thank you for replying 14 years later xd
I first found out about Tom Lehrer with the elements song on NCIS
This video is now out on DVD. Please read the updated video description or visit the channel page!
The Tom Lehrer Wisdom Channel what’s a DVD?
Nothing has changed!!
A lot of his songs were played on the old "Dr. Demento" radio show.
his music shouldn't be this relevant...
"If you predict the worst, you'll be hailed as a prophet" - Tom Lehrer himself
Fuming with rage that i onlh just now learned of his existence.
=) love his lyrics
=)
Still current! Sadly
a true Mensch!
He’s funny and all but his piano playing is amazing. When people used to do things, they did them well
KingBobDole, yes, he is. Lehrer retired from his work as a mathematician and university lecturer in 200,1 and is living quiet-LY in the United States.
National Brotherhood Week is the most based song in the world.
@danitiwa So true. Weird Al does cite him as an influence, actually.
This kind of witty, intelligent entertainment would never fly today, sadly 😥
@ScattySafari, I really enjoyed this comment :-) Thank you!
@2Mal13 Tom Lehrer together with Jon Stewart would be so incredibly awesome...
Oh my god great idea
Jonathon Coultan + Tom lehrer
Never asked him, never seen him mention it in any of his write-ups, but I would still guarantee you JoCo grew up on Lehrer.
randomstick43, thanks. Click on the Tom Lehrer icon, visit the channel's front page, check the whole HQ main playlist and tell your friends about this rare stuff :-)
FYI and FWIW, the link to the Norwegian information, the last link in the description if I recall correctly, no longer works all these years later.
Lehrer is Bo Burnham for the boomer crowd. (I'm 41 and have been a fan since I was like 8.)
Funny to imagine a Norwegian satirist singing fast, biting, ironic wordplay in Norwegian in America and finding an audience.
@mabarry3, well yes, it's hard to contradict his message in "When You Are Old And Gray", isn't it? How about sending an email with the video link to a married couple you know? But they must have a sense of humor...
@CpRegiment, oh man, did I love this comment? Yes!
You deserve what you tollerate
I love the Yeats reference. 'When you are old and grey and full of sleep... I'll ditch you. Just saying.'
Thanks!
I finally managed to buy a copy of Tom Lehrer’s CD “That Was The Year That Was”, which he recorded at the hungry i nightclub in San Francisco. It’s brilliant, as all Tom’s music is, and I’m so pleased that the copy I ordered quite a while ago has finally arrived! It will embarrass Tom though, when he finds that not only do I now have several copies of that CD but also 2 copies of his boxed set, The Remains of Tom Lehrer. Horrible title!
The
Quizli, yes it was :-)
@colinkueny, thank you for this comment. Click on my (stupid) username 6funswede and visit the channel. It's Tom Lehrer, and Lehrer only, so please read the profile description and use the links under "preview" and "more". If you like it, tell your friends :-)
My granddaughter, part Jewish herself, hated hearing the line “Everybody hates the Jews”. I pointed out to her that the man she has always known as “Uncle Tom” is himself Jewish, which cheered her up a little...
National Brotherhood Week caused some problems in my household. Not only are many of my granddaughter’s school friends Muslim but also she is of a Jewish family so “everyone hates the Jews” did not go down well with her! We told her not to take it personally, that Tom would not know that her granddad is Jewish but that the man she has always known as “Uncle Tom” is himself Jewish!
@erede007 Thank God Tom Lehrer is retired so this can't happen. Millions of geeks (myself included) would die from joy and an overload of pure awesome.
What? OK, that's funny. Click the Tom Lehrer icon, find the (whole) HQ main playlist and send the playlist url to friends, enemies and teachers :-)
@YellowMagi, lol, you know, if you click on the stupid username "6funswede" and visit the channel page, find the link for the favorite reviews and read that ;D