Ho Ho Hitchens
Reason magazine, a periodical dedicated to hipsterifying the libertarian set, hosted a secular Christmas party in their Dupont Circle offices last night. The marquis attraction was a reading of Tom Lehrer’s sardonic poem, A Christmas Carol.
Maybe it was the forced crowd participation (who wants to read along to an off-kilter poem you don’t know) but the presentation was a bit ho-hum. I’d never heard of Lehrer, but he’s a relic worth re-examining. Here’s the man himself, singing about the periodic table.
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5:37 pm
Lehrer’s periodic table bit is famous. A lot of his stuff is Dr. Demento-grade, but I “Bright College Days” is brilliant:
http://members.aol.com/quentncree/lehrer/college.htm
So is “The Vatican Rag”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3f72CTDe4-0
My friend Jack wrote profile on Lehrer a few years back:
http://www.sfweekly.com/2000-04-19/news/that-was-the-wit-that-was/
5:41 pm
Lehrer’s famous (or at least the periodic table tune is). A lot of his stuff is pretty Dr. Demento, but “The Vatican Rag” is great:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3f72CTDe4-0