JACK OF ALL TRADES

Influential Musical Satirist Tom Lehrer Dies at 97

The mathematics professor’s satirical songs inspired the likes of “Weird Al” Yankovic and Randy Newman.

Iconic musical satirist Tom Lehrer has passed away at 97-years-old. Friends of Lehrer confirmed that the math prodigy, who pioneered the genre of satirical songs, died at his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Saturday. Lehrer started out studying mathematics at Harvard, earning his bachelor’s degree at just 18 years old. He then completed his master’s at Harvard the following year and began his Ph.D. at Harvard and Columbia University, though he never finished his thesis. On the side, Lehrer would write songs for fun, and his classmates quickly recognized his talent for songwriting. They encouraged him to produce an album, “Songs by Tom Lehrer,” which ended up selling around half a million copies. Lehrer then began performing at nightclubs in cities like New York and Los Angeles, and even held concerts in Canada and overseas. His songs focused primarily on social and political issues. Lehrer decided to quit performing multiple times throughout his career, but ultimately stopped in 1967. He still continued writing songs, including “Silent E” for PBS’s children show The Electric Company, and performed at a rally for Sen. George S. McGovern’s presidential campaign. Yet, Lehrer’s main focus always remained on teaching, whether that be at Harvard, M.I.T., or the University of California, Santa Cruz.