single link youtube of tom lehrer

July 11, 2007 10:02 AM

It's a (Dressed-up) Single Link YouTube Post because you've already had the 13-minute long video of maths songs; you've already had the long newspaper interviews; you've even had the animated version (not to mention a few you shouldn't bother with); but have you, I ask, have you had Tom Lehrer in his heyday, singing "Werner von Braun"?
posted by criticalbill (21 comments total)

As it happens, I work with (well, NEAR) a relative of von Braun. He's pretty cool, though I kind of raised my eyebrows the time he tossed off "Ve haff vays of makink you talk" in a meeting.
posted by DU at 10:13 AM on July 11, 2007

*swoons*
posted by maudlin at 10:14 AM on July 11, 2007

Who knew he was such a fox?

I have a total weakness for people with a diastema, especially when they are brilliant.
posted by ottereroticist at 10:18 AM on July 11, 2007

Awesome. Sad that he gave up music.
posted by octothorpe at 10:26 AM on July 11, 2007

Vunderful—danke!
posted by languagehat at 10:27 AM on July 11, 2007

"Call him a Nazi, he won't even frown
'Nazi, schamzi', says Werner Von Braun."
posted by jokeefe at 10:35 AM on July 11, 2007

My favorite Tom Lehrer song!
posted by briank at 10:42 AM on July 11, 2007

My favorite Tom Lehrer phrase was: "Sliding down the razor-blade of life."
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 10:50 AM on July 11, 2007

Of course, for good Lehrer animation, it's hard to do better than Silent E, and my personal favorite, L-Y, both from The Electric Company.
posted by j-dawg at 10:58 AM on July 11, 2007

...heck, I have now!
posted by salishsea at 11:00 AM on July 11, 2007

Would you believe L-Y isn't on the Electric Company "Best Of" DVD? ReDONKulous!
posted by DU at 11:09 AM on July 11, 2007

diastema

I had to look that up. Show-off.
posted by Faint of Butt at 11:17 AM on July 11, 2007

In this vein see also "Who's Next?" which is perhaps more frighteningly prescient. I do wish someone would whip up a nicer You Tube video for it however.
posted by washburn at 11:49 AM on July 11, 2007

One of my favorite lines is:
As someone remarked to Schubert,
"Take us to your Lieder."
posted by MtDewd at 11:51 AM on July 11, 2007

but have you, I ask, have you had Tom Lehrer in his heyday, singing "Werner von Braun"?

My parents gave me a bunch of Tom Lehrer records when I was like 7 years old, and they twisted my humor up for life. I mean, who lets their child listen to songs recommending a boy scout to not pimp out his sister unless he's able to get a reasonable percentage of her price or retelling the tale of Oedipus Rex gouging out his eyes after sleeping with his mother. It wasn't right.

I'm gonna give 'em to my kids.
posted by SweetJesus at 11:54 AM on July 11, 2007

I distinctly remember a line from Silent E regarding turning my pop into the Pope. Thank goodness for the interwebs (or geocities, anyway), which back me up.
posted by The Bellman at 1:37 PM on July 11, 2007

I had to look that up. Show-off.

Where better? That kind of material is wasted on normal people.
posted by ottereroticist at 3:34 PM on July 11, 2007

Thank you! I've been on a Lehrer kick for weeks now.
posted by griphus at 3:55 PM on July 11, 2007

My parents were big Tom Lehrer fans, so I knew the words to many of his songs before I understood the jokes. There was a rumor that he gave up performing after being sued by none other than Werner Von Braun, but Lehrer has denied this. I keep it in my mental stable of urban legends anyway.

And I had to look up diastema too.
posted by swerve at 4:04 PM on July 11, 2007

Horray!!!
posted by serazin at 5:58 PM on July 11, 2007

Genuflect, genuflect, genuflect.
posted by flabdablet at 12:38 AM on July 12, 2007