Tom Lehrer the Man, His Myth and his Music?
Tom Lehrer: The Man, the Myth, the Music
In this report I will introduce the reader to Tom Lehrer—mathematician and songwriter. First, the man: Where did he come from, who was he, what did he do, and where is he now? Next, we’ll look at Tom Lehrer the myth—his effect on the genre of satire and, through satire, on the world—along with some of the stories that have sprung up about him. Finally, we’ll look at Tom Lehrer’s music.
Thomas Andrew Lehrer was born in New York City in 1928. As a child he took piano lessons, and at the age of 15 he entered Harvard University, majoring in mathematics. Around the same time, he began writing and performing sarcastic little ditties and parodies—quickly becoming a popular fixture at Harvard parties, especially freshman smokers. He received his B.A. in 1947 (magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa).
In 1953 he took up performing in nightclubs and appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show. That same year he took advantage of a new technology—the long-playing record—to launch himself on an unsuspecting world (at his own expense).
During the 1950s he worked at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory in New Mexico. Despite the fact that many of his songs were critical of the work being done there, he still received security clearance (Joseph McCarthy missed this one). In 1955 he joined the Army, explaining, “I figured I’d better do it while there was a hiatus between wars.” While in the Army he worked for the National Security Agency, where—according to a Boston Globe story (Jan 1, 1984)—he developed vodka Jell-O to circumvent a restriction on alcoholic beverages on base (Jell-O isn’t a beverage!).
In 1959 he recorded his second album, An Evening Wasted with Tom Lehrer, and toured Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Great Britain.
In 1960 he paused performing to focus on academia, returning to Harvard. His income went from $1,500 a week (performing) to $3,000 a year (teaching). In 1964 he returned to performing through the NBC program That Was the Week That Was (starring David Frost). Lehrer wrote many of the parody songs on that show. That year he also recorded his third and most popular album, That Was the Year That Was (songs from the show without NBC censors), and toured England and Scandinavia “just because I got a trip out of it.”
He then retired from show business again, coming out only for the occasional benefit—preferably for candidates he thought would lose (“I didn’t want to take responsibility for someone if they won and I helped them”). In 1971 he wrote several songs for the children’s show The Electric Company.
In 1972 he joined the faculty of UC Santa Cruz. For years he split his time between Cambridge and Santa Cruz, teaching “The Nature of Mathematics,” an introductory course for liberal-arts majors (which he called “Math for Tenors”), and a class in musical theater—while gleefully starting rumors that he had died.
Lehrer’s Influence
Tom Lehrer had a profound impact on satire. He was the best at what he did, even though he did it for a relatively short time. He showed the world it could look at itself and laugh. He was never afraid to satirize an issue, but it was always in fun—never in anger. In fact, that’s one reason he stopped writing: “Today everything just makes me angry; it’s not funny anymore.” He satirized the military, Boy Scouts, folk singers, and mathematics (see “New Math,” among others). The only thing he claimed to be fully in favor of was “smut.”
Lehrer tried to make people laugh and think—to show how absurd our world can be. He was a forerunner to comedians like Gallagher, and among the first to use long-playing records and direct mail to sell his songs until a record company picked him up. Most importantly, he remains relevant decades later because the targets of his satire—politicians, pollution, crime, and love—seem timeless.
Critics on Lehrer: Mark Russell called him “the greatest satirist who ever lived.” Al Capp wrote that he is “a disillusioned spirit, and let us all be grateful for that.” Reviews ranged from The New York Times noting his muse “is not fettered by such inhibiting factors as taste,” to the Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph grumbling “vulgarity,” and the London Evening Standard calling him “obvious, jejune, and remarkably unsophisticated.” In other words: mission accomplished.
Rumors & Reality
Plenty of myths sprung up about why he stopped performing—everything from university pressure over “Fight Fiercely, Harvard” to darker rumors. The reality is simpler: he said the spark to write had faded. Meanwhile, his catalog kept spreading—on LPs, tapes, CDs, and community productions like Tomfoolery—because the songs kept finding new audiences.
Why He Still Matters
Because the subjects he skewered haven’t gone anywhere. When politics gets silly, when moral panics bloom, when “taste” is used to dodge truth—there’s a Lehrer song that still hits the mark.
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