album
An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...
recorded by
Tom Lehrer
Thomas Andrew Lehrer (; born April 9, 1928) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, satirist, and mathematician, who later taught mathematics and musical theater. He recorded pithy and humorous, often Music and politics, political songs that ...
, the well-known satirist and
Harvard
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...
lecturer. The recording was made on March 20–21, 1959 in
Sanders Theater
Memorial Hall, immediately north of Harvard Yard on the Harvard University campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is a High Victorian Gothic building honoring Harvard University alumni's sacrifices in defending the Union during the American Civil ...
at Harvard.
In October 2020, Lehrer transferred the music and lyrics for all songs he had ever written into the
public domain
The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no Exclusive exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly Waiver, waived, or may be inapplicable. Because no one holds ...
. In November 2022, he formally relinquished the copyright and performing/recording rights on his songs, making all music and lyrics composed by him free for anyone to use.
Track listing
#"Poisoning Pigeons in the Park" – 2:38
#"Bright College Days" – 3:03
#"A Christmas Carol" – 2:54
#" The Elements" – 2:16
#"Oedipus Rex" – 3:41
#"In Old Mexico" – 6:26
#"Clementine" – 4:40
#"It Makes a Fellow Proud to Be a Soldier" – 4:50
#"She's My Girl" – 2:53
#"The Masochism Tango" – 3:30
#"We Will All Go Together When We Go" – 5:32
Songs' sources
"Poisoning Pigeons in the Park"
The lyrics refer to killing pigeons with
cyanide
In chemistry, cyanide () is an inorganic chemical compound that contains a functional group. This group, known as the cyano group, consists of a carbon atom triple-bonded to a nitrogen atom.
Ionic cyanides contain the cyanide anion . This a ...
-coated peanuts and
strychnine
Strychnine (, , American English, US chiefly ) is a highly toxicity, toxic, colorless, bitter, crystalline alkaloid used as a pesticide, particularly for killing small vertebrates such as birds and rodents. Strychnine, when inhaled, swallowed, ...
-treated corn. The latter method was used by the
United States Fish and Wildlife Service
The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS or FWS) is a List of federal agencies in the United States, U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of the Interior which oversees the management of fish, wildlife, ...
to control pigeon populations in Boston public areas during the 1950s. The pianist hired for an orchestral version of the song, arranged and conducted by
Richard Hayman
Richard Warren Joseph Hayman (March 27, 1920 – February 5, 2014) was an American musician who was the chief music arranger of the Boston Pops Orchestra for over 50 years, and served as a pops conductor for orchestras including the Detroit Symph ...
with vocals by Lehrer, fell off his bench when he heard the title.
"Bright College Days"
This song borrows heavily from "
The Whiffenpoof Song
The Yale Whiffenpoofs is a collegiate a cappella singing group at Yale University. Established in 1909, it is the oldest such group in the United States. Best known for "The Whiffenpoof Song",The Rev. James M. Howard, Yale Class of 1909"An Authe ...
", the traditional signature song of the
Yale
Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and one of the nine colonial colleges ch ...
The lyrics of " The Elements" are a recitation of the names of all the
chemical element
A chemical element is a chemical substance whose atoms all have the same number of protons. The number of protons is called the atomic number of that element. For example, oxygen has an atomic number of 8: each oxygen atom has 8 protons in its ...
s that were known at the time of writing, up to number 102,
nobelium
Nobelium is a synthetic element, synthetic chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol No and atomic number 102. It is named after Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite and benefactor of science. A radioactive metal, it is the tenth transura ...
Major General's Song
"I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General" (often referred to as the "Major-General's Song" or "Modern Major-General's Song") is a patter song from Gilbert and Sullivan's 1879 comic opera ''The Pirates of Penzance''. It has been called the ...
" ("I am the very model of a modern major-general...") from ''
The Pirates of Penzance
''The Pirates of Penzance; or, The Slave of Duty'' is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, W. S. Gilbert. Its official premiere was at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City on 3 ...
''. At his concert in Copenhagen (1967), Lehrer admitted, "I like to play this song every once in a while, just to see if I can still do it!" Indeed, several of Lehrer's fans, such as actor
Daniel Radcliffe
Daniel Jacob Radcliffe (born 23 July 1989) is an English actor. Radcliffe rose to fame at age twelve for portraying the title character in the ''Harry Potter'' film series. He starred in all eight films in the series, from '' Harry Potter a ...
, have tried and failed to sing it (that is, he sang it in its entirety, but with slight hiccups). At some concerts he also played a version he claims is based on
Aristotle
Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...
's elements: "There's
earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...
and
air
An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosph ...
and
fire
Fire is the rapid oxidation of a fuel in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction Product (chemistry), products.
Flames, the most visible portion of the fire, are produced in the combustion re ...
and
water
Water is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance. It is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known liv ...
."
"Oedipus Rex"
Lehrer comments that most popular movies of the time have a catchy title song that helps to draw in audiences. Believing that a recent (1957)
film adaptation
A film adaptation transfers the details or story of an existing source text, such as a novel, into a feature film. This transfer can involve adapting most details of the source text closely, including characters or plot points, or the original sou ...
of
Sophocles
Sophocles ( 497/496 – winter 406/405 BC)Sommerstein (2002), p. 41. was an ancient Greek tragedian known as one of three from whom at least two plays have survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or contemporary with, those ...
' play ''
Oedipus Rex
''Oedipus Rex'', also known by its Greek title, ''Oedipus Tyrannus'' (, ), or ''Oedipus the King'', is an Athenian tragedy by Sophocles. While some scholars have argued that the play was first performed , this is highly uncertain. Originally, to ...
'' had failed at the box office because it did not have such a song, he wrote this one in
ragtime
Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that had its peak from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its Syncopation, syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers ...
style.Olivares-Merino, Eugenio M.. Peeping Through the Holes: Twenty-First Century Essays on Psycho. United Kingdom: Cambridge Scholars Publisher, 2014. It was also a reference to the popularity of Freudian psychoanalysis and the
Oedipus complex
In classical psychoanalytic theory, the Oedipus complex is a son's sexual attitude towards his mother and concomitant hostility toward his father, first formed during the phallic stage of psychosexual development. A daughter's attitude of desire ...
in popular culture in the 1940s and 1950s in the United States.
"In Old Mexico"
This song is prefaced by a lengthy commentary about the (fictional) Dr. Samuel Gall, who gained fame and fortune from his "invention" of the
gallbladder
In vertebrates, the gallbladder, also known as the cholecyst, is a small hollow Organ (anatomy), organ where bile is stored and concentrated before it is released into the small intestine. In humans, the pear-shaped gallbladder lies beneath t ...
. Performed in the style of Mexican folk music, it describes the narrator's memory of a trip to that country and his viewing of a
bullfight
Bullfighting is a physical contest that involves a bullfighter attempting to subdue, immobilize, or kill a bull, usually according to a set of rules, guidelines, or cultural expectations.
There are several variations, including some forms wh ...
. The lyrics refer to three famous Spanish bullfighters, Belmonte, Dominguín, and
Manolete
Manuel Laureano Rodríguez Sánchez (4 July 1917 – 29 August 1947), known as Manolete, was a Spanish bullfighter.
Career
Manuel Laureano Rodríguez Sánchez was the son of a bullfighter (who also went by the name Manolete) and his wife An ...
, and also include a pejorative reference to Mexico as "the land of the wetback."
"Clementine"
"Clementine" is a parody of the old folk song "
Oh My Darling, Clementine
"Oh, My Darling Clementine" ( Roud 9611, sometimes simply "Clementine") is a traditional American, tragic but sometimes comic, Western folk ballad in trochaic meter usually credited to Percy Montross (or Montrose) (1884), although it is some ...
" in several styles.
"It Makes a Fellow Proud to Be a Soldier"
A parody of the official songs in use by the various branches of the United States military. Lehrer explains that the Army "didn't have no official song" when he started basic training; he wrote this one in an attempt to remedy the situation. (The branch adopted "
The Army Goes Rolling Along
"The Army Goes Rolling Along" is the official song of the United States ArmyArmy Regulation 220-90 ''Army Bands'', 14 December 2007, para 2-5f, g)
One of the rare parodies of Lehrer's work emerged in
Jim Bouton
James Alan Bouton (; March 8, 1939 – July 10, 2019) was an American professional baseball player. Bouton played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a pitcher for the New York Yankees, Seattle Pilots, Houston Astros, and Atlanta Braves between 196 ...
's classic book '' Ball Four'': "It Makes a Fellow Proud to be an Astro", conjured up by members of the 1969
Houston Astros
The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. They are one of two major leag ...
.Bowman, John., Zoss, Joel., Bowman, John Stewart. Diamonds in the Rough: The Untold History of Baseball. United States: University of Nebraska Press, 2004.