The Classic Song Satirist: The Timeless Lyrics and Melodies of Snarky Satirist Tom Lehrer

An email from a younger TMV reader about comedy and parody has inspired this post. One of the greatest song parody masters was Tom Lehrer whose melodies (which he wrote) and lyrics (which he wrote) still hold up, even though some incidental topical references are dated.

Here are some You Tubes of a 1967 TV performance.

First his hilarious take on National Brotherhood Week and a parody of a 20th century love song prototype:

I always loved “Poisoning Pigeons in the Park” another snarky song:

Perhaps his most famous is this take on pollution:

This was one of his darkest song parodies:

And this was his most controversial: “The Vatican Rag.” In this televised version, he flubs a lyric and it throws him off a bit:

This is a better version (the one available on CD):

Thiis is only a small cross-section of his zippy songs. There IS a definitive CD collection of his songs, including some later ones that are not as famous (I have this one):

This collection includes some performances on DVD as well: