h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Now this really is a Guide Entry that should be written! Mr Lehrer's early works were about 20 years ahead of their time. In musical style, elegantly constructed - in attitude, pure punk rock iconoclasm.

Mention should, I think, be made of the hit theatrical production "Tomfoolery" that showcased the great man's songs and brought them to a whole new generation in the Eighties. And incidentally, the songwriter you mentioned whom Tom admires spells his name Stephen Sondheim.

I believe that at one stage Lehrer claimed to have given up songwriting when Ronald Reagan became president of the USA, on the grounds that Reagan's election meant that the world was too insane to satirise! Thankfully, Tom is still alive and well, and he has since been persuaded to write more songs, although he still says that he doesn't want to make any more records.

If you go to my Music Website Jukebox page - http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A242245 - and scroll down to the "Music Website Gold" section, there is a link to a great Lehrer website.

I would be honoured if you would permit me to collaborate with you on this Entry.

Hi Ormondroyd,

No ing necessary - you're in. I'll check out your suggested link & add you to the list as soon as I have time to do an edit (may not be 'till tomorrow)

All help gratefully received

Ugi

That link is

I must be careful not to -ahem- "research" too much from it!

Ugi

Hi,Ugi:

I've seen the Lehrer website, so I know enough not to include
stuff that's found there.

I did find a Boston Globe article from Jan. 1, 1984. Some
unique Lehrer info form that article would include:

Lehrer didn't mind letting people think he's dead, because
it cuts down on the junk mail.

The musical revue "Tomfoolery" was first produced in London
in 1980. Not surprisingly, it has had healthy runs at the
Charles Playhouse in Boston.

The 1984 article mentioned that Lehrer kept fit by taking
tap-dancing lessons.

The only thing he has in common with Ronald Reagan
is that there are 6 letters in each of his three names
(Thomas Andrew Lehrer, versus Ronald Wilson Reagan).
For what it's worth, 6-6-6 is the mark of the beast,
or so one infers from the Book of Revelations.

Lehrer's parents arranged for him to take piano lessons.
There was one little problem: most piano teachers
taught classical pieces. Lehrer didn't see any point in
practising pieces that he would never want to listen to
if someone else were playing them. But even if you
play popular songs poorly, you can still be the life of
the party.

There were rumors that Lehrer got himself kicked out
of Harvard for making fun of the football team in his
song "Fight fiercely, Harvard." Lehrer denies that
doing anything like this would have been grounds
for expulsion.

After graduation from Harvard, his goal was to be
a graduate student indefinitely, but Harvard had
this strange rule that you eventually had to write
your thesis, which was incompatibile with remaining
a student.

In 1955, Lehrer joined the U.S. Army. He did work
as a mathematician for the National Security
Agency in Washington, D.C. His only contribution
to America's defense was to invent vodka Jell-O.
Alcoholic drinks weren't allowed on base, which
made it hard to have a proper Christmas party.
But if you mix vodka in the right proportions with
water, it makes very good lime Jell-O. Jell-O,
of course, is not a beverage, so no rules had been
broken.

Interestingly enough, the world has the BBC to thank
for Lehrer's involvement with NBC's TV program
"That was the week that was." In 1964, NBC
picked up the BBC's popular show of the same name,
and revamped it for American television. David
Frost came over from London to host NBC's version
as well. Lehrer submitted a number of songs for the
show, but claims not have to have terribly happy
with their execution by the performers in the show.
Lehrer later recorded them himself at the Hungry i
in San Francisco. This recording was releaed
under the title "That was the Year That was."

Although Lehrer occasionally performed at fund-
raisers for political candidates in the late 1960s and
early 1970s, his career as a performer was mostly
over by this time. He wrote some songs for the
Children's Television Workshop's program "The
Electric Company.



Another article (which I have not been able to find)
illustrates Lehrer's philosophy about songwriting.
My recollection is that Lehrer believes anybody
can write a love song, or any of the other song
genres. Indeed, most such songs sound as if nobody
special wrote them. Lehrer wanted to write the songs
that nobody else would have written. I think he
certainly succeeded at this goal. Celebrating the
kindly old neighborhood dope peddler? Waxing
effusive about killing pigeons in the park? Dancing
to the masochism tango? Nobody else has ever
tried themes like that. They are Lehrer's territory
in perpetuity. There are some who regard Lehrer
as the 20th century's greatest songwriter. I'm not
sure I would go that far, what with Porter, Berlin,
Rodger & Hammerstein, Gershwin, etc., but there
is something felicitous about the way Lehrer's
lyrics perfectly complement his tunes. Like
had in glove.

Good luck with your article, Ugi. I'd love
to be part of the team for this article.

HI Paul,

Thanks for the extra info. Some of what you included is on the various CD jackets that I have, but there are quite a few new bits, which is great. I also have an intervew with TL somewhere. It is a tape of a radio interview he gave but I can't find the tape at the moment. I think that will also have some more interesting info.

I will try to start writing it up soon & then people can comment on the first draft. I will certainly include you as a contributor.



Ugi

Re 'That Was The Week That Was': Lehrer himself wasn't entirely happy with the way they treated his material. He said in a 1995 interview that the idea behind the US version of TWTWTW seemed to be "'It's a biting, satirical, hard hitting, no holds barred show...but we're not out to offend anybody.'"

He never actually appeared on the show, but they used a number of his songs. However, they had an annoying habit of cutting his sharpest lines, which was why Tom recorded his album 'That Was The Week That Was' in 1965.

Or, as TL put it in the same '95 interview: "Usually the programme would cut the best lines, so one of the reasons I recorded [the album] was so that I could at least have it on record that this is how it was supposed to be."

Leaving out Tom Lehrer's best lines was
not something we viewers were aware of .
I saw pretty nearly all the episodes, and
enjoyed them. The only song that I remember
from "That was the week that was" was the
title song, sung by Nancy Ames. Lehrer did
not write that, as far as I know.

I have a copy of Lehrer's very first
recording, which he produced and distributed
himself. I also have a copy of his songbook,
"Too many songs by Tom Lehrer." He left
out the song about Lobachev, unfortunately .
Apparently the logistics of timing the music
against the spoken monologue were too great.
Besides, he improvised through much of it
anyway.

Anyway, there will never be another love song
like "I hold your hand in mine." It sweeps the
listener across the brink into madness with
great dexterity.

I certainly remember TL saying in the interview I had that he had heard of national brotherhood week & wondered when it was. On discovering it was only a few weeks away he wrote the "Naional Brotherhood week" song and sent it to TW3 as his first offering. It was accepted immediately but unfortunately they insisted on cutting what he thought was "the best line". He didn't say what that was, but you can see why:
"The protestants hate the catholics
and the catholics hate the protestants
and the Hundus hate the Muslims
and everybody hates the Jews"
Might just have provoked a few comments!!!
In fact, I don't know if we could get away with it in a Guide Entry, even today and as a review of what he wrote.

You're probably lucky that the Moderators haven't swooped yet!

At the risk of provoking them myself (and Mods - short extracts from copyright material for illustration purposes ARE permissible), I think that we must have one or two lyric extracts as evidence of TL's amazing craftsmanship in the Entry. He did pride himself on his rhymes, and you can see why.

'We've gained notoriety and caused much anxiety/In the Audobon Society with our games/They call it impiety and lack of propriety/And quite a variety of unpleasant names'.

Genius. Sheer genius.

The UK (h2g2 works basically under UK law I believe) Copyright, Design & Patents Act 1988

"Section 30
1) Fair dealing with a work for the purposes of critisism or review, of that or another work or of the performance of a work, does not infringe any copyright in the work provided that it is accompanied by a sufficient acknowledgement."

Basically, we can use any part of any of his songs, provided we don't use so much that it could substitute for buying a copy of his songsheet and providing we say that he wrote it.

I work in IP & will fight tooth & nail if necessary to have some fair extracts included. It just wouldn't be the same without!

Ugi