RIP Tom Lehrer (1928–2025)

As started appearing in obituaries in many venues today, the great Tom Lehrer died yesterday.

There have been many published obituaries, and the New York Times one (which is the first one that I saw) has lots of nice snarky comments by Lehrer.

I first encountered Lehrer's music late in my high-school time when I found and started listening to The Dr. Demento Show. The first of Lehrer's songs that I heard was "The Masochism Tango", and it remains a favorite. I fell in love with Lehrer's darkly humorous muse, which naturally is a wonderful fit for my own snarky sense of humor. Some obituaries even described Lehrer tersely as a "satirist and mathematician", and that's definitely a terse description to aspire to.

"Songs and Lyrics by Tom Lehrer"

Here's some great news!

Tom Lehrer has released, into the public domain, the lyrics of his songs (also including sheet music for some), including many that you've probably never heard of!!!

There are also alternative lyrics for several songs.

Go here: https://t.co/VKtRztNu1Q

— Mason Porter (@masonporter) October 19, 2020

Data Analysis of Exuberant and Uncouth College Fight Songs

Fivethirtyeight.com did some data analysis of college fight songs.

UCLA's fight song is apparently called "Sons of Westwood" (ugh).

How can they write such an article without mentioning Tom Lehrer?

J-Pop Cover of Tom Lehrer's "The Elements"

I'm pretty sure that what you need in your life right now is a J-Pop cover of Tom Lehrer's "The Elements".

You're welcome!

(Tip of the cap to Elliott Schiff.)

"New Textbooks for the New Mathematics"

Here is an article, called "New Textbooks for the New Mathematics", by Richard Feynman that appeared in Caltech's publication Engineering and Science in March 1965.

The article includes a reprint of a cartoon from The New Yorker that reminds me of this song. (The song is relevant to the whole article, actually.)

(Tip of the cap to Ben Rogers.)

Marty Feldman Performing Tom Lehrer!

Oh, wow! Marty Feldman performed some songs by Tom Lehrer! Here's a video of The Vatican Rag, and apparently the same show included other Feldman performances of Lehrer songs. (Maybe those are online too?) I didn't know this existed!

And if you've never heard of Marty Feldman, you should watch Young Frankenstein, among other movies.

(Tip of the cap to Kent Cordray.)

Update: Here is a video of Feldman performing National Brotherhood Week.

Don't Drink the Water (and Don't Breathe the Air)

Apparently, the news (rather ambiguously phrased, too) out of the Andrew Wiles Building is "Don't drink the water."

As the most recent e-mail indicates, "there may be a problem with the drinking water supply". And remember how the word "may" gets used in that context in the UK...

So, in honor of the situation, here is an appropriate song.

"Looking for Tom Lehrer"

I'm still in the middle of this new article about Tom Lehrer, but clearly I need to pass this along.

The article has some neat stuff in it --- take a look, for example, at who he hung out with in college.

(Tip of the cap to Steve Strogatz.)

Spring is Here

Well, spring is here. I think I will head over to the park...

A Tom Lehrer Recording from 1997!

How awesome! Here is a Tom Lehrer performance from 1997. It includes some songs I have never heard him sing before! (I had never even heard of a couple of these songs before.) Big win!

(The penultimate song takes a really low shot at sociology and the attempt to mathematize it. It's really funny, though, perhaps because I can think of specific examples that it fits very well. Still, the assessment is not even close to fair.)

(Tip of the cap to Marina Chugunova.)

Update: I forgot to mention that I am wearing my "Let ε < 0" shirt today. How appropriate!

He Got it From Whom?

"I Got It From Agnes" is an awesome Tom Lehrer song --- really, is there any other kind? --- complete with a growing network to illustrate what is going on.

This is a different recording of the song than the one I own, but the copy I have on iTunes doesn't have a network diagram to go with it (and that does add to the humor substantially).

(Tip of the cap to Edmund Chattoe-Brown and Stan Wasserman.)