Tom Lehrer, who died yesterday at 97, began writing songs when he was a student at Harvard College, majoring in math, in the 1940s. One of his earliest efforts, "Fight Fiercely Harvard," in the clip above, was a fey take on college football fight songs. The presence of "albeit" in the lyrics tells us we're not exactly on the scrimmage line. Unfortunately, current events have made the song timely, though not in a way related to football.
Though he enjoyed success as a songwriter and performer, for Lehrer music was an avocation. He had a long career as an academic mathematician and scientist, a pursuit that inspired several of his songs, including Lobachevsky (this and the next two linked songs are from live performances and begin with some, I think, amusing chatter). Many of his songs, like We Will All Go Together When We Go ("When the air becomes uraneous/We will all go simultaneous"), had dark, sardonic lyrics set to lively, happy tunes. He was a fan of the light operas of Gilbert and Sullivan, Victorian London's precursor to Broadway, and used the tune of "I am the Very Model of a Modern Major General,"from The Pirates of Penzance, for The Elements, another math and science inspired song. Although he was on the Harvard and MIT faculties for many years, in his later ones he taught at the University of California at Santa Cruz. Life in California inspired him to write (I'm Spending) Hannukah in Santa Monica.
Despite his talent, popularity, and wisdom in many fields, Tom Lehrer was a humble man. At the beginning of his website, Tom Lehrer Songs, he released all his works to the public domain. He had a good. long life, but will be missed.
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