SILLYSONGBOOK.com----Tom Lehrer

Main >> Entertainment & Games >> Other Music

Sillysongbook.com

Tom Lehrer

THEN----The 1950s

AND.....

NOW----2000

TOM LEHRER HAS TO BE ONE OF THE MOST BRILLIANT, WITTY AND INTELLIGENT SONG SATIRISTS OF THE PAST CENTURY. HIS FIRST ALBUM, "SONGS BY TOM LEHRER", WAS RECORDED FOR THE MEAGER COST OF $15 DOLLARS AND WENT ON TO SELL 370,000 COPIES UPON RELEASE ON HIS OWN RECORD LABEL IN 1953. AND ALL OF THIS HAPPENED IN SPITE OF THE FACT THAT MUCH OF LEHRER'S MATERIAL WAS CONSIDERED AT THE TIME TO BE TOO CONTROVERSIAL FOR RADIO AIRPLAY.

BORN ON APRIL 9, 1928 IN NEW YORK CITY, LEHRER TOOK PIANO LESSONS AT AN EARLY AGE. LEHRER WROTE HIS FIRST SONG PARODY, "FIGHT FIERCELY HARVARD" IN 1945 AT THE AGE OF 17. AFTER MAKING HIS FIRST PUBLIC PERFORMANCE IN 1952, LEHRER HAD WRITTEN ENOUGH MATERIAL DURING HIS COLLEGE YEARS AT HAVARD TO FILL OUT AN ENTIRE LP. AFTER HIS LP, "SONGS BY TOM LEHRER" WENT ON TO SELL 370,000 COPIES, SEVERAL MAJOR RECORD LABELS EXPRESSED INTEREST. LEHRER RESISTED THE OFFERS AND SET UP HIS OWN RECORD LABEL, "LEHRER RECORDS" IN 1954. DRAFTED BY THE US ARMY IN 1955, LEHRER SPENT THE NEXT THREE YEARS IN THE MILITARY.

UPON LEAVING THE ARMY IN 1957, LEHRER SIGNED WITH RCA RECORDS. IN 1959, HE RECORDED HIS SECOND LP, "MORE OF TOM LEHRER". BY THIS TIME, SOME OF LEHRER'S SONGS SUCH AS "THE MASOCHISM TANGO" AND "POISONING PIGEONS IN THE PARK" WERE BEING RELEASED AS SINGLES ON THE CAPRICORN RECORD LABEL. THESE SINGLES WERE GETTING AIRPLAY OVERSEAS ON STATIONS SUCH AS THE BBC IN ENGLAND, BUT STATIONS IN THE USA SHIED AWAY FROM PLAYING HIS RECORDS, FEARING THEM TO BE TOO CONTROVERSIAL. AFTER MAKING A NUMBER OF SUCCESSFUL CONCERT TOURS AND RECORDING THE ALBUMS "AN EVENING WASTED WITH TOM LEHRER" (1959) AND "TOM LEHRER REVISITED" (1960), HE DECIDED TO ABANDON HIS MUSICAL CAREER TO PURSUE A CAREER AS A COLLEGE MATHEMATICS TEACHER. LEHRER MADE A BRIEF RETURN TO THE SPOTLIGHT IN 1965 WITH THE LP "THAT WAS THE YEAR THAT WAS" FOR WARNER BROTHERS RECORDS. AFTER A BURST OF ACTIVITY TOURING BEHIND THE RECORD FOR MOST OF 1965-66, LEHRER ONCE AGAIN ABANDONED PERFORMING TO GO BACK TO TEACHING MATH AND MUSICAL THEATER CLASSES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA IN SANTA CRUZ, CALIFORNIA, WHERE HE STILL TEACHES TO THIS DAY.

LEHRER MADE NO NEW RECORDINGS UNTIL 1997 WHEN HE RECORDED A NEW SONG TITLED "I GOT IT FROM AGNES" FOR THE COMPILATION CD "SONGS AND MORE SONGS BY TOM LEHRER" ON RHINO RECORDS. IN MAY OF 2000, RHINO RECORDS RELEASED A BOX SET TITLED "THE REMAINS OF TOM LEHRER", FEATURING ALL OF HIS ALBUMS IN THEIR ENTIRITY AS WELL AS FOUR SONGS LEHRER WROTE IN THE 1970S FOR THE PBS SHOW "THE ELECTRIC COMPANY" AS WELL AS FOUR BRAND NEW STUDIO RECORDINGS.