Search - Tom Lehrer :: Revisited

Roy S. from CAMBRIDGE, MA
Reviewed on 2/6/2007...

Classic Lehrer comedy; there should be more like him.

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"Only To Call It, Please . . . .Research !"

Brent Evans | Rockhampton, Australia | 08/20/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is basically the album 'Songs by Tom Lehrer' in a live setting . . .and is a whole lot better for it. The audience reaction is preferable to the sterile studio-and-solo-piano of Lehrer's first release. The audience gasps at the sheer audacity of Lehrer's lyrics; stomping on subjects that some still won't talk about today . . .and this was in 1959! Tom Lehrer is the yardstick to which other satirists have to be measured . . .may this album show you exactly why!INTRODUCTION - What better way to save costs than to introduce yourself to your audience . . .and in such a modest way,too!I WANNA GO BACK TO DIXIE - All the Southern song cliches are skewered (and a few civil rights points scored) in a song that makes the controversial lyrics of Neil Young's Southern Man seem like a nursery rhyme.THE WILD WEST IS WHERE I WANNA BE - A barb directed at nuclear testing out in the desert and arid regions of the west in the 50's. Those who were in that region certainly felt the effects eventually . . .remember John Wayne and the cast/crew of 'The Conqueror'?THE OLD DOPE PEDDLER - A disrespected fixture of the community.
.You can hear the audile audience gasp on this one.FIGHT FIERCELY,HARVARD - A football fight song as sung by an intellectual snob who would've probably gotten creamed if he stepped on a football field.LOBACHEVSKY - An ode to the great Russian mathematician, Lobachesky; sung in the tongue twisting style of an early Danny Kaye routine. The secret of his success: "Plagiarise; only to call it please . . .research!"THE IRISH BALLAD - A more ghoulish Irish ballad you'll never, ever hear.Sounds like a script of an old cheesy early '80s slasher flick. You can bet they'll never be singing this little emerald isle parody in any Irish Pub soon.THE HUNTING SONG - Dedicated to all would be 'wild sportsmen' out there. "You just stand there looking cute, and if something moves . . . you shoot!" LOL!MY HOME TOWN - A town full of weirdies and nasties crawling out of the woodwork; guaranteed to kill off any thoughts of homesickness. During the stanza about Parson Brown, Lehrer would always imply that he had to leave a lyric line out due to censorship; it always left the audience wondering.WHEN YOU ARE OLD AND GREY - This couple will not grow old gracefully together. For the male protaganist of this ditty, youth holds all the charm.THE WEINER SCHNITZEL WALTZ - An fractured take on the love ballad
, this time on the romance of the waltz. "I drank wine,you drank chocolate malts".I HOLD YOUR HAND IN MINE - A love song that some rockers like Alice Cooper would later draw inspiration from (check out Alice's song 'Roses On White Lace' for comparisions). Another audience gasper.BE PREPARED - Lessons never taught to real boy scouts! Some of them are really helpful: "Don't write diry words in books if you can't spell!" LOL!L-Y - A bonus track from Lehrer's quick flirtation with 'The Electic Company'. See kids, learning can be funny.SILENT E - Another 'Electric Company' bonus track. It's a pity that this collaboration did not lead to another album of fresh Lehrer material,but we must be thankful for what we do have."

I've never tired of this man's recordings!

Brent Evans | 08/23/1998

(5 out of 5 stars)

"True, I almost got kicked out of college for playing this man's recordings. I played them for my children as they grew up in the 60s and 70s. As a socially aware citizen, I cherish this man's ability to portray with sarcasm, exaggeration, humor, some of the foibles of the everyday American in any age, of any age. We still need Tom Lehrer to remind us of what we are and what, perhaps, we could be."