Tom Lehrer, RIP: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/27/arts/music/tom-lehrer-dead.html
Discussion
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Discussion
@cstross the man responsible for teaching me the periodic table of the elements, so kind of an educator too, RIP
@cstross Sad.. Off to poison pigeons in the Big Park in the Sky...
@cstross He outlived one of the two obituary writers.
@cstross
Well, this is a terrible way to start the day.
@cstross My late-ex went to Boston to interview him for the BBC in the 90's and said that he was very kind to her. And now, let's poison some pigeons in the park in his memory!
@cstross the first works of his I encountered were some of his last, teaching me to read on "The Electric Company":
"You enter a very dark room
And sitting there in the gloom
Is Dracula...
How do you say goodbye?
Immediately, immediately, immediate-L-Y. Bye bye!!"
@cstross As my grandfather used to say « Vieillir, c’est voir partir les siens. »
@cstross I understand that on the occasion of playing before the royal family he observed “perversity is universal “.
@cstross In other news: He was still alive last week.
What a glorious wit. RIP
@cstross Well that sucks. What a legend! The fact he made all his songs public domain says it all, and a lot of them still feel extremely relevant in the modern day.
@cstross I discovered him on summer holidays when we stayed in our wealthy aunt's house as she went on her posh holiday abroad. Discovered Flanders and Swann at the same time too.
Mum and dad did get me the 10" album for my birthday despite me knowing all the words off by heart to The Masochism Tango... It was my 10th birthday!!
Mum and dad did get me the 10" album for my birthday despite me knowing all the words off by heart to The Masochism Tango... It was my 10th birthday!!
@cstross At 97, he died in one of his primes.
@cstross Absolute LEGEND. We were just listening to one of his albums this past week. Which, of course, we could have done online since all his stuff was made available, by him, online for free. Rest in power, king.
@cstross wow, good life.
@cstross RIP. However, he is definitely one I thought was dead years ago.
@cstross Noooooooooooooooooooo
@cstross Aw bugger 🙁
RIP Mr Lehrer
@cstross Not the same as Timothy Leary. Time to play the Masochism Tango
@cstross Dang - he was so good. And that article included way more than I ever knew before.
@cstross dammit. Was my dad's absolute favourite. We had the original 10" records he released.
Singing "rickety tickety tin" in memoriam
@cstross, well, we now know that he's poisoned his last pigeon…
@cstross that is sad news.
@cstross
‘My songs spread like herpes’: why did satirical genius Tom Lehrer swap worldwide fame for obscurity?
@cstross Wit and musicality. My maths teacher in High School introduced us to his songs.
@cstross but he said we'll all go together when we go.
@cstross Wait what he was still alive? Don't expect that from a guy you've only ever seen in black-and-white.
@cstross Ah, balls. A long life well lived. And kudos for releasing all his music into the public domain a few years ago.
@cstross That... hit harder than I thought it would.
@cstross
Oh, that's a loss. A truly clever and funny person.
