Tom Lehrer —The great mid-century singing songwriter/ satirist

Tom Lehrer performing in Copenhagen in 1967.

Tom Lehrer, mathematician, satirical songwriter and performer, died July 26 in Cambridge, Mass., at 97.

In the ‘50’s and ‘60’s he was a darling of upper-middle class college-educated people, especially in the Northeast, though his fame spread beyond them.

Thee are indirect references to Harvard and Yale in this song, “Bright College Days’’. His this link to hear him sing it.

And here’s his most famous record album.

Bright college days, oh, carefree days that fly
To thee we sing with our glasses raised on high
Let's drink a toast as each of us recalls
Ivy-covered professors in ivy-covered halls

Turn on the spigot
Pour the beer and swig it
And gaudeamus igit-ur

Here's to parties we tossed
To the games that we lost
(We shall claim that we won them some day)

To the girls young and sweet
To the spacious back seat
Of our roommate's beat up Chevrolet

To the beer and Benzedrine
To the way that the dean
Tried so hard to be pals with us all

To excuses we fibbed
To the papers we cribbed
From the genius who lived down the hall

To the tables down at Mory's
(Wherever that may be)
Let us drink a toast to all we love the best
We will sleep through all the lectures
And cheat on the exams
And we'll pass, and be forgotten with the rest

Oh, soon we'll be out amid the cold world's strife
Soon we'll be sliding down the razor blade of life


But as we go our sordid sep'rate ways
We shall ne'er forget thee, thou golden college days

Hearts full of youth
Hearts full of truth
Six parts gin to one part vermouth