Tuesday, April 3, 2012: TWOfer Tuesday - The "Where Is Tom Lehrer When You Really Need Him" Edition

I'm a news junkie. Growing up, my parents subscribed to the Los Angeles Time, The San Gabriel Valley Tribune, The Wall Street Journal, Time & Newsweek magazines, National Geographic and sitting at the table, since it was an extremely dysfunctional household unable to communicate or share any true feelings, we always watched the evening news during dinner.

In the fall of 1976, as I started 3rd grade, I had already developed pretty strong opinions about the Presidential race. In hindsight, I was totally wrong about Jimmy Carter, but that's fodder for completely different blog.

This thirst for current events has never waned. I love news. And, as you know, I also love music. My question is, why aren't the two combined more often?

More importantly, what ever happened to satire?

Tom Lehrer is a satirist. More than anything else, in my opinion. And we have people today who do funny commentary on current events, sure, but too often it simply cuts low hanging fruit with a dull knife. Satire is something completely unique. It teaches without calling attention to the lesson, and it can preach without being evangelistic. Real satire allows the audience to come on their own to the conclusions that the author wants to convey, but always without being led by force.

Real satire needs to be smart, in other words. And God, wasn't Tom Lehrer brilliant.

Born in Manhattan in 1928 to a Jewish family, Tom Lehrer began studying classical piano music at the age of seven. But no simple musician was he. From his Wikipedia article:

"Lehrer earned his AB in mathematics (magna cum laude) from Harvard University in 1947, when he was nineteen. He received his MA degree the next year, for a thesis on the topic of Johnson's algorithm and its application to computer science, and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. He taught classes at MIT, Harvard, and Wellesley.

He remained in Harvard's doctoral program for several years, taking time out for his musical career and to work as a researcher at Los Alamos, New Mexico...from 1962, he taught in the political science department at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In 1972, he joined the faculty of the University of California, Santa Cruz, teaching an introductory course entitled "The Nature of Mathematics"." His work has also been published in several scientific journals.

That's not a bad resume. But, more than that, Tom Lehrer was never just some dry academic. He saw the world around him, with it's wars and racial hatred, it's change and evolution, and put all that fear and energy into song. Really great songs. Really smart songs. Really funny songs. Songs that could make you laugh at racism, perversion and mass destruction.  And God, don't we need that now.

And it wasn't just current events.  Anyone who can write such a wickedly funny song about poisoning pigeons in the park deserves any and all praise.

So come back, Tom Lehrer, and show us again how totally messed up we are. As people continue to hate one another, as the planet continues to be destroyed, as we come closer and closer to the edge, we could use a good song. Or three.