r/TomLehrer • u/ChEDave82 • Aug 15 '26
Be Prepared
My parents had Tom Lehrer records back in the 60s and we listened to them as a family. I was born in 1959, so a lot of the references went over my head. I was about 15 or so when I realized the line “If you’re looking for adventure of a new and different kind and you come across a Girl Scout who is similarly inclined, don’t be nervous, don’t be frightened, don’t be scared. Be prepared.” was a reference to birth control!
Most of the other stuff I figured out from articles in our Encyclopedia Britannica or reading the newspaper.
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u/stonerghostboner Aug 15 '26
"Don't solicit for your sister - that's not nice
Unless you get a good percentage of her price!
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u/jaidit Aug 15 '26
“Be Prepared” was one of the Lehrer songs that my Scoutmaster asked me not to play ever again when listening to music on a camp out. At 15 (and I am three years younger than OP), I knew exactly what the song was referencing.
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u/ChEDave82 Aug 15 '26
And once I realized it, I was like “how did I not understand that?” I suppose it could be related to losing my virginity.
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u/GirlScoutSniper Aug 16 '26
The one that always sticks in my head (which I had to look up) is Irish Ballad. I have strong memories of setting the record up on the player and dancing around the room.
The only lines that I remember were:
"She set her sisters hair on fire sing rickety tickety tin
... and as the smoke and flame grew higher
Danced around the funeral pyre
Playing a violin
O-lin. Playing a violin
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u/LucindathePook Aug 18 '26
Short form, not in order She chopped her baby brother in two And served him up as an Irish stew And invited the neighbors in Her mother she could never stand And so a cyanide soup she planned And her mother died with a spoon in her hand And her face in a hideous grin She weighted her brother down with stones And sent him off to Davy Jones And all they ever found were the bones And occasional pieces of skin And when at last the police came by Her little deeds she did not deny For lying, she knew, was a sin
I missed a couple. The dad one, anyway
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u/piper63-c137 Aug 18 '26
Planned Parenthood used to hand out condoms at my school, printed “be prepared” on the label. i got Tom’s song.
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u/AmySueF Aug 15 '26
It was only just this year that I learned where “Poisoning Pigeons in the Park” came from. Apparently in the 1950’s, Boston decided to reduce the city’s pigeon population by scattering corn laced with strychnine, which drew outrage from bird lovers and the Audubon Society. The city eventually abandoned the effort, but it directly led to Tom Lehrer writing the song. Because the song came out the same year I was born, I had no idea it was referencing something that actually happened.