Tom Lehrer- Alma

[cestmarrant]

Thank you so much for posting this song and video. I grew up listening to Tom Lehrer. I wish I knew of someone with his talent and wit performing today. I love the lyrics on the blackboard!

[D60433]

Alma Mahler's Obit can be found on Wiki

[MultiRichas]

Alma is a Muslim name haha 

[weejockrock]

I can't be the only person who paused to investigate that mystery box.

[meburgess100]

Tried to hunt up the actual obit. The song is copyrighted from 1965-1966 so I'm assuming she died between 1963 and 1966. I can't get into the NYTimes archives with my small town library card but perhaps someone in a more dense population might have access. I doubt Lehrer read it in a Vienna newspaper so I'm assuming it was published here in the US. Keep looking for Alma's obit. It has to be out there somewhere. (I'll bet Lehrer still has a copy in a file cabinet somewhere...)

[entropyftw]

Anyone have a link to that obituary? 

[meburgess100]

@entropyftw I tried to access a newpaper database to see if it was accessible. The song by Lehrer is copyrighted 1965-66 so I'm assuming she died in '64 or around there. Someone with access to the NYTimes archives might be able to pull it up. I, too, would love to see it. My parents, both musicians, played Lehrer's records for us as kids. When I'm senile in a home and can't remember my husband or kids, I'll probably still remember all the Lehrer son gs. (Tom probably has a copy in a file)

[TheRobbieAB]

@meburgess100 According to WikiPedia she died on 11 December 1964, aged 85, in the US.

[TheRachaelLefler]

back in the day I guess having 3 men in ur life meant you were a ho...

[35Chappell]

@TheRachaelLefler Not " 3 relationships". Three marriages. Though I suppose, by today's standards, it's prudish to say that marriage should mean anything.

[thestudent09]

I was redirected here from tv tropes fear....wow, this didn't make fear any less scary...all it did was give this song some horrifying implications...."SHUDDER"

[akulkis]

why didn't you just include the introduction in the recording. Tom Lehrer's introductions were often as humorous as his songs.

[Aleex102496]

How the hell does that somehow manage to make FEAR even more scary?

[presbyterosBassI]

Very cool how he quotes a different Mahler symphony at the end of each chorus.

My friends who plays orchestral instruments went crazy when they heard this back in college.

[PulpoOscuro]

this gives a whole new meaning to those who lust after F.E.A.R's Alma Wade...

[xarosmaster553]

did she go go to wade elementary and have psychic powers?

[jintys32]

This is a brill song......slight sense of humour, and sums up Alma`s affairs.........

[babinm]

I picked up a Tom Leher songbook the other day and noticed that this Song Alma was missing from the Index, Table of Contents and the book.  It was mentioned in a discography in the back of the book. So is there a controversy???

[Kathara14]

I am a modern woman and I am jealous of Alma!

[entropyftw]

So... anyone have the obituary in question?

[firestartertwistedfi]

I've never done karaoke - but I'd do this

[MsJimenez94]

my name is alma ... haha

[drbobdrake]

Alma was a composer in her own right, though Mahler forbade her from composing after they were married. (She was much younger than her husbands.) Her unhappiness may have driven her to Gropius who played piano in addition to his architectural pursuits, Mahler eventually recognized the quality of Alma's compositions and reworked them.

[ppgppgppgppg]

I'm sure if Alma heard this Tom Lehrer would also be caught in her net.

[Tolianchig]

Умней и красивее в Вене Вам девушки не отыскать. Получишь сигнал на антенне − Не сможешь противостоять. У Альмы любовников много, И каждый из них знаменит. Спросите у Господа Бога, Чего их так к Альме манит. Ах, Альма, пора вам сознаться, Чтоб женскую зависть убить: Как Густава, Вальтера, Франца Вам в сеть удалось заманить? Ах, первым супругом был Малер, Которого Густавом звать. И, видя ее, этот фраер Кричал: "Мне бы с нею в кровать!"

[Tolianchig]

Их брак был как самоубийство. И он возопил: "Твою мать! Пишу я "Дас лид фон дер эрде". Она же все хочет в кровать!" Ах, Альма, пора нам сознаться, Чтоб женскую зависть убить: За Густава, Вальтера, Франца Вам памятник надо отлить! Она еще в браке с ГустАвом, Но Гропиус выплыл, и тут Преставился Малер. Устало Они уж венчаться идут. Но Гропиус был трудоголик И жил в Баухаусе он. Не трахался он, словно кролик, И был на другого сменен.

[Tolianchig]

Ах, Альма, пора нам сознаться, Чтоб женскую зависть убить: Вы Густава, Вальтера, Франца Как заполучили, тудыть? Женой продолжала считаться, Но встретился Верфель чуть-чуть. На ней он женился, но был осторожен, «Ты клятв, - говорит, - не забудь». Такая история Альмы, Умевшей дарить и давать. Она свое тело тотально Блюла. Ну туды твою мать! Ах, Альма, пора нам сознаться, Чтоб женскую зависть убить. Вы с Густавом, Вальтером, Францем. Сумели прекрасно прожить!

[masterassassin7]

I Thought this had something to do with the F.E.A.R series.

[Christina5Archer]

Dear old Alma. forgottem now but talked about during her lifetime.

[almawells]

@Christina5Archer yea... I'm the same old age as Madonna, and Ellen Degeneras... I chased my dream... and the closest I got to the stars was working on the set of Clint Eastwood's movie, "Hereafter." I almost bumped heads with Matt Damon on a bus in San Francisco, CA.

[MrSpockify]

Dang... I paused to look at it.

[TheMdduran]

Thanks for posting this. My music history professor played this for us a few years ago and I've been trying to find it since.

[tomwmloppe]

To: pretzelburg... It's a story... Perhaps not funny. For Tom, the humor is mostly rhyming un-rhyme-able words...

Sorry for poor spelling...

[murphy456]

Thank you.! So True!!!

[Dalaruan]

Ah, Alma Mahler-Werfel, the grande femme fatale! Thanks for upload the song, gorgeous!

[vigwig]

Lehrer is king, his heir is Roy Zimmerman.

[pjdonagh]

Possibly the best musical satirist ever........Thanks for this and all the other Lehrer posts.

I accidently gave a 1 star rating when I meant to give a 5..sorry.

[superAninja78]

yes

[ondeia]

nice, funny, but he forgot Kokoschka, for me, Alma will always be his Bride of the wind

[MsAzrael]

@ondeia Me too (as I am an Art Historian), but this is a song about her husbands. A song about all her lovers would have taken an hour, or so.

[xunvala]

"Gustav Mahler, composer of Das Lied von der Erde and other light classics." Light classics??

[xunvala]

I apologize. I just played the other video which has a recoring of him saying these words, and I see that it was said as a joke.

It makes far more sense that way.

[rebeccatrishel]

Jokes are kind of an endangered species.

[linbeiwuji1978]

@xunvala

other "like" classics. No one would be insane enough to call

Mahler light.

[shimon9000]

@xunvala

"Light classics", yes. Lehrer was being sarcastic. Surprised at that?

[searcherboy]

@xunvala . . . he was joking. On the recording of Lehrer introducing this song, this line gets a laugh.

[tippngthevelvet]

@xunvala

It was an ironic statement certainly.

[aquahenk]

@xunvala Tom Lehrer actually says: And other Life Time classics ...

[pedonbio]

@xunvala He's being ironic.

[Kathara14]

@xunvala i take it irony is hard to comprehend? And he is laying it pretty thick.

[Kathara14]

@xunvala @xunvala i take it irony is hard to comprehend? And he is laying it pretty thick.

[ppgppgppgppg]

@xunvala lol that was clearly a sarcasm

[Satchmoeddie]

@xunvala Maybe to my brother, but he majored in English Literature and I had to drop out of college. I made more in 3 months than he does in 1 year as an electrician. OK it was $110K and I was working around 70 hours per week. Light Classical? Mahler? Maybe Ravel, or Rachmaninov, but Mahler? Mahler may seem light after 9 shots of brandy and 4 mg of Xanax. If it did I really do not remember. I think that is the whole point in taking that many sedatives before a Mahler marathon on KONC Concert FM

[searcherboy]

Great song, I'm so glad it's on here. I remember listening to Lehrer as a kid with my family, and this is the one I really wanted to find. Lehrer's best, I think.

Thanks!

[pretzelberg]

Sorry, but I never understood why some people find this and other Lehrer stuff funny.

[CLICKTHALINK]

its perfectly understandable. Some of this stuff is with the times back then, albeit, most of his songs aren't really. It was his genius with words, coupled with his topical takedowns which made him as notorious among intellectuals as he is today.

[tongueonfire]

mostly because it's a song about alma mahler

[Joyisawseome]

@pretzelberg

Dude. He's a satirist.

"Although satire is usually meant to be funny, its greater purpose is constructive social criticism, using wit as a weapon."

"A common feature of satire is strong irony or sarcasm... This "militant" irony or sarcasm often professes to approve (or at least accept as natural) the very things the satirist wishes to attack."

He uses a lot of sarcasm... You should be able to tell... It's in his voice.

Maybe you aren't as fluent in sarcasm as some other people?

[pretzelberg]

@Joyisawseome

Perhaps my problem is that the sarcasm is too obvious. I find the humour, well, rather nerdy.

[Joyisawseome]

@pretzelberg

He's a nerd, and it shows in his songs. What's wrong with that?

Nerds are awesome.

Actually, you're talking to one that's kind of offended now...

Bahaha. Just kidding, I don't really care but I'm just saying that it's kinda the point of his music.

[McRat1968]

@Joyisawseome

Anyone who has Lehrer's "That's The Year That Was" LP knows that he precedes the "Alma" song with this sarcastic monologue: "Last December 13th, there appeared in the newspapers the juiciest, spiciest, raciest obituary it has ever been my pleasure to read!"

====================

...Love that! LOL! ...Talk about sarcasm at its finest!!! ;)P

[Joyisawseome]

@McRat1968

Yeah, I've heard that introduction to it before...and I love it. :D

Lehrer is awesome. :)

[McRat1968]

@Joyisawseome

...And, apparently, you're awesome too. lol



[Joyisawseome]

@McRat1968

Lol, I don't even know what I was thinking when I put that as my name. XD

[wildhias]

her short but passionate relationship with the expressive painter Osker Kokoschka was also very important in her life. I also find the fact that she was an "everyday anti-semite" and at the same time married the jew Franz Werfel - fascinating stuff.

[vonOhzu]

And today we have "dick in a box".

[allanfelipebr]

A good song too ;)

[alextemplemusic]

vonOhzo, don't worry -- there is a sucessor to Tom Lehrer! They're called the Prince Myshkins. Google them and listen to "The Dr. Laura Polka" on their website -- complete with jokes about Walter Benjamin.

[TheMdduran]

I got to meet Rick Burkhardt from Prince Myshkins! He Is a friend of my saxophone professor! He is so freaking awesome, and a great guy to talk to. He is such a brilliant composer too.

[leus]

@vonOhzu which is a masterpiece on its own :-)

[howebridge]

This is my favourite Tom Lehrer song. Especially the line about how she reacted to Mahler's death. Wonderful stuff.

[largolegato]

loll What a cool song!! But I found her relationship with Zemlinsky was even cooler. Jeeze, she was crazy, but I like her. I always dream to have a life like hers.

[VirginiaAnnHarris]

Very cute!