Today's Vlog: Tom Lehrer Rips Nazi Rocket Scientists, Pollution, & Vatican II

Tom Lehrer was a Harvard prodigy (BA in mathematics at age 18) who tried to combine graduate study in mathematics with a coffeehouse/caberet career as a parodist who accompanied himself on the piano (or, as he called it, an 88-string guitar). In the contest for his time between Harvard mathematics and show biz, the mathematics career came in second. Lehrer left Harvard sans PhD, but taught at MIT and, later, the University of California at Santa Cruz. Tom Lehrer's biggest hit came in 1965 with an album entitled, "That Was The Year That Was." This album proved to be Lehrer's farewell piece. In it, he skewered the former Nazi rocket scientist who moved from Germany to the U.S. after WWII. Lehrer also pointed to the environmental problem long before there was an Earth Day. In one of the more controversial songs on the album, the parodist turned his gaze upon the Roman Catholic Church and its attempt to reform (and popularize) itself in the Second Vatican Council. If this is (fair & balanced) savage wit, so be it.

[Vannevar Bush Hyperlink — Bracketed Numbers — Directory]
[1] "Wehrner von Braun"
[2] "Pollution"
[3] "The Vatican Rag"

[x YouTube/Tom Lehrer Wisdom-Comedy Channel (6funswede)]

[1]—Back To Directory
"Wehrner von Braun"

[2]—Back To Directory
"Pollution"


[3]—Back To Directory
"The Vatican Rag"


Copyright © 2008 Tom Lehrer

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