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** His self-introduction in ''Tom Lehrer Revisited'' mentions that he's "currently working on a musical comedy based on the life of Adolf Hitler", 8 years before ''Film/TheProducers'' and "SpringtimeForHitler". In some live performances he also joked about translating ''Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz'' into Latin, which, yes, someone also [[https://archive.org/details/magus-mirabilis-in-oz actually did]].

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** His self-introduction in ''Tom Lehrer Revisited'' mentions that he's "currently working on a musical comedy based on the life of Adolf Hitler", 8 years before ''Film/TheProducers'' and "SpringtimeForHitler". In some live performances he also joked about translating ''Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz'' into Latin, which, yes, someone also [[https://archive.org/details/magus-mirabilis-in-oz actually did]].
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** His self-introduction in ''Tom Lehrer Revisited'' mentions that he's "currently working on a musical comedy based on the life of Adolf Hitler", 8 years before ''Film/TheProducers'' and "SpringtimeForHitler".

to:

** His self-introduction in ''Tom Lehrer Revisited'' mentions that he's "currently working on a musical comedy based on the life of Adolf Hitler", 8 years before ''Film/TheProducers'' and "SpringtimeForHitler". In some live performances he also joked about translating ''Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz'' into Latin, which, yes, someone also [[https://archive.org/details/magus-mirabilis-in-oz actually did]].
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* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: By 1960s standards, his work was some of the funniest, most obscene material written. Today, it's fairly tame. (Although see below, above, everywhere in between, and every other Tom Lehrer page.)
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* AluminumChristmasTrees: Shockingly, the subject of "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park" wasn't something Tom came up with. During the 50's, [[https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1045&context=icwdmprobe using strychnine-laced corn to kill pigeons was a US government-backed act of pigeon population control.]]
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** Another pair of examples is "The Old Dope Peddler", which was so over the top when it was written that people nearly died of laughter, but when performed to modern audiences, the laughter just . . . dies away by the end because it's ''too'' topical, and "The MasochismTango", which is so over the top it ''still'' crosses the line in the day and age of the ObligatoryBondageSong.

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** Another pair of examples is "The Old Dope Peddler", which was so over the top when it was written that people nearly died of laughter, but when performed to modern audiences, the laughter just . . . dies away by the end because it's ''too'' topical, and "The MasochismTango", "TheMasochismTango", which is so over the top it ''still'' crosses the line in the day and age of the ObligatoryBondageSong.
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** Another pair of examples is "The Old Dope Peddler", which was so over the top when it was written that people nearly died of laughter, but when performed to modern audiences, the laughter just . . . dies away by the end because it's ''too'' topical, and "The Masochism Tango", which is so over the top it ''still'' crosses the line in the day and age of the ObligatoryBondageSong.

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** Another pair of examples is "The Old Dope Peddler", which was so over the top when it was written that people nearly died of laughter, but when performed to modern audiences, the laughter just . . . dies away by the end because it's ''too'' topical, and "The Masochism Tango", MasochismTango", which is so over the top it ''still'' crosses the line in the day and age of the ObligatoryBondageSong.
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** Another pair of examples is "The Old Dope Peddler", which was so over the top when it was written that people nearly died of laughter, but when performed to modern audiences, the laughter just . . . dies away by the end because it's ''too'' [[FunnyAneurysmMoment topical]], and "The Masochism Tango", which is so over the top it ''still'' crosses the line in the day and age of the ObligatoryBondageSong.

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** Another pair of examples is "The Old Dope Peddler", which was so over the top when it was written that people nearly died of laughter, but when performed to modern audiences, the laughter just . . . dies away by the end because it's ''too'' [[FunnyAneurysmMoment topical]], topical, and "The Masochism Tango", which is so over the top it ''still'' crosses the line in the day and age of the ObligatoryBondageSong.
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** Special mention must surely go to "I Got It from Agnes", which ''opens'' with the simple premise that an STD is working its way around his group of friends and [[BlueAndOrangeMorality they're happy with this]]. Then, as it lists who got it from whom, you notice around the second verse that some of his friends are clearly [[QueerAsTropes gay]] - a little controversial for its day, but nothing major. ''Then'' it mentions Pierre, who got it from [[ThreesomeSubtext François and Jacques]]. And Edith who ''[[ParentalIncest got it from her father]]'' "[[DaddysGirl who just gives her everything]]. And Daniel, whose '''[[BestialityIsDepraved spaniel]]''' has it now. And then it reveals that their dentist even got it and they're '''''[[InstantSedation still]] [[BlackComedyRape wondering]] [[DudeShesLikeInAComa how]]'''''.

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** Special mention must surely go to "I Got It from Agnes", which ''opens'' with the simple premise that an STD is working its way around his group of friends and [[BlueAndOrangeMorality they're happy with this]]. Then, as it lists who got it from whom, you notice around the second verse that some of his friends are clearly [[QueerAsTropes gay]] - a little controversial for its day, but nothing major. ''Then'' it mentions Pierre, who got it from [[ThreesomeSubtext François and Jacques]]. And Edith who ''[[ParentalIncest got it from her father]]'' "[[DaddysGirl who just gives her everything]].everything]]". And Daniel, whose '''[[BestialityIsDepraved spaniel]]''' has it now. And then it reveals that their dentist even got it and they're '''''[[InstantSedation still]] [[BlackComedyRape wondering]] [[DudeShesLikeInAComa how]]'''''.
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** Special mention must surely go to "I Got It from Agnes", which ''opens'' with the simple premise that an STD is working its way around his group of friends and [[BlueAndOrangeMorality they're happy with this]]. Then, as it lists who got it from whom, you notice around the second verse that some of his friends are clearly [[QueerAsTropes gay]] - a little controversial for its day, but nothing major. ''Then'' it mentions Pierre, who got it from [[ThreesomeSubtext François and Jacques]]. And Edith who ''[[ParentalIncest got it from her father]]'' "[[DotingParent who just gives her everything]]. And Daniel, whose '''[[BestialityIsDepraved spaniel]]''' has it now. And then it reveals that their dentist even got it and they're '''''[[InstantSedation still]] [[BlackComedyRape wondering]] [[DudeShesLikeInAComa how]]'''''.

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** Special mention must surely go to "I Got It from Agnes", which ''opens'' with the simple premise that an STD is working its way around his group of friends and [[BlueAndOrangeMorality they're happy with this]]. Then, as it lists who got it from whom, you notice around the second verse that some of his friends are clearly [[QueerAsTropes gay]] - a little controversial for its day, but nothing major. ''Then'' it mentions Pierre, who got it from [[ThreesomeSubtext François and Jacques]]. And Edith who ''[[ParentalIncest got it from her father]]'' "[[DotingParent "[[DaddysGirl who just gives her everything]]. And Daniel, whose '''[[BestialityIsDepraved spaniel]]''' has it now. And then it reveals that their dentist even got it and they're '''''[[InstantSedation still]] [[BlackComedyRape wondering]] [[DudeShesLikeInAComa how]]'''''.
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** Special mention must surely go to "I Got It from Agnes", which ''opens'' with the simple premise that an STD is working its way around his group of friends and [[BlueAndOrangeMorality they're happy with this]]. Then, as it lists who got it from whom, you notice around the second verse that some of his friends are clearly [[QueerAsTropes gay]] - a little controversial for its day, but nothing major. ''Then'' it mentions Pierre, who got it from [[ThreesomeSubtext François and Jacques]]. And Edith who ''[[ParentalIncest got it from her father]]''. And Daniel, whose '''[[BestialityIsDepraved spaniel]]''' has it now. And then it reveals that their dentist even got it and they're '''''[[InstantSedation still]] [[BlackComedyRape wondering]] [[DudeShesLikeInAComa how]]'''''.

to:

** Special mention must surely go to "I Got It from Agnes", which ''opens'' with the simple premise that an STD is working its way around his group of friends and [[BlueAndOrangeMorality they're happy with this]]. Then, as it lists who got it from whom, you notice around the second verse that some of his friends are clearly [[QueerAsTropes gay]] - a little controversial for its day, but nothing major. ''Then'' it mentions Pierre, who got it from [[ThreesomeSubtext François and Jacques]]. And Edith who ''[[ParentalIncest got it from her father]]''.father]]'' "[[DotingParent who just gives her everything]]. And Daniel, whose '''[[BestialityIsDepraved spaniel]]''' has it now. And then it reveals that their dentist even got it and they're '''''[[InstantSedation still]] [[BlackComedyRape wondering]] [[DudeShesLikeInAComa how]]'''''.
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** ''Pollution'''s line ''"Now you can breathe as long as you don't inhale."'' got much funnier during the Clinton years.

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** ''Pollution'''s line ''"Now ''"Then you can breathe as breathe, long as you don't inhale."'' got much funnier during the Clinton years.



** "We'll All Go Together When We Go" has some depressingly-timeless GallowsHumor regarding [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt what would happen to us]] in the event of a full nuclear war, albeit such worries being at the forefront is marked at being of a time when [[UsefulNotes/ColdWar there was a valid reason to worry it could happen any day]]. What truly marks it as a song from the '50s, though, is the line that we would become "nearly three billion hunks of well-done steak". A listener when the song was new would be hit by how truly destructive nuclear weapons are with that line; a modern listener would just be surprised to learn that the world population only broke three billion in 1960.

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** "We'll "We Will All Go Together When We Go" has some depressingly-timeless GallowsHumor regarding [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt what would happen to us]] in the event of a full nuclear war, albeit such worries being at the forefront is marked at being of a time when [[UsefulNotes/ColdWar there was a valid reason to worry it could happen any day]]. What truly marks it as a song from the '50s, though, is the line that we would become "nearly three billion hunks of well-done steak". A listener when the song was new would be hit by how truly destructive nuclear weapons are with that line; a modern listener would just be surprised to learn that the world population only broke three billion in 1960.
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--->"I think I'd better leave this line out, just to be on the safe side."

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--->"I think I'd better --->"We're recording tonight, so I have to leave this line out, just to be on the safe side.out."
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* UnintentionalPeriodPiece:
** Since they were based on current events, the songs on ''Music/ThatWasTheYearThatWas'' are this to varying degrees. His song intros provide most of the background, but the lyrics still slip in references here-and-there that might not be so obvious to modern listeners, like the mention of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Clark_(sheriff) Sheriff Jim Clark]] (the orchestrator of the Bloody Sunday attacks in Selma, Alabama) in "National Brotherhood Week".
** "New Math" fits this twice over. The "new math" the song is poking fun at faced massive backlash and was quickly abandoned. Moreover, the one part of it that Lehrer chose to specifically pick apart for the song just so happened to be the one part of "new math" that actually stuck around, leaving most modern listeners to have no idea why he's presenting a perfectly normal subtraction problem [[ItWillNeverCatchOn in a tone that suggests you're supposed to find it silly]].
** The version of "That's Mathematics" featured on ''The Remains of Tom Lehrer'' box set edits out the verse about Andrew Wiles solving UsefulNotes/FermatsLastTheorem to avoid this.
** "We'll All Go Together When We Go" has some depressingly-timeless GallowsHumor regarding [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt what would happen to us]] in the event of a full nuclear war, albeit such worries being at the forefront is marked at being of a time when [[UsefulNotes/ColdWar there was a valid reason to worry it could happen any day]]. What truly marks it as a song from the '50s, though, is the line that we would become "nearly three billion hunks of well-done steak". A listener when the song was new would be hit by how truly destructive nuclear weapons are with that line; a modern listener would just be surprised to learn that the world population only broke three billion in 1960.
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* HarsherInHindsight: somehow PlayedForLaughs; see HilariousInHindsight.
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** Decades later, Creator/AlanMoore wrote ''Lost Girls'', a pornographic graphic novel starring, among others, Wendy Darling and Dorothy Gale.

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** *** Decades later, Creator/AlanMoore wrote ''Lost Girls'', a pornographic graphic novel starring, among others, Wendy Darling and Dorothy Gale.
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So in other words there is Crap, just implication


*** This one manages to use this trope while still GettingCrapPastTheRadar by never actually stating what "it" is that everyone is getting from one another. The listener's mind does all the work.
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* PainfulRhyme: Done deliberately and brilliantly... and often.
** From "Lobachevsky":
--->Plagiarize,
--->Let no one else's work evade your eyes,
--->Remember why the good lord made your eyes,
--->So don't shade your eyes,
--->But plagiarize, plagiarize, plagiarize! [[note]]...only be sure always to call it, please... "research."[[/note]]
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* EarWorm: Quite a few if not all of his songs.
** Dammit, I've had "2, 4, 6, 8, time to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transubstantiation transubstantiate]]" from "The Vatican Rag" in my head for a week now.
** UsefulNotes/RichardDawkins has claimed to have had "TheMasochismTango" stuck in his head.

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