The Remains of Tom Lehrer [Box set]

Amazon.com
This three-CD set collects many of Tom Lehrer's tunes, described by Time magazine as "brilliant and coruscating parodies," bringing back a bygone era when the "liberal consensus," as Lehrer calls them, knew who they were and could, therefore, laugh at both themselves and the well-defined enemy. Delivering clever, witty rhymes about topical subjects was Leher's strength. In "Wernher Von Braun" [the Nazi German scientist who later worked for NASA], Lerher sings: "I'll sing you a tale of Wernher Von Braun / A man whose allegiance is ruled by expedience / Once the rockets are up, who cares where they come down / 'That's not my department,' says Wernher Von Braun." Using a rollicking piano as accompaniment, Lehrer will remind some of Mark Russell, the current political satirist, but Lehrer's more pointed humor and grating, nasal voice make him a much tougher listen. His Jimmy Durante-like delivery, however, doesn't completely trump his truly quick mind and clever use of language. --Wally Shoup

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Average customer rating: 5++ Stars Classic 60's social-political comedy The piper's son to the first generation of cynics Enjoyable, but not a compilation and very repetitive A song suitably inappropriate for any occasion...

The Remains of Tom Lehrer Tom Lehrer Manufacturer: Rhino / Wea ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music General | Comedy | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music Classic Comedy | Comedy | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music Novelty Music | Comedic Music | Comedy | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music General | Comedic Music | Comedy | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music General | Easy Listening | Pop | Styles | Music Broadway & Musicals | Broadway & Vocalists | Box Sets | Stores | Music Comedy & Spoken Word | Box Sets | Stores | Music Rhino Records | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music Box Sets at 30% Off | Blowout Music | Stores | Music Pop | Styles | Blowout Music | Stores | Music All Blowout Music | Blowout Music | Stores | Music More Titles at Least 25% Off | Blowout Music | Stores | Music Similar Items: Too Many Songs by Tom Lehrer An Evening Wasted With Tom Lehrer Songs & More Songs By Tom Lehrer That Was the Year That Was Revisited ASIN: B00004SWBH Release Date: 2000-05-23

Tracks:

1. Fight Fiercely, Harvard
2. The Old Dope Peddler
3. Be Prepared
4. The Wild West Is Where I Want To Be
5. I Wanna Go Back To Dixie
6. Lobachevsky
7. The Irish Ballad
8. The Hunting Song
9. My Home Town
10. When You Are Old And Gray
11. I Hold Your Hand In Mine
12. The Wiener Schnitzel Waltz
13. Poisoning Pigeons In The Park
14. Bright College Days
15. A Christmas Carol
16. The Elements
17. Oedipus Rex
18. In Old Mexico
19. Clementine
20. It Makes A Fellow Proud To Be A Soldier
21. She's My Girl
22. The Masochism Tango
23. We Will All Go Together When We Go
24. I Got It From Agnes
25. That's Mathematics

Tracks:

1. Introduction
2. I Wanna Go Back To Dixie
3. The Wild West Is Where I Want To Be
4. The Old Dope Peddler
5. Fight Fiercely, Harvard
6. Lobachevsky
7. The Irish Ballad
8. The Hunting Song
9. My Home Town
10. When You Are Old And Gray
11. The Wiener Schnitzel Waltz
12. I Hold Your Hand In Mine
13. Be Prepared
14. Poisoning Pigeons In The Park
15. Bright College Days
16. A Christmas Carol
17. The Elements
18. Oedipus Rex
19. In Old Mexico
20. Clementine
21. It Makes A Fellow Proud To Be A Soldier
22. She's My Girl
23. The Masochism Tango
24. We Will All Go Together When We Go

Tracks:

1. National Brotherhood Week
2. MLF Lullaby
3. George Murphy
4. The Folk Song Army
5. Smut
6. Send The Marines
7. Pollution
8. So Long, Mom (A Song For World War III)
9. Whatever Became Of Hubert?
10. New Math
11. Alma
12. Who's Next?
13. Wernher Von Braun
14. The Vatican Rag
15. Poisoning Pigeons In The Park
16. The Masochism Tango
17. The Hunting Song
18. We Will All Go Together When We Go
19. L-Y
20. Silent E
21. O-U (The Hound Song)
22. S-N (Snore, Sniff, And Sneeze)
23. N Apostrophe T
24. Selling Out
25. (I'm Spending) Hanukkah In Santa Monica

Amazon.com

This three-CD set collects many of Tom Lehrer's tunes, described by Time magazine as "brilliant and coruscating parodies," bringing back a bygone era when the "liberal consensus," as Lehrer calls them, knew who they were and could, therefore, laugh at both themselves and the well-defined enemy. Delivering clever, witty rhymes about topical subjects was Leher's strength. In "Wernher Von Braun" [the Nazi German scientist who later worked for NASA], Lerher sings: "I'll sing you a tale of Wernher Von Braun / A man whose allegiance is ruled by expedience / Once the rockets are up, who cares where they come down / 'That's not my department,' says Wernher Von Braun." Using a rollicking piano as accompaniment, Lehrer will remind some of Mark Russell, the current political satirist, but Lehrer's more pointed humor and grating, nasal voice make him a much tougher listen. His Jimmy Durante-like delivery, however, doesn't completely trump his truly quick mind and clever use of language. --Wally Shoup

Customer Reviews:

5++ Stars.......2007-07-12

Now who doesn't love Tom Lehrer? I had all of his Reprise label vinyl albums, and knew the words to every song therein, when I was in high school. Of course I got beaten up a lot.

If you don't know who Tom Lehrer is, then you probably won't enjoy this record. Otherwise, unless you have pristine vinyl, and my records have been overplayed, this is a very good compendium.

Classic 60's social-political comedy.......2007-05-15

I listened to Tom Lehrer as a kid in the 60's, and memorized most of the songs, but to hear it again is very fun. Also, the songs still resonate - even though the names and issues have changed, the humor is still quite fresh - my wife, who's never heard this stuff, laughs out loud through the whole collection.

The piper's son to the first generation of cynics.......2007-05-02

Having been born in 1956 and raised in the early 60s, I was a bit too young to appreciate that other phenomenon of the age, Tom Lehrer. And given his unfortunate flash-in-the-pan career, by the time I was old enough to appreciate his brand of wit, he was long gone from the scene. But a beloved uncle (alas, a few critical years old than *moi*) often used Lehrer's lyrics in his cultural references. Learning I was a Catholic, he would real off the line, "Genuflect, genuflect, genuflect!" from "Vatican Rag." When my own interest in writing witty ditties came to the fore, he would refer to me as a "young Tom Lehrer," a puzzling reference that I assumed was a compliment. But like all obsessions of those around me, I was reluctant to explore his, lest I be disappointed.

But finally, I broke down and listened to this marvelous collection that spans the entirety of Lehrer's short career. And what a joy and revelation it was!

Musically, Lehrer is an accomplished pianist -- accomplished enough at any rate to give convincing renditions (off-kilter, as befits his genre) of tangos and Gilbert & Sullivan operettas. In terms of lyrics, he was quite, quite "clivver" as the Brits are wont to say. And his politics were quite to the left of center, thank you, rooted in a jaded view of humanity that must have seemed utterly bracing by late 50s standards. Assembled into a package, the pieces are explosively funny, topical and humane. When they aren't grotesque.

One or two of Lehrer's work still finds an audience. "The Elements" has been made into a flash movie that can be found on the internet. It is being shown by enthusiastic science teachers to spice up their classes. But most of Tom's pieces languish in silence, and on collections like these. Partly, this is due to a shift in musical tastes. Our generation's cultural touch points are hardly older than 50 years old and all rooted in rock and roll. To us, a reference to Muddy Waters or Elvis is a sign of cultural sophistication. G&S are as remote to those under 50 as the folk lutists of Upper Volta. That's a shame, because (among other things) it removes one facet of humor from Lehrer's music. "The Elements" (suing to the tune of "The Very Model of the Modern Major General") loses all cultural resonance to those unfamiliar with "The Pirates of Penzance." No longer a parody of a well-loved and well-worn old classic, it might well have been written by Lehrer himself, as far most people know.

Lehrer's politics, while focused on the concerns and personalities of 1960s (nuclear war, civil rights, Werner von Braun and Hubert Humphrey) are dusty but not completely dated. "Send in the Marines ("When someone makes a move of which we don't approve... send the Marines!") certainly resonate in the era of pre-emptive warfare. His send up of the Dixie of his day ("I wanna talk with Southern gentlemen, And put that white sheet on again") may indicate issues of a bygone era, but are still wickedly pointed. Yet Vietnam, hippies and contraception are still over Lehrer's horizon.

In spite of it all, Lehrer's music and cockeyed view of the world are quite refreshing and worth listening to 50 years on. His lampoons of college fight songs still bring a smile. His grotesqueries still manage to turn the stomach: "I Hold Your Hand in Mine" is worthy of Poe. But anyone who can write a song titled, "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park" -- in which are found the immortals lines, "When they see us coming, the birdies all try an' hide, But they still go for peanuts when coated with cyanide." - is worth at least one spin in the CD player.

I particularly enjoyed Lehrer's live recordings. To hear a staid 1950s audience howl at his wry asides and classic lines makes them come alive in a way that the studio recordings cannot. I am less interested in Lehrer's later work for the children's' show "The Electric Company," but they are part of his published corpus, and belong on this collection.

Every generation needs its Lehrer. Ours had the Smothers Brothers, and our children have Weird Al Yankovich. But Lehrer outdoes all in his breadth, brilliance and barely suppressed outrage. The Smothers Brothers were political (kind of) but musically one-dimensional ; Yankovich is very talented and very silly (and carefully apolitical); only Lehrer ultimately has some thing to say that moves beyond his music into the world of politics, ideas and human behavior. Great collection!

Enjoyable, but not a compilation and very repetitive.......2006-01-18

Discs 1 and 2 are the same songs - except disc 1 has 2 of the newer songs and that's the only difference. Just different live performances. Disc 3 had minimal repeating of songs on the first two. So you basically get a book with lyrics and some other interesting information (book is decent) and 2 CDs. Plus, I happen to have heard enough of Mr. Lehrer's interesting songs to realize this isn't all of them. I expected to enjoy the CDs anyway, but the box set turned out to be a big let down.

A song suitably inappropriate for any occasion..........2006-01-09

I first became acquainted with Tom Lehrer's musical repertoire in high school, via a tape that was a copy of a tape that was made by running a cassette recorder in the same room where an ancient and worn record was playing. The lyrical genius was clear, despite the decrepit quality of my recording.

I was delighted to find this CD set. Tom Lehrer songs are a mainstay of my nonexistent social life, being pulled out whenever the situation demands, or despairs. (For example, my darling brother sang "She's My Girl" to my sister in law at their wedding rehearsal dinner...)

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1. This American Life: Lies Sissies & Fiascoes
2. To Russell, My Brother, Whom I Slept With [Live]
3. Trancazos Bailables, Vol. 2
4. Vol. 3, The II/V7/I Progression: A New Approach To Jazz Improvisation (Book & CD Set)
5. Volume 2
6. What The Hell Happened To Me! [Explicit Lyrics]
7. Why Is There Air? [Live]
8. Wonderfulness
9. Yo Soy Para Ti
10. 15 Grandes de Miguel Y Miguel de Sus Amigos

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Black Field [Import]

Elgar: Pomp & Circumstance Marches/Cockaigne Overture

Collective Force [Import]

Music CD: Pt. 2-Live-Olympia 10/11/1960

Don't Panic, Pt. 1 [CD-single] [Import]

De La Luz

Dangerous Songs!? [Original recording remastered]

Echoes of Goya

Disposible Teens, Pt. 1 [CD-single] [Import]

Encore at the Blue Note [Live]

For Nancy [CD-single] [Enhanced] [Import]

Fallen [Limited Edition] [Import]

DC Born [Explicit Lyrics]

Prison Blues

Dynamite