Tom Lehrer at 81

Tom Lehrer was 81 years old on April 9th 2009. This is a rip-off from the profile of the Norwegian Erik Halfdan Meyn on Facebook.

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Thomas Andrew "Tom" Lehrer is quite a mind at 81. Today, on April 9th 2009, is his 81st birthday. His comedy songs, written and performed between 1944 and 1965, still holds up. Here are a few examples of April 9th:

Today, the Norwegian Facebook member Knut Gaasvik commented on the fact that women talk more than men. That made me think of the British satirist Jake Thackray, but also about Tom Lehrer's "When You Are Old And Gray". Another Norwegian, Jan Devo Kornstad, made a satirical comment about love and relationships, and again, I thought about Lehrer and his "love song". Whenever the United States decide to invade a country, the Lehrer song "Send the Marines" will play in the back of my head. If people talk about pollution and global warming, I'll hear Lehrer's "Pollution" in the background. This July will be the 40-year anniversary on the landing on the moon (Apollo 11), and many people are still not aware that the Americans hired a former Nazi to get them there. I think of Lehrer's "Wernher von Braun".

If we talk about nuclear armament, I'm singing "We Will All Go Together When We Go" or "Who's Next", and when George W. Bush mentioned the word "Iran" in his speeches, I was singing Lehrer's "So Long, Mom (A Song for WW III)". The list goes on and on. What about "I Got It From Agnes" (about VD, although Lehrer says it was about getting a cold) or "The Old Dope Peddler"? These songs were fifty years ahead of their time, and people didn't get it back then. I wonder if they have by now?

But I've got all the reasons in the world to say a heartfelt "happy birthday" to Tom Lehrer.

Celebration on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/video/video.php?v=69591002396&oid=2205018613

YouTube low res. videos:

http://www.youtube.com/6funswede