Tom Lehrer, famous musical satirist and mathematician, has passed away at the age of 97.
Tom Lehrer, famous satirist whose humorous songs brought comfort during the Cold War and influenced countless comedy writers, has passed away at the age of 97.
The singer-songwriter died on Saturday at his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, his friend David Herder said, according to the New York Times.
Many across the industry have taken to social media to pay respects and pay honour to the late artist, including “Weird Al” Yankovic, who called Lehrer his last “living musical hero“.
Rachel Bloom has also spoken about Lehrer’s influence on her comedy, saying, “He established this genre of comedy songwriting,” said Rachel Bloom, a musical satirist and star of the CW TV show Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. Although she’s several generations younger, Bloom says she learned a lot from Lehrer’s work. “When you’re doing comedy songs, you want to take established genres and flip them on their head,” she said. “It’s almost like you want to go opposite.”
Lehrer was a child prodigy at maths, graduating from Harvard at 19 and later teaching at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The late singer was a staunch advocate on issues like pollution and nuclear proliferation, often touching on them in his music, like in his song ‘Who’s Next’, satirising the growing nuclear arms race.
“First, we got the bomb, and that was good ’cause we love peace and motherhood. Then Russia got the bomb, but that’s OK ’cause the balance of power is maintained that way. Who’s next?” sang Lehrer.
Despite often singing about political subjects, Lehrer also knew when to get silly. For example, one of the artists most famous songs, ‘Poisoning Pigeons in the Park’ is about just that. Embodying a man, singing a joyous broadway tune about slaughtering pigeons with strychnine.
Lehrer suddenly stopped releasing music in 1965, only performing for the children’s public television show, The Electric Company, in 1972. Many speculated the reasons why, suggesting Lehrer quit over Henry Kissinger being awarded a Nobel Peace Prize. However, in an interview with The Onion, Lehrer dismissed the rumour, confirming he had long quit by then.
“I figure I wrote 37 songs in 20 years, and that’s not exactly a full-time job. Every now and then I wrote something, and every now and then I didn’t. The second just outnumbered the first.” He said.
Lehrer would retire from public performances to instead focus on teaching. He taught for many years at the University of California, Santa Cruz, splitting his time between there and Cambridge.
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