After reading about the passing of song satirist Tom Lehrer, I thought back to my early teens. During that time, I checked Lehrer's albums out of the library and listened to his clever wit during KADI's morning "Breakfast Flake" comedy segments. I still think these are four of his best songs:
- A Christmas Carol (An accurate acknowledgment of the commercialization of Christmas, encapsulated by the lyric, "What's important is the price." I remember liking the lyric, "Angels we have heard on high tell us to go out and buy," as a kid.)
- New Math ("New Math" reminds me of math group meetings in the library during fifth grade. I was so relieved when those sessions ended. I thought, "Just because I can add, subtract, multiply, and divide well doesn't mean I want to solve problems in base eight," which, as Tom Lehrer said, "is just like base 10, really--if you're missing two fingers.")
- Pollution (This might be Lehrer's most clever composition. Who else would think to set lyrics about the dangers of breathing polluted air to a calypso rhythm on the piano? It's gratifying to hear the audience find this amusing.)
- Who's Next? (Despite the gravity of the subject, I still like the lyric, "'The Lord's our shepherd,' says the psalm, but just in case, we're gonna get a bomb.")
