Army vet, satirist, inventor Tom Lehrer dies, 97

There’s a name that brings back more than a few memories if you’re one of the, ahem, more experienced readers. Tom Lehrer, the ’50s and ’60s satirist, died and was found at his home Saturday.

Lehrer was a well known satirist in the ’50s and ’60s. Probably remembered best as the primary songwriter host of “That Was The Week That Was”, aka TW3, Lehrer was often lumped together with the likes of  “subversive” comics like Mort Sahl and Lenny Bruce, and inspired more modern folks like Randy Newman and Weird Al Yankovics (whose early producer, the brilliant guitarist Ric Derringer, just died a few weeks back.)

The lean, bespectacled Lehrer essayed such then-taboo subjects as sexuality (“The Masochism Tango”), drug addiction (“The Old Dope Peddler”), homosexuality in the Boy Scouts (“Be Prepared”) and militarism (“It Makes a Fellow Proud to Be a Soldier”) on his early, self-released albums. Lehrer was lofted to fame by the caustic material he wrote for “TW3,” NBC’s U.S. spinoff of a popular British show hosted by the young David Frost.

His 1965 Reprise album “That Was the Year That Was” climbed to No. 18 on the American charts. Its razor-edged songs skewered prejudice (“National Brotherhood Week”), nuclear proliferation (“So Long Mom”) the Catholic Church (“The Vatican Rag”) and, appropriately, education (“The New Math”).Variety

There was a lot more to this 1957-1959 Army draftee than biting lyrics, though. Lehrer graduated from Harvard in 1946 after being admitted at age 15 and completed his masters in mathematics one year later. Wikipedia says he spent his enlistment at Ft. Meade – it doesn’t take much of a leap of faith to guess what he did. Math prodigy, Ft. Meade – bet he spent his time in buildings decorated in Early Golfball, most likely as an early cryppie.

After he got out he released a second album and  toured in the US and Europe. He campaigned for McGovern in 1972, and returned to teaching math and musical theater at the University of California Santa Cruz. Given his probable military background, it’s a pity his presence at Santa Cruz wasn’t well known across the bay at the Defense Language Institute, although his music could often be heard on Dr. Demento’s radio show.

More service links?

Lehrer even wrote a submission for the Army song that talks about picking up cigarette butts, officers who can’t spell, bad food, and junior enlisted shenanigans.

In all, Lehrer released 11 albums, with great titles like “An Evening Wasted with Tom Lehrer” and “The Remains of Tom Lehrer.” He even wrote a song for the Air Force’s Strategic Air Command for the 1963 film “A Gathering of Eagles.”We Are the Mighty

One last thing – whether you know it or not, if you’ve ever been a partier, he touched your life.

What he did have in common with his brothers in arms was a fondness for having a few drinks at a party. But the party in question was on a naval base in Washington, D.C. — and no alcoholic beverages were allowed.

So he and a friend went right to work before the big day.

“We wanted to have a little party, so this friend and I spent an evening experimenting with Jell-O. It wasn’t a beverage…” he told San Francisco Weekly, “…so we went over to her apartment and we made all these little cups…”

After a few experiments with gin and vodka and number of different Jell-O flavors, they found that vodka and orange Jell-O worked best.  We Are the Mighty

Let us bow our heads in reverence for the Army SP3* who invented the Jell-O shot.

 

Had to look that up, the original Specialist ranks before 1958 ran like Navy petty officer ranks and an E-4 was a SP3, an E-5 and SP2, etc. 1958 they changed to what we know as the SP4-SP9 ranks. SP8 and SP9 were abolished with no one having ever been promoted to those ranks.

Category: Real Soldiers, We Remember