Tom Lehrer has died. At 97, a life well lived.
I fell in love with his satire and parody songs as a kid in the 60s, probably my first introduction to subversive humor. I played his records over and over - when my disapproving parents weren’t home, that is. I think I wore out the grooves.
Lehrer was utterly brilliant. We’ll All Go Together When We Go, Poisoning Pigeons In the Park, National Brotherhood Week, Werner von Braun, The Irish Ballad, Vatican Rag, and so many others. Including, of course, probably his most famous bit, The Elements:
If Tom Lehrer was before your time, he is well worth a journey down the Youtube rabbit hole.
Edited to add:
Here’s the NYT obit, apologies if it is behind a paywall:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/27/arts/music/tom-lehrer-dead.html
One of my favorite quips of his, explaining why he stopped writing:
"Political satire became obsolete when Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.”