Tom Lehrer
Tom Lehrer
Thomas Andrew "Tom" Lehreris an American singer-songwriter, satirist, pianist, and mathematician. He has lectured on mathematics and musical theater. He is best known for the pithy, humorous songs he recorded in the 1950s and '60s...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionSongwriter
Date of Birth9 April 1928
CityNew York City, NY
CountryUnited States of America
age age-and-aging american-musician consider mozart
It is sobering to consider that when Mozart was my age he had already been dead for a year.
attitudes folk immersed love musical popular songs style time
I was immersed in popular songs of the time, of the '30s and '40s. I was writing songs, making fun of the attitudes of those songs, in the musical style of the songs themselves; love songs, folk songs, marches, football.
fit mathematics music notes satisfying
There's something mathematically satisfying about music: notes fit together and harmony and all that. And mathematics has to do with abstractions and making connections.
american-musician communication
If a person feels he can't communicate, the least he can do is shut up about it.
american-musician careful deeds good
Be prepared, and be careful not to do your good deeds when there's no one watching you.
life music play
Life is like a piano. What you get out of it depends on how you play it.
anyone deny oath prepared quite retract
If anyone disagrees with anything I say, I am quite prepared not only to retract it, but also to deny under oath that I ever said it
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Brush your teeth with the best toothpaste,Then rinse your mouth with industrial waste".
fellow proud soldier
It makes a fellow proud to be a soldier
cabinet found people picked records
The people who were in college in the '50s were my first real audience, and their kids, the people who found my records in the cabinet during their 'Mad 'magazine years picked me up also.
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The Army has carried the American ideal to its logical conclusion. Not only do they prohibit discrimination on the grounds of race, creed and color, but also on ability.
fewest knew studied
I thought about majoring in Math, Chemistry and English, but Math had the fewest requirements, so I went with it. I knew I wanted to teach, and Math was my field, so I studied Math.
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I stopped performing because I don't have the temperament of a performer. You have to want to do the same thing over and over again. Once I got it right, I didn't want to do it again. I always use the analogy of a novelist who has to read his novel in public night after night. I just didn't want to do it.
eddie few hbo people relationships seen stuff
Eddie Izzard is wonderful, I think, but I've only seen that one HBO special he did. He's one of the few people who talk about stuff other than girlfriends and relationships and flatulence and genitalia. There are very few of them who actually talk about real stuff.