The renowned satirical songwriter and math prodigy, Tom Lehrer, died at the age of 97. He was found dead at his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts on Saturday, Longtime friend David Herder confirmed.
Who was Tom Lehrer?
Born in 1928 in New York City, Tom was the son of a prosperous necktie designer. He fondly remembered a carefree childhood on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, filled with trips to Broadway shows with his family and leisurely strolls through Central Park at all hours.
According to AP, he once stated, “I spent many, many years satisfying all the requirements, as many years as possible, and I started on the thesis. But I just wanted to be a grad student, it’s a wonderful life. That’s what I wanted to be, and unfortunately, you can’t be a Ph.D. and a grad student at the same time.”
Exceptionally bright, Tom skipped two grades and entered Harvard at just 15. After earning his master’s degree in mathematics, he spent several years working toward a doctorate, though he ultimately did not complete it.
Tom was known for his sharp takes on marriage, politics, racism, and the Cold War. He largely stepped away from the spotlight to resume teaching mathematics at Harvard and other universities.
He remained on the mathematics faculty at the University of California, Santa Cruz well into his late 70s. In a characteristically unconventional move, he relinquished his own copyright in 2020, allowing the public to use his lyrics freely in any format without charge.
A Harvard prodigy who earned his mathematics degree at just 18, Tom quickly turned his razor-sharp intellect toward lampooning both age-old traditions and contemporary issues.
He began teaching part-time at UC Santa Cruz in the 1970s, primarily to escape the harsh winters of New England. Occasionally, he admitted, students would sign up for his classes after discovering his musical past.
In addition to his academic work, Tom contributed songs to the 1970s educational children’s program “The Electric Company”. Reflecting on that experience in a 2000 interview with the Associated Press, he said that hearing from people who had benefited from those songs brought him far greater satisfaction than any praise he received for his satirical material.
His music enjoyed a resurgence with the 1980 stage revue “Tomfoolery”, and he made a rare public appearance in London in 1998 to honour the show’s producer, Cameron Mackintosh.
Tom’s songs, often laced with biting humor, comprised “Poisoning Pigeons in the Park”, “The Old Dope Peddler” (a dark twist on the nostalgic tune “The Old Lamplighter”), “Be Prepared” (a satirical jab at the Boy Scouts), and “The Vatican Rag”, in which the atheist composer mocked Catholic rituals with lines like: “Get down on your knees, fiddle with your rosaries. Bow your head with great respect, and genuflect, genuflect, genuflect”.
