So, my much-anticipated (by me, anyway) Sunday Salon program has hit another snag. My invitee this week was indisposed. I’m thinking I might have to rename this segment as Sunday Surprise.
However, not to be downcast, and in honour of the date today, I have cast in her place the quite fascinating Tom Lehrer. A mathematician, academic and soldier, he was also, for a relatively brief period of his life, the writer and performer of some of the cheekiest, funniest, most irreverent satirical songs of the 20th Century.
Songs like this one,
and this one, which is still well and truly relevant:
I don’t think salons were still in vogue in the 50′s and 60′s, but had they been I can’t think of a better invitee than the author of The Masochism Tango (included especially for my writer friends who like to sail on the kinky side of love).
I hope you enjoyed this slightly twisted musical Sunday. If you have any other favourite Tom Lehrer songs, or satirists generally, I’d love to hear from you!
Imelda
deanjbaker
he did great work
Imelda Evans
He did indeed. I believe he was no slouch as a mathematician, too. Multi-talented guy! Thanks for stopping by, Dean.
Valerie Parv
Love Tom Lehrer. “Alma tell us, all other women are jealous. You didn’t have to use ponds to get Gustav and Walter and Franz…”
“Pollution, pollution, wear a gas mask and a veil. Then you can breathe ‘long as you don’t inhale.”
“First you get down on your knees, fiddle with your rosaries, bow your head with great respect and…genuflect, genuflect, genuflect…” (The Vatican Rag)
Thanks for the nostalgic moments.
Imelda Evans
You’re most welcome, Valerie! I love ‘use the finest toothpaste, then rinse your mouth in industrial waste!’. That song, sung by the wonderful Whim ‘n Rhythm, was my introduction to Tom Lehrer and I was hooked. Glad you enjoyed them. I love that he went back to teaching, too. He quit rather than keep saying the same things. Oh for politicians of that stamp! Thanks for commenting!
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