When Alabama Gets the Bomb

I’ve heard most of Tom Lehrer’s songs multiple times, but until now I’d never seen footage of him performing them. Somehow his performance comes across as edgier – and less merely whimsical – when you can see it as well as hear it; his anger and contempt toward the cold-war political establishment are even more obvious.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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4 Responses to When Alabama Gets the Bomb

  1. Roderick June 19, 2010 at 4:00 pm #

    BTW, in “The Masochism Tango,” Lehrer later changed the lines:

    You caught my nose
    in your left castanet, love
    I can feel the pain yet, love
    every time I hear drums
    and I envy the rose
    that you held in your teeth, love
    with the thorns underneath, love
    sticking into your gums

    to:

    You caught my nose
    in your left castanet, love
    I can never forget, love,
    how this passion was born
    how I envied the rose
    that your teeth used to clench, love
    when I tried something French, love
    all I got was the thorn

    (which makes better sense, because the woman in the song is supposed to be torturing the man, not torturing herself).

  2. Sheldon Richman June 20, 2010 at 2:13 pm #

    Thank you!

  3. Mike Gogulski June 21, 2010 at 5:51 pm #

    What a treat! I’m fondly recalling some great hours spent listening to The Doctor Demento Show now 🙂

    • Mike Gogulski June 21, 2010 at 7:22 pm #

      … all suffused with an incandescent glow …

      Yeah, nobody else could ever do this!

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