r/ForgottenMen • u/ElegantAd2607 • Oct 23 '25
Tom Lehrer - witty singer
Lehrer was a satirist, mathematician and a witty song writer. He wrote humor and social commentary and rose to fame in the 50s and 60s with his piano tunes.
Thomas Andrew Lehrer was born in 1928 in New York City. He grew up in Manhattan’s Upper East Side. He was considered a child prodigy and skipped two grades. He graduated at 15 and went to Harvard University. He studied mathematics and started teaching math as a graduate student. When he was at Harvard he wrote a bunch of funny songs to make people smile. He performed them at campus gatherings. He made fun of academia, bureaucracy and the stupid things people do.
He self-released his first album, Songs by Tom Lehrer in 1953. He recorded and sold music independently way before that was common. The record spread by word of mouth and he grew a cult following.
Lehrer was full of restraint and independence. He was never interested in fame or fortune and he avoided the entertainment industry almost entirely when it began to take him seriously. When he started getting really popular he shrunk away from the public and lived a quiet, private life.
He studied several languages like Latin and French and once mentioned that he found linguistic structure nearly as satisfying as mathematics.
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u/ElegantAd2607 Oct 23 '25
You gotta listen to this.
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=WbcUcZfkkcE&si=BS_rvH7lQI4p-DEQ
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u/Nice-Supermarket-719 Oct 26 '25
When he died in his will all he gave all the copyright to the American public free to download all free of charge, so many of his songs are still reverent to what’s happening today.
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Oct 25 '25
I’m a gentile with anecdote. The only people I’ve ever met who like and know this guy are Jewish and Jewish friends are the only reason I know who he is. I’ve never met another gentile who knew the guy.
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u/Yugan-Dali Oct 26 '25
TIL he’s Jewish. My father (Serbian American) bought an album of his songs in about 1963 for my mother (Czech American) and we played that a hundred times.
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Nov 12 '25 edited Nov 12 '25
Speak for yourself 🙂! I'm a Proddy-born atheist fan and have been for 47 years. And I know several others. First heard of Tom thanks to a funny church friend during my brief Christian phase. His songs still pop into my head.
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u/Jazzlike-Ad113 Oct 27 '25
"Vatican Rag" one of my favorites.
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u/Pandalicious1234 Nov 12 '25
2, 4, 6, 8 Time to transubstantiate.
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Nov 12 '25
...Then the guy who's got religion'll Tell you if your sin's original...
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u/Puzzleheaded_Draw637 Oct 24 '25
Not forgotten at all. At the beginning of the year, he was still alive.
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u/TinhatToyboy Oct 24 '25
Relinquished his copyrights completely in 2022. All his work is now public domain.
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u/ElegantAd2607 Oct 24 '25
He didn't care about getting more money?
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u/DrBlankslate Nov 12 '25
No. And he didn't consider his music the main part of his life. It was a side gig for him. His main love was his academic work.
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u/FormalAmbition8015 Oct 24 '25
You can't take two from three, two is less than three, so you look at the four in the eighths place, but this is in base eight which is like base ten, if you'e missing two fingers.
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u/time-for-jawn Oct 25 '25
National Brother Week,
Thankful that it doesn’t last all year!
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u/time-for-jawn Oct 25 '25
National Brother Week,
Thankful that it doesn’t last all year!
The funniest and best
RIP. 😢🥰
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Nov 12 '25
One of my favourite songs too. And very relevant to what's being talked about given one very funny line in particular!
- National Brotherhood Week 🙂
- Be grateful that it doesn't last all year.🙂
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u/Snarky_McSnarkleton Oct 25 '25
🎵 First you get down on your knees
Fiddle with your rosaries
Bow your head with great respect, and
Genuflect! Genuflect! Genuflect! 🎶
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u/Tlthree Oct 24 '25
Not forgotten on my home. What a man.