Tom Lehrer - Pollution - now on DVD

[Yeshiab]

Anyone remember listening to his album and at the :58 mark someone laughs and it sounds exactly like a duck quacking! I used to always quack at that part!!

[ledzeppelin4ever1975]

Pollution and "Global Warming" are pure horse shit scams that smart people in government use to get support and funding, coal and oil FTW! :)

[avni2b1992]

Lehrer = Teacher.. german :D

[karaokekydOmaha]

the version I recall said, "The breakfast garbage that you throw into the bay, They drink at lunch in San Jose"

[6funswede]

@karaokekydOmaha, true. Lehrer would change that line over the years. Maybe he didn´t think that his exotic foreign audience would know where San Jose is?

[LilyNoelleArt]

@karaokekydOmaha That's what I remember, too.

[GhostOfAnubis09]

lol...google's subitles feature is a crap^^

[d1phsycotic]

whriten when there was still time...understood to late!

[d4m4s74]

Funny how this still applies

[witsendnj]

Hi Wibble!! I had forgotten all about Tom Lehrer - of course, I was all of 13 when that song came out. Pollution didn't seem like a real threat then. I wonder how people who really understood how this will play out years ago have been able to make peace with ecocide...or do they think they can eradicate it?

"Here we are, exactly 100 years later –

and absolutely nothing has changed."

Nothing has changed...except it's TOO LATE NOW.

[whotaughtyou]

ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss­ACCURIST NASH RECORD ACCURIST NASH SIGNATUREaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa­a

aaaaaaaaaaaa A PEARSEdddddddddddddddddddddddd­dddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd­ddddddddddddddddddddd

[PizzaPirateNinja8128]

@whotaughtyou Anyone have any idea what the fuck he just said?

[digitalproduce]

"the stuff they throw out at breakfast in Troy they eat at lunch in Perth Amboy" Lyric from the original album - if my memory serves correct

[6funswede]

@digitalproduce, yes, those lines were changed all the time, depending on where he was performing :-)

[pendantry]

@CarinEliciatt613 Google translate tells me this says 'Tõll'm super mood Grade Search google next time on: money easy it works like clockwork' - looks like spam to me... so does the 81 plus votes simply mean that nobody gives a shit? If that's true, we're really screwed.

[kkittyy122]

lol :D my environmental science teacher loves this song XD

[MrBrennan008]

Fake caugh

[OttoIsMyBuddha]

I spent 2 months in Shanghai last year ... it's just like this.

[Erniethecatisawesom]

So true!

[husseinbaghdad]

this guy is a genius , i never heard such a great attractive stuff he is absolutely the best

[vgneus]

Tom Lehrer is so awesome



[DVJYURIC]

кому это может не нравиться=))

[sarawww120]

super video wäre echt cool wenn jemand mich von meinem einsamen dasein retten würde

[DarkEmonga88]

ROFL. How true is that? "Throw out your breakfast garbage, and I've got a hunch... the folks downstream will drink it for lunch."

[seanboy84]

lol

[banished8910]

this guy is good but Jarek Nohavica (czech singer and player) is much better ! if you could understand him you would see i am right...

[SimuLord]

I had a teacher in 6th grade who thought this was an appropriate song for the school recital. Parents all over town flipped their lids.

[eshbena]

It's funny, some of the lyrics have been changed in this one. The line was "What they eat for breakfast in San Jose, they drink for lunch in San Francisco Bay" I think he changed it so that non Bay Area locals could get the gag.

[6funswede]

@eshbena, yes. Actually, Tom Lehrer would make small changes to the lyrics for some of the songs over the years. Another example is "National Brotherhood Week" (read the video description for that one).

[McQDan2013]

@eshbena this version was recorded during a show in Norway, so you're probably right.

[fadethetrade]

@eshbena "the breakfast garbage that you throw into the bay,they drink at lunch in san jose",were the lyrics on the "that was the year that was tom leher" album.

[eshbena]

@fadethetrade Thank you! I knew it was along those lines. :)

[thecutist]

i love this song he is a ginius

[MrDisguise]

he makes education so funny! XD

[TheArtloving]

mein "Lieblingslied" von Tom Lehrer auf einer meiner LP's, die ich vor Jahrzehnten immer wieder angehört habe

[postatility]

Who remembers "That Was The Week That Was"?

[themathman99]

i heard this song

mad funny

so real

[HI1qazxcvbnm]

God i love tom Leher Just keep trollin

[6funswede]

@HI1qazxcvbnm, I will. Thanks! Pease click on my (stupid) username and get the rest ;D

[mayabooba]

the look on his face is yes, i am being cheeky.

[foreverkid]

Showed this to my 10th grade earth science teacher. Guess what? 25 pts extra credit! Thats Tom :D

[tomlehrerchannel]

I will once again ask people to click on the stupid username 6funswede and visit the channel for more Tom Lehrer live on video. If you like it, forward the link to people you know who appreciate comedy and satire. I`m not saying that Tom Lehrer loves me, because he don`t. But on the other hand, he could have had the channel and the videos removed back in 2007. He didn`t do that. Visit the channel and get a free laugh!

[Domokun461]

The version I knew said,"The breakfast garbage you throw into the bay, they drink at lunch in San Jose"

[tomlehrerchannel]

@Domokun461, yes, I know. He changed the lyrics to give the Norwegian audience a chance to get it without using geography. He is a good teacher too, you know ;D

[MrSpockify]

Oh, I'm so showing this to my science teacher! She's crazy about going green! xD

[gatoradeee]

"turn on the tap and get hot and cold running...crud"

[BobbyPhilosophy]

Bobby Philosophy says:

This is FUNNY!!!

"check out my videos"

[kaytran101]

my school did a play on earth....... what harms it and so on and we sang this song we got a lot of laughs love this song!

[WJCairns]

There will never be another Tom Lehrer - absolutely BRILLIANT

[6funswede]

@doomsword86, that's wonderful! Click on my (stupid) username, visit the channel, use ALL the links and forward the address to your toxicology prof. Have him forward it to others for more enjoyment. And thanks for commenting!

[tomodude6542]

nobody's laughing at him.... hahaaa,,,

[6funswede]

This video is now out on DVD. Please read the updated video description or visit the channel page!

[bhunter007]

Fuckin epic this guy.

[Crazymule18]

For contemporary satire equally biting and topical, check out some of Roy Zimmerman's music, particularly "Thanks for your support," and Summer of loving."

[MadeByEllie]

we watchied this at sch 2day!

[wraithfreind]

this would be perfect in fallout 3 it jusy sums up the whole game =]

[AndrosForever]

TOTALLY TRUE! Ahahaha I have a mod that adds custom songs to the game, I should totally add this one XD

[wraithfreind]

@AndrosForever i dont have that mod nor have i ever heard of it but while your adding this song add "whos next" also by tom lehrer =]

[gatoradeee]

@wraithfreind i agree. this reminds of fallout 3 and how satirical it is of the 50s.

[greeneyedgirl292]

@ guitarzero Omg he really does. It's weird  because the music is nothing alike but the voice really is similar.

[qasim158]

were doing this song in music

[mokubamanuever]

i love this song!!!!!!!!!!!

[rosapluemchen]

I'm not english nor american, does he pronounce the word "pollution" deliberately that way?

[jcarbone811]

Yes, he does. He's trying to do a Caribbean style.

[OrabelaSpirita]

Yes.

[dancingdiplodocus]

i.e. he is speaking in a funny accent

[tetevs]

Great!!!!

[guitarzero]

Singer of System of a down sounds alot like this guy.

[cArLiScRaZy1]

hehehe this is funny. im havin a liking fur tom lehrer now

[melevy]

A WHOLE $35.00 a day! WOW! I can retire!

Idiot.

[danielradu1135]

so i cant breath air with out a gas mask?

[chrisfry841]

Evolution, evolution weve grown quite aware, what was once pollution pollution, is no longer quite the scare!

[drmoonrat]

man, this guy was a genius. I don't think people even realized everything he was saying was do true, even more true today.

[Snootwaller]

I completely agree that he was a genius, but would like to add: he was spoofing even bigger geniuses to which he would admit in a minute were his superiors in every way. I'm speaking of course of his heros, Gilbert and Sullivan.

[pendantry]

@drmoonrat It's worse than that - people realised that everything he was saying was true, but they figured it was better to shift the problem onto future generations - OURS - than Just Say No To Coal... google "wibble vitally important connections" for a transcript from page 17 of Eradicating Ecocide by Polly Higgins (and then go read the book!)

[adamsaunders333]

truly ahead of his time

[42connorzielinski42]

wow. tough crowd he played for.

[The501stLego]

I know, reallt. Those people must not have a sence of humor.

[tomwmloppe]

Discussions on anthropology,

can be had in another galaxy.

....Klaatu, 'The Day the Earth Stood Still'

[SarahA0B0C]

we watched this in science!!

[The501stLego]

LOL.

[KayKell123]

Is Lehrer still alive?

[TheOlympians]

yeah, he's 80

[Marlene55M]

How smart he was, over 30 years ago, and the greedy ones still have not learned.

[vizmike]

It just occurred to me, that the beliefs of the 50's and 60's of which he espoused, morphed into the Liberal beliefs of today. In fact environmentalism has become a religion and hating America is commonplace.

[Aetheilas]

Not everything's black and white man, and doing the right thing has no political agenda. Cleaning up your own mess of pollution is not liberal or conservative, it's humanitarian.

[Fireicee1]

Just keep in mind, this was wrote in the early 1960's. Things were JUST cleaned up around there, the cities were VERY VERY polluted in the early 1900's and late 1800's.

[CrosslerChoirNerd]

Oregon actually has clean water and clean air :-)

[Aetheilas]

And sparkling vampires.

[CrosslerChoirNerd]

@Aetheilas no, that's Washington....I hate Edward Cullen......

[Aetheilas]

Forks is in Oregon though :P

Imma stop before I start a twilight discussion/debate/flame war on a 1960s music video

[CrosslerChoirNerd]

@Aetheilas wikipedia says it's in Washington....if it is in Oregon, I'm moving....I hate all things Twilight...

[firesushi200]

he seems all smiley as hes saying how bad

america is im pretty sure he lives here cuz

he said come to our city

[ArisztidZ]

It is satire.

[firesushi200]

wuts satire?

sorry i have really bad vocab :D

[slchandl]

dic⋅tion⋅ar⋅y [dik-shuh-ner-ee], n:

A book containing a selection of the words of a language, usually arranged alphabetically, giving information about their meanings, pronunciations, etymologies, inflected forms, etc.

[firesushi200]

meh

is dictionary in the dictionary?

cuz that would be really weird

[firesushi200]

:O its sarcasm gosh u could have just

said so

[IMPHAB]

I love the alluding of Show Boat

"Fish Gotta Swim, Birds gotta fly, but they don't last long if they try"

[Kab3n]

der hängt doch^^

[BaconBoyWill]

Sir was playin this in geog

[VTMCompany]

there was a 16mm film set to his tune...

[smhorse]

Thing is: the message in this song is still pretty much valid today....!

[lardmonk]

well of course, it's not like anything has really improved much

[Veroxen]

I like watching him sing on the videos. It makes it so much better when you watch hsi exprestions as he sings :)

[MaiTriCks]

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT LOL

[crazypianolady]

I'm pretty sure you mean 'gay' as in jolly, right....-_-

[ajkl27]

He's like a predacessor to stephen lynch.

[6funswede]

All the twelve Tom Lehrer songs from this channel have now been republished in better quality. Click the Lehrer icon or the username, go to the channel and select one of the uploaded HQ-versions :-) Don't forget to click the HQ-buttion.

[froggerstop]

THAT SO TRUE

[Gothicanime20]

He is such a wonderful player! When I listen to it in the background I think there are at least four people playing the music with him singing.

[extbarth]

he is a genius my friend has 3 cd,s with one of them is live... he is really nice :D

[Dyrui13]

holy hell he does with some of the notes he hold XD AMAZING!!!

[FraterAeternus93]

sounds like Serj Tankian. know what i mean?

[KrazieGoon]

well we know you are retarded if thats is what you mean...

[FraterAeternus93]

grow up

[DarkJozor]

How can you say he sounds like him?

Serj Tankian does emo music and imo its not very amusing.

Tom Lehrer upbeat funny satirical music.

[FraterAeternus93]

obviously I say he sounds like him because of his voice, not the lyrical theme. And just so you know, Serj Tankian doesn't write "emo" music

[kryztofi]

this song is in our english text book.

[WestTorranceFreaks]

Same here killah taco im using this for me pollution preoject for MR. Martin

[IEatNoobz4Breakie]

Lol.

[KillahTaco]

Used this song in my pollution project to. The teacher was laughing, first time since, wow never!

[BREEKBOK]

Very funny. Still very true. even more so now!

[muzicgrrl18]

he helped me with my pollution project!! this song is funny

[sheldrake123]

My mom always sings this around the house, but she doesn't have a recording of it. Thanks for this!

[AloneSkateboarding]

its cool how it will take you to 1:48

[alinzelnan]

i`ve had it in english too^^ i don't like anti-pollution things but the song isn't so bad^^

[LadyMoonshadow05]

hope you did well^^

[FolkieMacc]

Much funnier than Tim Woodhouse on Blord111 - many thanks!

[LadyMoonshadow05]

had to analyse that song in my last English exam :D

[6funswede]

LadyMoonShadow, that'snice. I hope you did well :-)

[LadyMoonshadow05]

I hope that, too^^ Thank you ;-)

[pinksheep77]

I LOVE TOMS SONGS!! they help me with school projects.

[dromeda13]

what a brain! to be able to sing and play complex piano pieces at the same time!

[AvmanM]

He was a math professor at Harvard and a Political Science professor at MIT as well.

[scottyschumann18]

thanks for posting these, they are brill, tom is a very clever ****! :)

[Tuntenut]

Tom Lehrer for the F-bombing win. The striking relevance his music has today just shows how far we haven't come.

Thanks a million for uploading all these little strokes of brilliance 6funswede.

[blitsyboy]

IT OWNS ALL TOM LEHRER IS THA BEST!!

[funinthesun92]

i <3 Tom, hes amazing.

[Britain44]

Good is not enough for Tom :), he is just professional !

[link740]

I have noticed that he said the ending a little different. In the version on my Zune, he says "The garbage you throw out into the bay, they eat for lunch at San Hose!" but in this one he says differently... Maybe I have the later version or something... Oh well, Tom Lehrer, thank you for making these songs :D They have given me good material to sing to friends and make them laugh :D

Also, I remembered 1/3rd of his Elements Song by heart :D

[6funswede]

link740, my guess is that you have an earlier version recorded in the U.S. Lehrer would sometimes change a word or two in his lyrics. The audience present at this rare TV-recording didn't need to know where San Jose was :-)

[T1MP0SSIBLE]

Totally reminded me of Bo Burnham at the end.. going for the fake cough.. And yes I'm aware this is way before Bo Burnham was alive haha.. I dig this old vids too Swede.. THanks mann! :D

[onetalltxn]

Swede: Thanks for all your work on getting these lost treasures on YT. Tom Lehrer is, was and always will be a GENIUS and the greatest musical satirist ever!

After 40-50 yrs he's still relevant.

Thanks again!!!

[6funswede]

onetalltxn, thank you, nice of you to say that. But really, these songs are still here because of Lehrer and no-one else. Your message will also go to him. Take care.

[huntard1]

yeah

[hokipupu]

lol

[6funswede]

Sure, Lehrer is alive. But in reality, he stopped all regular performing before LBJ became president in America. He was persuaded to do this extra performance(s) in 1967. Lehrer was a lecturer and professor in mathematics for many years, but of course he is now remembered for his work as a singer/songwriter, comedian and performer :-)

[Elric33239]

I saw a "Mark Russell" special where Russell said that Lehrer stopped performing in public when Dr. Henry Kissinger won the Nobel Peace Prize. He said that "this where satire and reality meet!"

[meezersfive]

These were written in the fifties, some of us heard it when it was new!!! It's borne up well under the test of time, still great!! Did you know he was a physicist? "Be Prepared" is a hoot and I still sing the words, but not in front of my grandchildren.

[ShapeshiftingSally]

Tommy was ahead of his time with his biting wit, social satire and humorous delivery regarding what were then radical issues.

[joanofmarc]

I've only discovered Tom Lehrer recently, thanks to these clips you've uploaded. They're amazing.

[6funswede]

joanofmarc, thank you, you're very kind :-)

[psherminator]

is tom lerher still alive??i'd love to meet him some time.i think his songs are the best.

[howdy131]

I sang this song when I was 5 years old!! OMG, I didn't know he wrote it!! I just found out about him today! THANK YOU for uploading this !!

[6funswede]

howdy131, thank you so much for appreciating the song(s) :-)

[merrett]

We sang this in primary school in Australia :)

[6funswede]

merret, is that so? Love it. Don't forget that Tom Lehrer has a soft spot for you guys in Australia. After all, you'd have him on prime time TV, and that didn't happen in America :-)

[merrett]

Yah, whole class of 7-year-olds. It was much slower than this, with simple guitar chords strumming, but I listened carefully to the lyrics and loved it.

[Elric33239]

"The Electric Company" had SEVERAL of his songs performed on that show and THAT was primetime and wasn't "That Was The Week That Was" a primetime show?

[keinve2]

The most perfectly timed cough in history.

[thesanantoniokid]

Isn't it, though? Makes me snicker every time.

[skitmeister]

he is soooooo much better than wierd al!

[Tedscape]

maybe in the early 40's..

[Magcjrks]

he was a composer in the 60's,not the 40's

[LorrieannR]

I remember singing this song in my high school chorus back in 19(nevermind).

[666allhailsatan666]

Hes like a wise Weird Al Yancovic of his time hes so cool.

[christiankwan]

such a good song!!!

[fastmekillyou]

wow this song still fits this year! holy polution!

[SirBrendanWalsh]

Great Song:)

[Taggerung777]

it's because he uses tunes from other songs and changes the words

[6funswede]

On a few occasions, Lehrer did use a Gilbert and Sullivan tune ("The Elements"). But most of the time he wrote original songs. No doubt he was inspired by other tunes and styles he enjoyed, but "Pollution" is a Tom Lehrer original.