Today (April 9)
Tom Lehrer
turns 81=92.
To celebrate I post some lesser known Tom L songs.
I post all that did not appear on any of his CD's.
Note that
The remains of Tom Lehrer, his 3-CD boxed set,
already had several songs that had not
appeared on any of his prior available work.
(I got it from Agnes, Thats Math (short version- long version is
on Dr. Demento Basement tapes No. 4), Selling Out, I've spending
Hannakuh in Santa Monica, L-Y, Silent E,
O-U, S-N. L-Y and Silent E had appeared as extras on CD versions
of his Vinyl records.)
Hence to NOT even appear on the boxed-set makes it rather rare.
Or is it?
Its on You-Tube so how rare can it be?
(I discussed this in an earlier blog
here.)
Derivative Song. Likely did not appear on any CD because the audience
for this is too small. Also might have been copyright problems as he
used someone elses tune (See comment on THE PROFESSORS SONG later in this post.)
Decimal. GREAT song. Likely did not appear since its a bit dated
and the context is now lost. The best of the rare songs.
To the tune of his own New Math
The professor's song. GREAT song.
Don't know why it's not in the boxed set--- no copyright problems since
he used a Gilbert and Sullivan Tune which is public domain
(Tom L always used his own tunes to avoid legal issues. The only
exceptions are this song and The Elements which also
used a Gilbert and Sullivan Tune.)
Subway Song. Not that good. However, note that 90% of Tom L's stuff is excellent.
Weird Al has generated many more novelty songs, but only 50% are excellent.
So who is better? It depends on how you measure. I, of course, like both of them.
Incidentally, Weird Al did one math song for Square One TV:
Polka Patterns.
At one time that was a rare item in my collection. But now
Its on you-tube so how rare can it be?
@
Lance, thank you for this post! Lehrer is a true genius, and IMHO, the more comic songs that humanity knows, the better.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteJohn S, actually it was
ReplyDeleteGASARCH not Lance who did this post. Normally GASARCH would not bother with the correction, but he takes
pride in his knowledge of Math Novelty songs, and novelty songs in general.
GASARCH
Thanks for the correction, GASARCH!
ReplyDeleteMy son and I recently took a road trip together, on which he introduced me to JONATHAN COULTON ... whose comic song RE: YOUR BRAINS is pure genius, IMHO!
Seriously Bill ... by which I guess I mean, NOT seriously Bill ... any further pointers to comic songs/artists you might provide would be very welcome ...
Especially by young artists ... `cuz I sure like to hope that the flame of comic rebellion still burns brightly. Jonathon Coulton's song did much to restore my faith! :)
GASARCH, I can't help pointing out that I, ANONYMOUS, find it incredibly ANNOYING that you refer to ***YOURSELF*** in all CAPITALS. Also when you refer to ***YOURSELF*** in the third PERSON. In the modern age of the INTERNET, it is considered extremely RUDE.
ReplyDeleteOh yeah, my son also introduced me to a comic --- Dinosaur Comics --- that frequently covers issues of math, science, and (especially) cognition.
ReplyDeleteYou will soon notice that the art of Dinosaur Comics is somewhat static ... as static as the axioms of mathematics ... which contributes immensely to its dinosaur magic.
81?
ReplyDeleteHe's 27 Celsius.