At age 92, Tom Lehrer has put all his songs and lyrics in the public domain. Before he dies.
God love the man.
Tom Lehrer’s music was a staple of my childhood and one of the influences I credit with getting me into filk. God love him, indeed.
tom lehrer
I will never understand why Tom Lehrer is not a massive thing on tumblr.
For anyone who doesn’t know, Tom Lehrer was a Harvard mathematics lecturer who did musical satire in his spare time during the 50s and 60s.
He’s basically a lyrical genius: ridiculously clever and funny and awesome.
His songs cover pretty much every topic imaginable as well, from the political (the atomic bomb and world war three) to social issues (tolerance, drugs, homosexuality and religion) to environental issues (pollution and animal welfare) to the macabre and the kinky (masochism, necrophilia and dirty novels). And all in a tongue-in-cheek, amazingly still relevant way.
Tom Lehrer fandom, where you at?
(Party at my place. Bring the cheap jug wine and a couple-dozen pizzas)
In the filk and dementia communities, where we’ve always been.
(Jug wine hell, I’m bringing Tully.)
cc: @filkyeahfilk
Hey followers, who would like us to do a series of Tom Lehrer posts?
Be Prepared (for the Undead Gay Apocalypse) – avo
so i recorded this song months ago, and am finally posting it now because
(1) i am currently hardcore procrastinating on my schoolwork, and
(2) today marks two months since i first started T, and when i was listening to this track again i realized just how much my voice…doesn’t sound like that anymore.
it was the first moment that really hit home just how much things are changing in my life right now. i’ve come so far, and i am so different from the person i was just two months ago – who will i be two months from now? how can i know, until i get there?
…so, existential crisis aside, enjoy! once again, shout out to @rabbittmouth, @dog-of-ulthar, and tom lehrer for inspiration. lyrics are below the cut!
be prepared (for the undead gay apocalypse)
i blame @rabbittmouth’s brilliant poem and @dog-of-ulthar’s terrible influence.
to be sung to the tune of the tom lehrer march of the same(ish) namebe prepared,
for the gays are coming back!
be prepared,
to face their gay and undead wrath!be prepared to face the monsters that you made
when you said our love would send us to our grave.be prepared,
for every tragic story told
there’s a corpse
ready to come back for your soul.you thought “oh what a plot twist!” when you killed her for the grief
of her girlfriend’s watching horror, or his husband’s disbelief…
now for each gay who had to die, it’s eye for eye,
so be prepared!be prepared,
for the gays are gonna rise!
be prepared,
‘cause now they’re coming for your lives!when we’re dead make sure to bury us real deep,
or we’ll come back up to catch you when you sleep!you couldn’t bear
to keep the queers around,
but don’t bur-
-y what you can’t keep underground.is it too much to ask for, for a story we survive?
is it too much to ask for, for the queer kid not to die?
“apparently” the undead hordes declare,
well, be prepared!