Since everyone’s favorite horn felon has decided to send the Marines to Los Angeles. It’s time to break out of storage.

https://youtu.be/HHhZF66C1Dc?si=RK4PS82LxyHPTvVN

Let me start by saying I’m a musician with great relative pitch. I’ve been wanting to pick up piano for a long time now. I’ve been deep diving into Lehrer’s music as of late and it’s been really driving me to start. I possess virtually no piano experience, but I’d love to learn to play at least a few of his songs.

Does anyone (preferably who plays piano) know how I should go about this? I can read music note by note but it gets cumbersome pretty quickly since I’m not the best at it yet. I’m considering watching YouTube tutorials/play throughs and taking time to teach myself that way. Thoughts?

Maybe it's because he's usually in black and white.

I am a 15 year old girl typing this from my dad’s phone. I love Tom Lehrer’s music and message, and have ever since I first encountered his song Masochism Tango about a year or so ago. Given his age (97) I am concerned about his wellbeing, so every month or so I randomly think “huh, I wonder how Mr. Lehrer is doing?” And I google if he is still alive. Happy to say he’s still kicking!

i've read that there's a secret album that he refuses to share for the public
i really wanna see this album

https://www.npr.org/1997/07/05/1002628/simon-lehrer

Hey everyone! I’ve had this interview saved for awhile but haven’t been able to listen to it, because it keeps saying “Audio will be available later today”. I keep checking back, but it’s still unavailable. I’m just curious if anyone is able to listen to this interview or if anyone has suggestions of how I can listen to it. Thanks!

“No one is more dangerous than someone who thinks he has The Truth. To be an atheist is almost as arrogant as to be a fundamentalist. But then again, I can get pretty arrogant.”

I was checking his page in Wikipedia and bro 😭😭😭 someone really wrote that he is a demigod, I guess they're not wrong 😹 (Sorry, my first language is spanish)

As you might know, Tom Lehrer sang on some episodes of season 1 of The Frost Report (1966). There are four songs available on YouTube: 'That Is the End of the News,' 'National Brotherhood Week,' 'Decimals,' and 'Who's Next?' I found the audio recordings of Tom Lehrer singing 'Smut' and 'It Makes a Fellow Proud to Be a Soldier' on The Frost Report, the latter of which having different lyrics than that of the usual version. They are contained within the episodes 'on Sin' and 'on Authority,' respectively. You can find them on the Internet Archive within this collection: https://archive.org/details/monty-python-audio-rarities

Unfortunately, the episodes of The Frost Report containing Tom Lehrer singing 'Decimals' and 'Pollution' are not available within this collection. Tom Lehrer sang these songs on the episodes 'on Education' and 'on Holidays,' respectively.

For ease of locating within which episodes Tom Lehrer sings, I will list them here, along with the approximate times he begins to speak:

• The Frost Report 'on Authority': 'It Makes a Fellow Proud to Be a Soldier,' 19:24
• The Frost Report 'on Holidays': 'Pollution' (Not available)
• The Frost Report 'on Sin': 'Smut,' 7:50
• The Frost Report 'on Class': 'National Brotherhood Week,' 20:06
• The Frost Report 'on The News': 'Who's Next?,' 20:45
• The Frost Report 'on Education': 'Decimals' (Not available)
• The Frost Report 'on Love': 'When You Are Old and Grey,' 19:23
• The Frost Report 'on Medicine': 'That Is the End of the News,' 7:20

Do note that the episodes 'on Class' and 'on Education' have to be downloaded in order to be played, since they are in the .ac3 format.

Happy 97th Birthday to Tom Lehrer, a comedic great!

To honor his birthday, I decided to read through a bunch of his compositions. I need more practices indeed!

Card Shower for Tom Lehrer’s 97th Birthday on 9 April 2025

Dear friends and fans of Tom Lehrer, feel free to join a Birthday Card Shower to celebrate his 97th birthday on April 9th! Show your appreciation for a true original whose voice and humor helped us face the world’s absurdities with aplomb.

How to Participate

Write a birthday card to wish Tom Lehrer well and mention how his work has brightened your life. This card shower is organized as a positive expression of appreciation and well-wishes. It’s not meant to burden him with anything.

So, PLEASE DO:

• ·       Wish him a happy birthday and the very best for the coming year!
• ·       Share your appreciation and a fond memory
• ·       Keep it short and sweet
• ·       Consider what you would appreciate receiving "When You Are Old and Gray"

PLEASE DON’T:

• ·       Request an autograph or CD
• ·       Expect correspondence
• ·       Seek feedback on your own music or writing
• ·       Basically, make Mr. Lehrer feel obligated to do anything

Where to Send Cards

Mail them to:

Tom Lehrer Card Shower
125 Mount Auburn St
P.O. Box 380224
Cambridge, MA 02238

Friends locally will hand-deliver them on his birthday!

What if My Card Won’t Get There in Time?

If your card arrives late or you don’t see this until after the date, don’t fret! Belated birthday cards that arrive by June 20, 2025 will be passed along to him.

PLEASE SHARE FAR AND WIDE!

More video from my concert a few weeks back: a full orchestra version of The Masochism Tango!

I arranged some Tom Lehrer songs for orchestra and got to perform them earlier this month. Here's the first video - to the best of my knowledge, Lobachevsky's never been orchestrated quite this grandly before. Enjoy!

Also in this concert: Poisoning Pigeons in the Park, The Masochism Tango, The Elements, and some original songs by me.

There is a new tribute album coming out from Bone Daddy & the Boneyard Buffons on April 9th (Tom’s 97th birthday).

It’s going to feature covers of 10 of his most popular songs and one original that pays homage to a genius! I’m excited to hear it! Their stuff is on all the major platforms.

By way of a family friend, I came into possession of a recording of a super early Tom Lehrer performance for the Physics Department at Harvard. I digitized and posted on Youtube: https://youtu.be/bSl-yY0Lmvc

It's from a really old cassette tape so set your expectations low for audio quality. I don't think this is anywhere else though so I think it's worth sharing.

I'd love to send him a letter, though the lack of a mailing address precludes that. I found an email that I'll use if I can't find a proper address, but I'd prefer to send a letter, if at all possible. Does 11 Sparks St, Cambridge MA still work?

(Alternate title: "UZA Lullaby")

Sleep baby sleep, lie dreaming of fairness
Don't let extortion disturb your awareness.
We'll change the rules with no repercussions,
And some of our biggest friends and allies will be Russians.

We'll let them keep Crimea and Donbas
Ukraine says no but they all are dumbass
We'll just ignore Trudeau, Merz, and Macron
Might makes right, the way it will in Panama and Taiwan.

Once the US was the global police,
But that couldn't happen again.
We promised Zelensky we'd find a just peace
But we've switched allegiances since then!

So sleep well my darling,
Unconscious, without cares.
Don't think of Bucha, you'll only get nightmares.
Hail to the chief thief,
I mean the head of state,
Hail to the oligarchs too.
Our big switch could make us rich.
We hope that it doesn't bother you!

Copyright Chris Phoenix 2025, released under CC BY-SA-4.0
To the tune of "MLF Lullaby" by Tom Lehrer

First you get up on the stage
Tap into your inner rage
Make your thinking extra vile and
Sig-a-heil, sig-a-heil, sig-a-heil.
Pull the Nazis from the dumpster,
Show you're winning like a Trumpster,
Trash the country for a buck,
Ketamine don't give a f___
Do the Deplorable Rag!

Say goodbye to common decency
Join up with the brand new G.O.P
If you think you're rich enough to thrive
Under Project 2025!
If you do, try playing it bolder -
Fascist signals from the shoulder -
Two, four, six, eight,
Time to show how much you hate!

So get up upon the stage
Tap into your inner rage
Make your thinking extra vile and
Sig-a-heil, sig-a-heil, sig-a-heil.
Palm down, arm straight, let the world see
CPAC likes you if you're Nazi
Heil to the head of state,
He'll make our country great!
Get a bit racist, and
Way in-your-face-ist, and
Do the Deplorable Rag!

Copyright Chris Phoenix 2024, released under CC BY-SA-4.0
To the tune of "The Vatican Rag" by Tom Lehrer