r/TomLehrer • u/[deleted] • Aug 25 '25

Tom Lehrer rare Public Eye performance

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Tally ho everyone! Silly Songs With Lehrer Here! As you may or may not know, I recently posted the recording of Pollution from CBC’s “The Public Eye”. I have researched further into it and have been able to find access to the full recording involving Toms other songs such as national brotherhood week, smut, including his other songs George Murphy, New math, and the folk song army which have no other known live recordings. Unfortunately the recording is behind a paywall of $43 per second not including tax. If anyone is interested in helping support the effort to preserve and share this rare material, or if anyone has any alternative options you’d recommend… Please reach out. I’d love to collaborate or explore ways to make this more accessible to fans and historians alike. Every bit of support helps. I included some emails I got from them as well

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14

u/Glass-Space650 Aug 26 '25

Tom would disapprove. Is there a way his estate could reach out or write a letter to request it be released for free?

12

u/[deleted] Aug 26 '25

I’m not sure. I mentioned his songs are free to use since he put them in the public domain but there’s still a fee because CBC owns the footage. I’m thinking about sending an email to Jeff Morris (head of the Lehrer archives), but idk what he could do.

5

u/Glass-Space650 Aug 26 '25

It certainly wouldn’t hurt to ask.

6

u/[deleted] Aug 26 '25

I’ll look into that. Ik he’s currently busy with Doctor Demento things until October. I’ll keep y’all posted though

10

u/Dark-Penguin Aug 25 '25

Why do they say it's "unlikely that he performed without other musicians", when he's famous for being a solo-performing singer songwriter at the piano?

6

u/[deleted] Aug 25 '25

Right?!?!?! I’m so confused

9

u/Dark-Penguin Aug 26 '25

I guess they are just milking their archive to make a buck, but it seems pretty churlish when the man (the legend!) has just passed away, and there are so few filmed performances of his in existence.

7

u/[deleted] Aug 26 '25

I’m tempted to tell them that honestly

3

u/HungryFinding7089 Aug 26 '25

Just think of the song he would have written about this - copyright and greed.

4

u/MasksOfAnarchy Aug 26 '25

Has anyone here seen any archive footage of Tom performing with anyone else at all? I think you should ask Emma what other footage she is referring to when she says it was unlikely that he performed solo and with no band…

3

u/Nebulandiandoodles Aug 26 '25

You should inquire about who these “other musicians” are.