As true today as it was in the 1960's.

[Atman]

How has our country fallen so far backward? This is a brilliant video...I grew up with this stuff, which is probably why you find me posting on DU now, instead of being one of the haters Tom Leher is singing about.

[Kalidurga]

1. Never heard of him...

He's a hoot. What ever happened to this kind of thing? People playing the piano and singing songs to get people thinking?

[annabanana]

2. Oh My Goodness!

Familiarize yourself. You've never heard "The Elements" song? "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park"?

The Vatican Rag!!?!

You will never hear a funnier guy. He was a Math Prof (at Harvard, I believe).

He did a couple albums and then just went back to Math, never to look back.

edit to add:

[Kalidurga]

3. Dang...

That's why nuthin gets done. All the smart people go back to doing smart things and leave peons like me out of the loop.

[Pab Sungenis]

7. He left an even longer lasting legacy than his music.

He invented the Jell-O Shot.

BTW, Professor Lehrer is still with us - in semi-retirement in his 90's.

[mlevans]

5. He was really great.

I think my favorite was his Christmas song...

At Christmas time you can't get sore
Your fellow man you must adore
There's time to rob him all the more
The other three-hundred-and-sixty-four

Brilliant stuff!

[Atman]

8. The Vatican Rag is a classic!

I remember my parents telling me not to sing these songs in front of friends. "Some of them won't understand, and their mom & dad might get mad."

No kidding. No different today.

[rurallib]

12. Ah - the Vatican Rag - as young catholic boys we sang it damn near daily

Lehrer deserves some of the credit for converting me to non-religious.

[Atman]

11. Rappers stole from Tom

Rhyming "funeral" with "sooner or," or "tragic" with "adjec-tive" was the precursor to current rap lyrics. Lehrer was brilliant.

[jwirr]

6. You have just asked a question that bothers me. Protest music is limited all too much to rap and

hard rock. They are not as popular as were 60s rock and folk. They also do not display as much optimism regarding the future. 60/70s rock and folk music gave us a real sense of hope.

[Turbineguy]

14. He's

a fuckin' genius!

[Auggie]

4. Thanks for posting ...

I'd forgotten about Tom Leher. He's from an era when our society, on the whole, was better read, more engaged, and smarter.

[Paka]

9. What a lovely blast of memory.

I had his songbook and tried to pass it on to a family member when I was clearing everything ready to move overseas over a decade ago. No one was in the least bit interested and it ended up in the yard sale pile. It was a real collectors item but I come from a screwball rw family.

[madrchsod]

10. yup....it was the best of times and it was the worst of times

[jerseyjack]

13. When he gave up show business, he explained

he couldn't compete with the nonsense that was going on.

[PDJane]

15. Loved the man........

His stuff has been re-released on CD, by the way.