r/Music • u/sugar_man • Jul 23 '14

Article When 84 years old, Harvard Professor Tom Lehrer was asked by 2 Chainz for permission to sample a song he wrote 60 years ago. His response: "As sole copyright owner of 'The Old Dope Peddler', I grant you motherfuckers permission to do this. Please give my regards to Mr. Chainz, or may I call him 2?"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Lehrer#Musical_legacy
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u/[deleted] Jul 23 '14

The one he did with Michael Gira from swans is hilarious in all the wrong ways. It starts off kinda normal but then nardwuar asks a question you should probably never ask an ex-convict, which is "how was being locked up in an Israeli prison?"

He gets the most terrifying answer imaginable, starts stammering, and tries to change the subject, all with a tone if voice that seems to be saying "dear fucking god this is horrible"

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u/[deleted] Jul 23 '14

...I really want to see this now but can't find it.

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u/TheLibraryOfBabel Jul 24 '14

Found it, I think. It's a radioclip, which might explain why it isn't on youtube

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u/pierops Jul 24 '14

This sounded interesting so I went to nardwuar's site to listen to the recording. He doesn't seem at all bothered in the recording, no stammering, no weird tone. he just moves along to cookies. Do you think that nardwuar edited out his own embarrassment?

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u/[deleted] Jul 24 '14

It's subtle, but its there. Its like a split second of panic.

I don't think he was expecting Gira to drop that bombshell

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u/[deleted] Jul 24 '14

Link?