Tom Lehrer at 90: a life of scientific satire

Re:Tom Lehrer at 90: a life of scientific satire by jacquesm on Friday April 06, 2018 @01:40PM (#16775336)

Tom Lehrer is pretty unique, I'm not aware of anybody in any other language that even comes close to the cutting edge of his wit and the quality of the delivery. What's really surprising is how small the body of his public work is given the recognition of his name. That's a pretty good indication of the level of quality.

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Re:Tom Lehrer at 90: a life of scientific satire by loevborg on Friday April 06, 2018 @02:36PM (#16776016)

Gerhard Kreisler, who sings in German, is from the same time and every bit as witty and creative musically.

In a weird turn of events, when he lived in the U.S. Kreisler must have crossed paths with Lehrer, as they both became famous for a waltz with the same title — Kreisler's "Tauben vergriften" and Lehrer's "Poisoning pigeons in the park". It's not clear who copied from whom.

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Re:Tom Lehrer at 90: a life of scientific satire by jacquesm on Friday April 06, 2018 @02:45PM (#16776134)

You'd think that if Kreisler was the one visiting the US he must have seen Lehrer perform in English rather than that Kreisler would have been visited by Lehrer to see him perform in German?

That said, given his last name it is very well possible that Lehrer visited Germany and that he speaks/understands German.

Interesting!

Edit: Looking some more it seems that Lehrer's version is from 59 and Kreisler's from 63.

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Re:Tom Lehrer at 90: a life of scientific satire by thallian on Friday April 06, 2018 @03:14PM (#16776451)

Sorry to nitpick but his name is Georg Kreisler ;) But apart from that I very much agree.

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Re:Tom Lehrer at 90: a life of scientific satire by pmyteh on Friday April 06, 2018 @07:59PM (#16778552)

Flanders and Swann, a British duo of a similar era, are the closest I know of. A different (and generally slightly gentler) kind of humour, but also evergreen and excellently performed.

Madeira m'Dear?, All Gall, The Gas Man Cometh, Bedstead Men, A Song of Patriotic Prejudice, and (especially) Twenty Tons of TNT are some personal favourites.

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Re:Tom Lehrer at 90: a life of scientific satire by thallian on Friday April 06, 2018 @01:53PM (#16775509)

Mani Matter comes close for me, if not in the delivery but definitely in the lyrics. But his songs are in Swiss German (Bernese actually), so not as accessible for as many people (and I also grew up with his songs so I might be a bit biased).

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Re:Tom Lehrer at 90: a life of scientific satire by cdpolyme on Friday April 06, 2018 @03:04PM (#16776341)

I also thought of Mani Matter immediately. And I think you are selling him short. I love Lehrer's songs, but IMO Matter's lyrics even surpasses them in wit and poetical talent. His public body of work is more extensive, too. Shame really, that potentially only a few million people understand them.

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Re:Tom Lehrer at 90: a life of scientific satire by jacquesm on Friday April 06, 2018 @02:03PM (#16775634)

I just listened to "I han es Zündhölzli azündt" I can't quite make out the lyrics though I get the general gist of it. It's not quite German, enough to see why it reminds you of Tom Lehrer, similar dry in delivery and self accompanied. Wished I understood it better.

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Re:Tom Lehrer at 90: a life of scientific satire by acqq on Friday April 06, 2018 @02:30PM (#16775953)

I've just found the common German translation:

http://www.songtexte.com/uebersetzung/mani-matter/i-han-es-z...

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Re:Tom Lehrer at 90: a life of scientific satire by jacquesm on Friday April 06, 2018 @02:40PM (#16776075)

It's a modern day version of the horseshoe story.

I figured as much from listening to it, thank you for finding the words to the song, it's a lot easier to read than to hear for my non Swiss-German attuned ears.

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Re:Tom Lehrer at 90: a life of scientific satire by MichaelMoser123 on Friday April 06, 2018 @11:57PM (#16779293)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabarett - i think he is in the tradition of/was inspired by German Cabaret music of the nineteen twenties - that came with a lot of political satire and gallows humor (I guess it is very hard to translate this humor, so it stays withing Germany).

Disclaimer: I can't say if this is really an influence or just a similarity.

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Re:Tom Lehrer at 90: a life of scientific satire by ghaff on Friday April 06, 2018 @04:16PM (#16776987)

It's pretty amazing. 4 albums that are 50 to 60 years old at this point.

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