Biography

Was erroneously reported as being dead so many times that he kept a scrapbook of articles mentioning him as "the late Tom Lehrer".

He put all of his songs in the public domain in 2020.

Was influenced as a boy by the witty, rapid-fire singing style of Danny Kaye. This influence is most noticeable in Lehrer's songs "The Elements" and "Lobachevsky".

He entered Harvard at age 15, having skipped several grades. Everyone applying for admission to Harvard was required to include an example of their written work. Lehrer submitted a long verse, in the style of W.S. Gilbert & Arthur Sullivan, which concluded: "I will leave movie thrillers/And watch caterpillars/Get born and pupated and larva'd/And I'll work like a slave/And always behave/And maybe I'll get into Harva'd." The poem in its entirety appeared in "Scholastic Magazine" in 1943. It was Lehrer's first published work.

Lehrer was a big fan of Stephen Sondheim, whom he considered the greatest lyricist in the English language. They actually knew each other when they were children when they attended the same summer camp in 1937 through 1939, but did not meet again until 59 years later.

It is a sobering thought that when Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was my age, he had been dead for two years.

I have always found it interesting... that there are people who regard copyright infringement as a form of flattery.

Irreverence is easy - what's hard is wit.

I've occasionally heard that I was kicked out [of Harvard] for being a Communist, for dealing drugs, for corrupting minors, or for diverse other infractions of local decorum. Unfortunately, none of these rumours are true. The one I've heard more often is that I am dead. That one I encouraged, hoping it would cut down on the junk mail. It didn't.

The nature of forbidden words has certainly changed. For example, when I was in college, there were certain words you couldn't say in front of a girl. Now you can say them, but you can't say "girl".