Line #33 Trivia/TomLehrer


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2	* CreatorBacklash:
3	** One of the reasons he retired was that he grew to despise touring to perform his songs.
4	** ItSeemedLikeAGoodIdeaAtTheTime to him, back in his youth, to write "The Old Dope Peddler"; in later years he would call it "chilling".
5	** He's also developed a different perspective now on "When You Are Old and Gray".
6	* CreatorBreakdown:
7	** The reason he stopped doing political satire was apparently because the politicians became too corrupt. He abandoned his singing career before UsefulNotes/RichardNixon was even President, and things haven't gotten better...
8	--->'''Lehrer:''' I don't want to satirize [[UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush George [W.] Bush]] and his puppeteers. I want to ''vaporize'' them.
9	** That's part of the reason, but not the entire reason. There's also the fact that the political issues of later eras became much more complex, and it's hard to get good laughs out of a song that presents both sides of the issue. [[http://www.casualhacker.net/tom.lehrer/jmazner/lehrhtml.html Here]]'s a piece that has a lot more elaboration from Lehrer. That said, the devolution of politics certainly has not made Lehrer any more enthusiastic about the idea of writing music.
10	*** When an Australian magazine published an interview they conducted with Lehrer in 2003, the same interview in which he stated his desire to vaporize George W. Bush and his puppeteers, he later remarked,
11	---->'''Lehrer:''' Political satire became obsolete when Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
12	** According to the preface of one of his songbooks, "Well-wishers...are constantly suggesting hilarious subject matter, such as the Vietnam War, the gradual destruction of the environment, our recent presidents, etc. so that I have often felt like a resident of Pompeii who has been asked for some humorous comments on lava."
13	** Some do, however, hold out hope, that if PBS makes another educational children's show a-la Series/TheElectricCompany1971 or [[Series/SquareOneTV Square One Television]], Lehrer might agree to contribute a few televisual tutorial tunes for tots.
14	** As mentioned above, he also strongly disliked touring, noting that in his later tours his mind would constantly wander while he performed, and on a few occasions he flat-out forgot lyrics, which he took as a sign that he was burned out on live performing.
15	* HeAlsoDid: Self-proclaimed inventor of the Jello shot, which he created as a way to get around liquor restriction on his military base.
16	* MeaningfulName: A RealLife example. ''Lehrer'' is German for 'teacher'.
17	* ReclusiveArtist: Firmly retired to a life in academia, but has been willing enough to do the occasional interview over the years.
18	* SoMyKidsCanWatch: Not literally, since he never had children, but his songs for ''[[Series/TheElectricCompany1971 The Electric Company]]'' were in this vein. In later years he was amused by the fact that his college students weren't aware of his satirical songs but were really impressed when they found out he was the guy who sang "Silent E".
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20	!![[Music/TomLehrer Mr. Lehrer]] provides the page quotes for:
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22	* AlmaMaterSong
23	* AntiChristmasSong
24	* BeastlyBloodsports
25	* BeatStillMyHeart
26	* CompetitionCouponMadness
27	* TheCynic
28	* EatingContest
29	* EthnicMenialLabor
30	* FootballFightSong
31	* FuneralTropes
32	* Creator/GilbertAndSullivan
33	* LensmanArmsRace
34	* MummiesAtTheDinnerTable
35	* NoAccountingForTaste
36	* NotSoInnocentWhistle
37	* Theatre/OedipusTheKing
38	* UsefulNotes/{{Plagiarism}}
39	* ReligionTropes
40	* ShortLivedBigImpact
41	* SomethingAboutARose
42	* UsefulNotes/SouthAfricansWithSurfaceToAirMissiles
43	* SouthernFriedPrivate
44	* SouthOfTheBorder
45	* UsefulNotes/TheDragonsTeeth
46	* TheMasochismTango
47	* UsefulNotes/TheRestOfTheNuclearClub
48	* TradingBarsForStripes
49	* {{Vaporware}}
50	* [[Music/TomLehrer His own page, oddly enough]]
51	(Note: This list may not be complete. As you can see, he's ''quite'' popular on this wiki).

Context Trivia / TomLehrer