What an asshole... Neil Armstrong was not an idiot and Von Braun, certainly one of the greatest scientist in history. Tom Lehrer has just his jewish / german syndrome. He is not funny. Only for those who are still stuck in the 30's and 40's...
if you dont know who wernher van braun is this song makes no sense, personally i dont like how he betrayed his country when they were going to collapese, even if they were the nazis i think its wrong to just desert or defect
Our generation is stuck with Larry the Cable Guy, Dmitri Martin, Dane Cook, and Jeff Dunham. Our parents had Tom Lehrer and George Carlin. We need someone like this now.
What would von Braun done if Hitler had won the war? He would have given him the kind of power that previous tyrants had only dreamed of. He would have stayed steadily working to maintain the Nazi dominance over the world through his scientific expertise. He moved to the USA ONLY because he saw in 1945 that it was all up with the Third Reich,
@StanislawStaszic When the song was published no one was ever on the moon (only four years later). But more Russians than Americans were in space by that moment.
I guess Tom Lehrer is of German-Jewish ancestry because "Lehrer" is a German word meaning "teacher". I also guess he never made such a song about Bomber Harris. Or let's take scientists and say Oppenheimer or Einstein. He will not pick them. He will pick von Braun, Heisenberg, Hahn. The song is still funny though. It's just not the whole story. Don't say Lehrer's hypocritical, rather say he's political.
On the other hand, if it hadn't been for von Braun, the US space programme would have been years behind the Soviets the whole time. It was him and his genius who basically founded the modern rocketry, and he started from scratch. Give the guy some credit.
Yes, he was associated with the Nazis during the war, but if you lived under a totalitarian regime, you'd understand that very often people have no other choice.
@2rocker4life I do not think I have seen on YouTube a stupider comment than this and it has a lot of competition! Where do you live in the world that your life would not have been made hell by a Nazi victory? Or perhaps your comment is a gauche way of saying that Hitler was right.
@2rocker4life The British Empire (a 1/4 of the world) and all of Europe together with most of the world's material and manpower resources in Nazi hands, German rockets able to reach an America unable to retaliate. English nuclear research available to the Germans to develop the bomb (the US had the bomb mid-1945, and von Braun after the war!), Japan strengthened by German men and equipment - result: hell for the USA!
@kevinastraw Lol, German rockets could not reach America. They could BARELY reach Britain. It would take decades before rockets could cross the atlantic. And Germany could not have won once they invaded Russia. Japan also did not send anything to the Germans of importance; they were mutual allies and left each other alone. Germany would have been crushed one way or another; it was Japan that would have survived if America didn't step in.
@Hissanrach You make a lot of assertions but make no attempt to verify them. You say that German rockets could not reach the USA as though I were saying they could! What I am saying is that if Hitler had conquered England, the whole balance of power in the world would have swung his way. Russia would have been defeated, Germany, with van Braun and the like still working in Germany, would have developed both the nuclear bomb and the ICBM first. America would have been finished.
@kevinastraw Germany's nuclear bomb projects never even got past the drawing board. This is fact; they never began to build it. How would Russia be defeated? I agree, if Russia lost then Germany would probably win, but how could Germany defeat Russia under Hitler's crap leadership? Rocket tech never actually had any impact in the war anyway, it was always targeted at civilians and only killed a few hundred. America had ready bombs by 45 and Germany didn't even have one started.
@Hissanrach -- The best strategy for Germany would probably have been to put off invading Russia for a few years.
Stalin would probably have eventually joined the war and invaded Germay. But if Hitler could have saved his resources and consolidated the continent for a while longer, perhaps concentrating more on the Middle East for oil, he perhaps could have accelerated both the rocket and the A-bomb projects.
Then both Russia and the U.S. would have been in serious trouble.
0:34 Is it just me or is the perspective kind of screwy in that shot? Look at the angle on the chair, then the piano keys, then the chair again. Weird.
@NutNapalm, yes, it is and even worse here because of test converting the segment to 16:9. But even the original 4:3 version has a strange perspective for that shot. Look for the song in 480p and with the intro, it`s on the channel :-)
@elysianscience Politics -- just as now there's an ad here in Nevada trying to say that incumbent senator Harry Reid was wasting money by voting to fund a scientific analysis of weather on Venus. Same as today, people back then argued that there were better ways to spend money than on scientific endeavors.
This is just personal opinion, but I wouldn't believe the story that von Braun sued for this song....no one is better at making fun of themselves better than German Lutherans
@LittleLambsTLC, he he, well, no, von Braun never sued. As Tom Lehrer said: "there's no way he could have sued". So that's one of those myths, debunked by Lehrer in several interviews in the 1990's.
Project Paper clip, American and other agents, loyal to the vatican arranged safe passage to usa for Gehlen, von Braun, and hundreds of others. Similar movements gave others passage to Argentina, Mexico, Spain, and the other whereabouts. Project paperclip was the basis of the cia, the mkultra program, and the rocketry. The wikipedia article leaves out some of the most important connections. Allen Dulles was at or near the top of the op.
An early Nazi (1932) and Waffen-SS (1933), von Braun was an eager servant of the vilest regime in history. His slaves, drafted from Buchenwald, built the V2 rockets fired at London in 1944 to butcher thousands of my fellow citizens. For this he was awarded a free pass at the end of the war, US citizenship and the highest honours the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave can bestow.
Thank you, Tom Lehrer, for your gentle, witty, damning indictment of this monstrous affront to justice.
the nazis used him he wasnt proud of the nazi stuff buit think of it if he hadnt of built the v-2 we wouldnt have celluler phones there would be no sattelites in space
In truth you can hardly be mad at Dr. Von Braun. He did as any of us in his position would have done supported his country, and he did it before the whole Nazi craziness was understood. Then he was taken prisoner and forced to continue. And allow us to look at it from this perspective. Would it be any better had he been English and shot rockets at Germany? No that it would not, just depends on who's side your on but in the end it's all the same.
An excellent discussion between Wayne Biddle, author of the new book "Dark Side of the Moon - Wernher von Braun, the Third Reich and the Space Race," and Dr. Bob McDonald, host of CBC Radio's science program "Quirks & Quarks" can be heard at the program's website: cbc-dot-ca/quirks (19 December, 2009 program, last segment).
Tom Lehrer has been sued for libel by the estate of Wernher Von Braun, the subject was this song. He has been forced to relinquish all of his royalty income to Von Braun. However, Lehrer firmly denied this in a 2003 interview.
borcer, well, that's a myth. Wernher von Braun never sued Lehrer. And Lehrer, on the other hand, is a man who always tells the truth. And he would never sue anyone, not even the Austrian artist Georg Kreisler (a ripper) or me (the indiscrete hacker).
borcer, I'm not sure, but of course von Braun never liked it (I guess). It's interesting that Wikipedia have now made a link from the von Braun article to this 42 year old video recording. People will also find the song on video by searching for von Braun in Google. This is clever satire and Lehrer's correction to history. A better version of the song in HQ is also on the channel.
must add: von braun got America, I repeat, America to the moon, not once, not twice, but five times. The tax money was being used on American soil, creating jobs. The man was a bloody genius, so, although it's a hilarious song, it's harsh!
@121421rms: I heard that Lehrer wrote the Pigeons song about 8 years before he finally put it on disc, so if that's true then it's probably the other way round.
haha, hab ich nicht gekannt that, ist aber klasse!! wie sind die connections entre t. lehrer y g. kreisler eigentlich? cest a real discovery für mich.
I know Tom Lehrer for now 6 years (i'm now 16) and he is waaay past my time and i didn't even really speak english when i was 10, so my father sat down with me and we went through every song we had discussing it. Such wonderful memorys...
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-button.
@ berniebay: The point is he didn't just join the Nazi Party but was designing and building the V-1 and V-2 rockets, the "Buzzbombs" hence the "widows and cripples in old London town who owe their large pensions to Werner von Braun." he was just as evil as the other high level Nazi's.
Von Braun was so committed to rocketry and space travel that he really didn't have any sense of nationalism. It didn't matter to him whether he worked for Hitler, Stalin, Churchill, or the United States; as long as they supported his projects. Does this make him a hypocrite? I think it does. But if that is the case then the United States is equally hypoctitical. At least that is what I get out of this song.
I love Tom Lehrer. This song in particular is great because, like so many other satirists, Lehrer uses seemingly light-hearted comedy to politely express his seething anger at the injustice of the world.
"Nazi schmazi" is just a way of dismissing something. Kind of in the Yiddish tradition. kinda like saying 'whatever'. "I was told that Katy was boring so I replied 'Boring schmoring'"!!
@laqerhill Yes it starts with the german anthem "Das Lied der Deutschen", well even they don't sing "Deutschland über alles" any more. After the verses you hear the austrian folk song (from Vienna) "Oh mein lieber Augustin".
By the way, even Tom Lehrer's name is german: Lehrer means teacher in German.
April 2009 - 6funswede YouTube log. Errors July 2007-April 2009. "Pollution": Sound deteriorated. "When You Are Old And Gray": Video stuttering. "Send the Marines": Video stuttering. This is ALL YouTube errors, have written to them, but I don't expect any answers. Viewers: PLEASE use the annotation boxes with links in the videos.
One question, what is the meaning of the last line of the lyric: "But I am learning Chinese says Wernher von Braun". I don't see how it is funny or how it fits into the lyric~~
Keep in mind that the first lyrics talk about how his allegiance is ruled by expedience, meaning that if it looked like China (who ended up being the third country to produce nuclear weapons) might have the edge as a superpower, von Braun might jump ship and head there.
the idea being that von braun was less interested in allegiance than in being on the winning side.
Hmm, then I wonder why he was arrested by the Gestapo or several of his peers mention that he was in a position where detested the use of slave labor but was unable to do anything about it without losing his own life?
Von Braun was a scientist put between a hard place and a harder one.
Von Braun was like most people doing science: Its the result. And that alone. Morality is an encumberence. "Expediency daily shakes hands with ideals". When we look at technology and the its use,especially with politicians, we know this is true.
Ein sehr lustiges Lied :) es gefällt mir als Deutschem ganz besonders. Wernher von Braun war aber wirklich apolitisch, ihn interessierte hauptsächlich, wo er seinen Traum vom Weltraumflug verwirklichen kann.
what does that mean? Could you please translate, or could someone translate that for me? I need to see why people seem not like this particular comment
@ cableguys: No idea why someone doesnt like my comment o.O I just said I, as a German, especially find that song funny and that von Braun was indeed apolitically, the only thing that drove him since he was a teenager is one day realizing a land on the moon.
I can roughly, I speak a bit of German. Let's see here.... " A very fun song. It cuts at Germans(?). Wernher von Braun was really apolitical. he was basically interested in science, where he would dream of what the world dreams of: to be able to achieve flight.
I may be a bit off, my German is fairly basic, but that's the general idea of it.I think.
Bin ich gut Fliegertruppe? Bist du ins Armee? Ich denke es, für du hasst "truppe" ins deine Name.
bakas21, even if you don't like Lehrer or his songs, this is just a rude and stupid comment. And people who are unable to enjoy comedy or satire should NOT watch Lehrer on YouTube.
6funswede, thanks for posting this! I'm currently working on a degree in space studies, and while I've been pouring over texts about the early space age, there was always a lot of debate over Von Braun...and I came across a reference to this song by Tom Lehrer. It's just brilliant. So glad you could share it! :)
This is and has always been one of my favourite Tom Lehrer tunes - like so many of his songs, it first makes you laugh and then makes you think, and he really manages to make an excellent point all the while entertaining his audience as well.
Thanks a lot for making these available, and thanks of course to Tom himself for allowing these to be made available as well.
Schneelocke, thank you for your comment. Yes, I am most grateful to Lehrer for allowing us to enjoy these twelve song from a forgotten Ampex video tape. He is such a witty and timeless satirist, but at the same time he is a kind man :-)
Thanks, the Lehrer clips are an incredibly valuable resource, and you are doing the world a service by having them here.
The widescreen version is just annoyingly tight on his face though. I know it's fun to experiment with, but the original format has the most content and it's better. Forget YouTube's new format, and stick to the original. (You're kind of doing the opposite of "pan and scan" and removing content by going wide screen! Not good.)
rockyPants4000, thank you for your comment. It really is Tom Lehrer himself who are doing the world a service by allowing the channel to exist. As for the conversion, I would never have substituted the original 4:3-version with the version on this page. This was an experiment. If you study the 4:3 original, you will see that nothing very important was left out, although I'll agree that the close-up got very close here :-)
You're welcome!6funswede. I've known some Tom Lehrer songs since I was a little kid, as my dad is a huge fan and always has been. He has all the records and the sheet music and lyrics etc LOL
That's nice. The twelve videos on The Tom Lehrer Wisdom Channel are rare, but Lehrer thinks that people should be able to enjoy them. Spread the word :-)
This song was originally published in July of 2007, and the original version is still on the channel. But here is a widescreen version with a spoken intro. If possible, try to watch it in higher quality. The video was encoded from a source with the pixel size of 1024 X 576.
SKUNKOFPOWER, that's true. I just tried to use a SOURCE clip with higher resolution for test purposes. The actual result is 640X360, and I can see that the video isn't technically good. Thank you for commenting.
you know that Tom Lehrer got suede for this song
SpartanOmega360 6 days ago
What an asshole... Neil Armstrong was not an idiot and Von Braun, certainly one of the greatest scientist in history. Tom Lehrer has just his jewish / german syndrome. He is not funny. Only for those who are still stuck in the 30's and 40's...
OSS732 1 week ago
@OSS732 He's a satirist, he makes fun of everybody.
R33Dundent 4 days ago
if you dont know who wernher van braun is this song makes no sense, personally i dont like how he betrayed his country when they were going to collapese, even if they were the nazis i think its wrong to just desert or defect
elflordbob1 1 week ago
Very eerie how he mentions China at the end...
Gubru 2 weeks ago
From german to english but i'm learning chinese... fucking amazing that this man could reach the top of any country he sets foot on.
webmastertool 2 months ago
But I hope, that the people outside of Europe don't forget, that not every German was or is a Nazi, like the members of the "White Rose".
04279 2 months ago 4
Our generation is stuck with Larry the Cable Guy, Dmitri Martin, Dane Cook, and Jeff Dunham. Our parents had Tom Lehrer and George Carlin. We need someone like this now.
GBev2K 2 months ago 5
Astounding - even now this is about as biting and vicious as satire can be.
Superb.
martyjar 2 months ago
Total mancrush
MelleB90 4 months ago
Great! i just discovered this guy......MY PLEASURE! what a witty guy!
MarcoBocoure 4 months ago
Brilliant!!
mfatah281 6 months ago
learning Chinese says Wernher von Braun ?!
CLASSICAL Genius from Leher
MrGbroderick 6 months ago
@MrGbroderick shi jiu ba qi liu wu si san er yi ling BOOM!!
squreshi10 4 months ago
9 nazis watched this video.
12StringGuitar 6 months ago
Hahaha, nothing makes a friend like an enemy of my enemy :>
Hissanrach 8 months ago
What would von Braun done if Hitler had won the war? He would have given him the kind of power that previous tyrants had only dreamed of. He would have stayed steadily working to maintain the Nazi dominance over the world through his scientific expertise. He moved to the USA ONLY because he saw in 1945 that it was all up with the Third Reich,
kevinastraw 9 months ago
@kevinastraw If the Germans had won the war, they has been the first nation "to put some idiot on the moon"
StanislawStaszic 6 months ago
@StanislawStaszic When the song was published no one was ever on the moon (only four years later). But more Russians than Americans were in space by that moment.
04279 2 months ago
I guess Tom Lehrer is of German-Jewish ancestry because "Lehrer" is a German word meaning "teacher". I also guess he never made such a song about Bomber Harris. Or let's take scientists and say Oppenheimer or Einstein. He will not pick them. He will pick von Braun, Heisenberg, Hahn. The song is still funny though. It's just not the whole story. Don't say Lehrer's hypocritical, rather say he's political.
JohnnyCash08 11 months ago
as much as I love him, calling "to put some idiot on the moon" is disgraceful to himself and every human being
dannyboy12357 1 year ago
@dannyboy12357
why?
AlPinski 1 year ago
tom ler is great
rainmenfan2011 1 year ago
This has been flagged as spam show
nett, jemnd bei laune mit mia zu chaten oder am tele oder auch per cam bin eingeödet
Jessica70ful 1 year ago 18
It's great song as far as satire is concerned.
On the other hand, if it hadn't been for von Braun, the US space programme would have been years behind the Soviets the whole time. It was him and his genius who basically founded the modern rocketry, and he started from scratch. Give the guy some credit.
Yes, he was associated with the Nazis during the war, but if you lived under a totalitarian regime, you'd understand that very often people have no other choice.
Winner8501 1 year ago
@Winner8501 He could have done a half-ass job and still looked like a brilliant man
Ruthlesscritic 1 year ago
If the English didn't want to be bombed by Germany, they shouldn't have gone to war.
2rocker4life 1 year ago
Comment removed
kevinastraw 9 months ago
@2rocker4life I do not think I have seen on YouTube a stupider comment than this and it has a lot of competition! Where do you live in the world that your life would not have been made hell by a Nazi victory? Or perhaps your comment is a gauche way of saying that Hitler was right.
kevinastraw 9 months ago
@kevinastraw "Where do you live in the world that your life would not have been made hell by a Nazi victory?"
America. (:
2rocker4life 9 months ago
@2rocker4life The British Empire (a 1/4 of the world) and all of Europe together with most of the world's material and manpower resources in Nazi hands, German rockets able to reach an America unable to retaliate. English nuclear research available to the Germans to develop the bomb (the US had the bomb mid-1945, and von Braun after the war!), Japan strengthened by German men and equipment - result: hell for the USA!
kevinastraw 9 months ago
@kevinastraw Lol, German rockets could not reach America. They could BARELY reach Britain. It would take decades before rockets could cross the atlantic. And Germany could not have won once they invaded Russia. Japan also did not send anything to the Germans of importance; they were mutual allies and left each other alone. Germany would have been crushed one way or another; it was Japan that would have survived if America didn't step in.
Hissanrach 8 months ago
@Hissanrach You make a lot of assertions but make no attempt to verify them. You say that German rockets could not reach the USA as though I were saying they could! What I am saying is that if Hitler had conquered England, the whole balance of power in the world would have swung his way. Russia would have been defeated, Germany, with van Braun and the like still working in Germany, would have developed both the nuclear bomb and the ICBM first. America would have been finished.
kevinastraw 8 months ago
@kevinastraw Germany's nuclear bomb projects never even got past the drawing board. This is fact; they never began to build it. How would Russia be defeated? I agree, if Russia lost then Germany would probably win, but how could Germany defeat Russia under Hitler's crap leadership? Rocket tech never actually had any impact in the war anyway, it was always targeted at civilians and only killed a few hundred. America had ready bombs by 45 and Germany didn't even have one started.
Hissanrach 8 months ago
@Hissanrach -- The best strategy for Germany would probably have been to put off invading Russia for a few years.
Stalin would probably have eventually joined the war and invaded Germay. But if Hitler could have saved his resources and consolidated the continent for a while longer, perhaps concentrating more on the Middle East for oil, he perhaps could have accelerated both the rocket and the A-bomb projects.
Then both Russia and the U.S. would have been in serious trouble.
nesokretep 8 months ago
"That's not my department" says Werhner von Braun
bowserhunter1 1 year ago
tom lehrer was great thank u Mr. Lehrer I had ur records until i moved but it is nice to see them on youtube
novascotia2010 1 year ago
that lehrer guy is a fag. without wernher von braun the usa wouldnt have gotten to the moon. you should be happy that he helped you.
l4vey 1 year ago
@l4vey What's that got to do with what Lehrer is singing about?!?
Tenkton 1 year ago
@l4vey You are missing the point.
reafdaw01 1 year ago
@l4vey tom lehrer served in the usa army good soldier he then became a teacher then singer he is not insulting ur country. but he plays on words.
novascotia2010 1 year ago
I've read before that when he was young Wehrer von Braun was an accomplished pianist and cello player.Check out the wikipedia article about him.
m9078jk3 1 year ago
0:34 Is it just me or is the perspective kind of screwy in that shot? Look at the angle on the chair, then the piano keys, then the chair again. Weird.
NutNapalm 1 year ago 5
@NutNapalm, yes, it is and even worse here because of test converting the segment to 16:9. But even the original 4:3 version has a strange perspective for that shot. Look for the song in 480p and with the intro, it`s on the channel :-)
6funswede 1 year ago
@6funswede Perhaps the far side of the piano is jacked up off the floor so the viewer can more clearly see the keys?
the2belo 8 months ago
@NutNapalm
It's probably a theatrical scene, hence it has an incline, as most of those scene do. That, or the grand piano is inclined to give better accoustics.
vetromaster 8 months ago
1:50 好日子和美好的一周
IQ20000Berta 1 year ago
Is it just me, or does this guy look kinda like Chevy Chase?
Pocketwatch625 1 year ago
Why did he describe American astronauts as idiots and why did that get a laugh? Not bothered about that but it seems strange...
elysianscience 1 year ago
@elysianscience Politics -- just as now there's an ad here in Nevada trying to say that incumbent senator Harry Reid was wasting money by voting to fund a scientific analysis of weather on Venus. Same as today, people back then argued that there were better ways to spend money than on scientific endeavors.
Keeper1st 1 year ago
@elysianscience Because no one likes those damn dirty astronauts.
NutNapalm 1 year ago
Gelehen was a genuis.
Bnd makes Cia look like Cub Scouts
seanpdineen 1 year ago
Is it not Werner and not Wehrner?
VivaRenata 1 year ago
@VivaRenata It's spelled Wernher.
mdk31 1 year ago
Yay! :D
PetrossDelta 1 year ago
This is just personal opinion, but I wouldn't believe the story that von Braun sued for this song....no one is better at making fun of themselves better than German Lutherans
LittleLambsTLC 1 year ago 2
@LittleLambsTLC, he he, well, no, von Braun never sued. As Tom Lehrer said: "there's no way he could have sued". So that's one of those myths, debunked by Lehrer in several interviews in the 1990's.
6funswede 1 year ago 5
Lehrer, pure genius.
Lanfear27 1 year ago 14
@Lanfear27, I usually hate it when people use the word "genius" too much, but I make an exception for Lehrer. He really is a genius ;D Thanks.
6funswede 1 year ago 5
@6funswede Agree 100%. There are few geniuses in all of history, but this is one of them!
VivaRenata 1 year ago
Whether he intended to or not ... whether he wanted to or not ... Tom Lehrer made himself a place in history.
My wife & I have listened occasionally to our old LP record of Lehrer for the past almost 40 years.
We figure we'll get the DVD.
nesokretep 6 months ago
Hey nice video, the true is you can buy USA iTunes gift cards at this store iTunesgiftScards at COM
treatraschelleasn 1 year ago
Project Paper clip, American and other agents, loyal to the vatican arranged safe passage to usa for Gehlen, von Braun, and hundreds of others. Similar movements gave others passage to Argentina, Mexico, Spain, and the other whereabouts. Project paperclip was the basis of the cia, the mkultra program, and the rocketry. The wikipedia article leaves out some of the most important connections. Allen Dulles was at or near the top of the op.
oil1portraits 1 year ago
He's a genius. I got his songbook and am learning as many songs as I can but this is one of my favourites to play.
crazypianolady 1 year ago
I love Tom Lehrer!
c0mbineelite 1 year ago
The evil look that he gives when he says "und i'm learning chinese" rounds up the whole thing. ingenious!
Johannes85Ger 1 year ago 2
May I just point out at this point, that almost as many people have watched this video as died on The First Day of the Battle of the Somme
TheTimot93 2 years ago 5
Yes you may.
billvoltage1 1 year ago
my mom introduced me to this guy a few years ago and I absolutely love it!
whitey211 2 years ago
today we listened to this song in the english lesson. i like it, but unfortunately my friend and me were the only ones laughing -.-
0Bela0Farin0Rod0 2 years ago 22
@0Bela0Farin0Rod0 i expect you roundhouse kicked everyone who didn't laugh in the face?
flowiepanda 9 months ago
An early Nazi (1932) and Waffen-SS (1933), von Braun was an eager servant of the vilest regime in history. His slaves, drafted from Buchenwald, built the V2 rockets fired at London in 1944 to butcher thousands of my fellow citizens. For this he was awarded a free pass at the end of the war, US citizenship and the highest honours the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave can bestow.
Thank you, Tom Lehrer, for your gentle, witty, damning indictment of this monstrous affront to justice.
Longmemory1 2 years ago 2
the nazis used him he wasnt proud of the nazi stuff buit think of it if he hadnt of built the v-2 we wouldnt have celluler phones there would be no sattelites in space
ehakliop 2 years ago
In truth you can hardly be mad at Dr. Von Braun. He did as any of us in his position would have done supported his country, and he did it before the whole Nazi craziness was understood. Then he was taken prisoner and forced to continue. And allow us to look at it from this perspective. Would it be any better had he been English and shot rockets at Germany? No that it would not, just depends on who's side your on but in the end it's all the same.
gunslinger1911a1 2 years ago 3
An excellent discussion between Wayne Biddle, author of the new book "Dark Side of the Moon - Wernher von Braun, the Third Reich and the Space Race," and Dr. Bob McDonald, host of CBC Radio's science program "Quirks & Quarks" can be heard at the program's website: cbc-dot-ca/quirks (19 December, 2009 program, last segment).
AJNorth 2 years ago
Tom Lehrer has been sued for libel by the estate of Wernher Von Braun, the subject was this song. He has been forced to relinquish all of his royalty income to Von Braun. However, Lehrer firmly denied this in a 2003 interview.
borcer 2 years ago
borcer, well, that's a myth. Wernher von Braun never sued Lehrer. And Lehrer, on the other hand, is a man who always tells the truth. And he would never sue anyone, not even the Austrian artist Georg Kreisler (a ripper) or me (the indiscrete hacker).
6funswede 2 years ago
Yes that's a myth I know, I believe Lehrer.
But I bet this song haunted von Braun to the end of his life :)
Have fun Swede ;)
borcer 2 years ago
borcer, I'm not sure, but of course von Braun never liked it (I guess). It's interesting that Wikipedia have now made a link from the von Braun article to this 42 year old video recording. People will also find the song on video by searching for von Braun in Google. This is clever satire and Lehrer's correction to history. A better version of the song in HQ is also on the channel.
6funswede 2 years ago
must add: von braun got America, I repeat, America to the moon, not once, not twice, but five times. The tax money was being used on American soil, creating jobs. The man was a bloody genius, so, although it's a hilarious song, it's harsh!
RobbieWinters 2 years ago
@RobbieWinters No. It's not harsh.
StayUgly 1 year ago
Wernher von Braun was alive when this song was wriitten he died in 1977
lkqazwsx 2 years ago 3
he just retired in 2001 from being a college professor
metalclaw149473 2 years ago 2
@121421rms: I heard that Lehrer wrote the Pigeons song about 8 years before he finally put it on disc, so if that's true then it's probably the other way round.
hackfleischkannibale 2 years ago
I wish I could meet Mr. Lehrer and get an autograph or something. I wrote him once, never heard back. Tom is a genius.
pazzensutra 2 years ago
just awesome!
MrRookie89 2 years ago
haha, hab ich nicht gekannt that, ist aber klasse!! wie sind die connections entre t. lehrer y g. kreisler eigentlich? cest a real discovery für mich.
dp2107a 2 years ago
It's clear that Poisoning Pigeons in the Park is at the very least inspired by G. Kreisler.
121421rms 2 years ago
I know Tom Lehrer for now 6 years (i'm now 16) and he is waaay past my time and i didn't even really speak english when i was 10, so my father sat down with me and we went through every song we had discussing it. Such wonderful memorys...
ShanaNoFlameHaze 2 years ago 5
Such brilliance...
Evasively 2 years ago
Gather round while I sing you of Wernher von Braun,
A man whose allegiance
Is ruled by expedience.
Call him a Nazi, he won't even frown.
"Ha, Nazi Schmazi," says Wernher von Braun.
Don't say that he's hypocritical,
Say rather that he's apolitical.
"Once the rockets are up, who cares where they come down?
That's not my department," says Wernher von Braun.
marianjeromin 2 years ago 3
Some have harsh words for this man of renown,
But some think our attitude
Should be one of gratitude,
Like the widows and cripples in old London town
Who owe their large pensions to Wernher von Braun.
marianjeromin 2 years ago
You too may be a big hero,
Once you've learned to count backwards to zero.
"In German oder English I know how to count down,
Und I'm learning Chinese," says Wernher von Braun.
marianjeromin 2 years ago 2
i just love the last few lines^^
MrRookie89 2 years ago
remember that he has written this song 1964 and what is know happening with China.
he had a goog notion
MrRookie89 2 years ago
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-button.
6funswede 2 years ago
My Grandfather told Werner von Braun an betrayer. And he was german.
marianjeromin 2 years ago
@ berniebay: The point is he didn't just join the Nazi Party but was designing and building the V-1 and V-2 rockets, the "Buzzbombs" hence the "widows and cripples in old London town who owe their large pensions to Werner von Braun." he was just as evil as the other high level Nazi's.
SteelFisher 2 years ago
He was a Dr. Faust.
He sold his soul to the Nazis and later to the US government.
As a scientist he was great´, but his charakter was not that great.
But hoses who blame him, especially the Germans and Americans, should never forgrt that these countries courted that man.
So part of the blame is on Germany and the USA.
schusterlehrling 2 years ago 7
Von Braun was so committed to rocketry and space travel that he really didn't have any sense of nationalism. It didn't matter to him whether he worked for Hitler, Stalin, Churchill, or the United States; as long as they supported his projects. Does this make him a hypocrite? I think it does. But if that is the case then the United States is equally hypoctitical. At least that is what I get out of this song.
hoosierdaddy3277 2 years ago 3
It makes him a Nazi
phastevie 2 years ago
nazi schmazi says werh-ner von braun...lol
hoosierdaddy3277 2 years ago 4
I love Tom Lehrer. This song in particular is great because, like so many other satirists, Lehrer uses seemingly light-hearted comedy to politely express his seething anger at the injustice of the world.
AHPMB 2 years ago
I love Tom *Sigh*
EllaKiyaBeatleGirl 2 years ago
re: "...learning Chinese..."
howprescient...
jdmars02 2 years ago
6funswede: I think Julianhood was refering to VonBraun...
Simon16180339 2 years ago
Simon16180339, oh sorry, you're right. But if von Braun was a genius, Lehrer is too (as a satirist :-)
6funswede 2 years ago
Do you have any idea how much this man effected our society? Good or bad, this man was a genius.
julianhood 2 years ago
julianhood, thank you, and, BTW, Lehrer is still alive :-)
6funswede 2 years ago
If you mean Von Braun then I agree. I guess the Nazi tag is why people think he was so bad but really.
If someone tells you to join the Nazi party in Nazi Germany you either say yes or go to the Russian front =)
berniebay 2 years ago
What mean "Ha, schmazi nazis " ??
viktorio3417 2 years ago
means "Nazi or not, who cares"
DasIllu 2 years ago
Danke :!!
viktorio3417 2 years ago
"Nazi schmazi" is just a way of dismissing something. Kind of in the Yiddish tradition. kinda like saying 'whatever'. "I was told that Katy was boring so I replied 'Boring schmoring'"!!
bear75056 2 years ago
"Werner von Braun's autobiography was titled "I Aim For The Stars", but he should have added "But Sometimes I Hit London"
-Jed Bartlet from the West Wing
IHaveTheQi 2 years ago 35
IHaveTheQi, he he, yes, that was Mort Sahl and Tom Lehrer's humor :-)
6funswede 2 years ago
definitly a good one
Ironduke666 2 years ago
this is the anthem that starts "Deutschland Über Allen"?
laqerhill 2 years ago
@laqerhill Yes it starts with the german anthem "Das Lied der Deutschen", well even they don't sing "Deutschland über alles" any more. After the verses you hear the austrian folk song (from Vienna) "Oh mein lieber Augustin".
By the way, even Tom Lehrer's name is german: Lehrer means teacher in German.
04279 1 year ago 3
NO VAULT 112
shaunarozonadona 2 years ago
that part about putting the german anthem as the intro is pretty cool i never knew that
masterj345 2 years ago 3
ahhh wow, I can't believe I didn't notice that. I'm studying to notice weird things like that. My music degree is clearly going to waste.
hairwire 2 years ago 3
i'm currently into this guy and his songs. his awesome!
celticsaga 2 years ago 2
Haha, the best scientists came from germany...."came" :/ sad story for everyone...
hennibenni 2 years ago 12
Catchy..
GUAlliance 2 years ago 3
April 2009 - 6funswede YouTube log. Errors July 2007-April 2009. "Pollution": Sound deteriorated. "When You Are Old And Gray": Video stuttering. "Send the Marines": Video stuttering. This is ALL YouTube errors, have written to them, but I don't expect any answers. Viewers: PLEASE use the annotation boxes with links in the videos.
6funswede 2 years ago
One question, what is the meaning of the last line of the lyric: "But I am learning Chinese says Wernher von Braun". I don't see how it is funny or how it fits into the lyric~~
OscarLiu24 2 years ago
He is referring to an armsrace in which the chinese are also participating (or were whatever politics is not my forte)
Smansoni 2 years ago
Russians and Americans had nuclear weapons, China was working on them.
ProfessorEgon 2 years ago 7
Keep in mind that the first lyrics talk about how his allegiance is ruled by expedience, meaning that if it looked like China (who ended up being the third country to produce nuclear weapons) might have the edge as a superpower, von Braun might jump ship and head there.
the idea being that von braun was less interested in allegiance than in being on the winning side.
its not racism
Gunman610 2 years ago 5
No,
opportunism was von Braun's policy.
He was racist and a Nazi when required and became American and a hero of the free world when required.
No need to say more.
schusterlehrling 2 years ago
We're all going to die in a nuclear holocaust within the next hundred years! LOL!!!!
dadoody 2 years ago
Everybody says that. I say the world will burn with old-fashioned fire if *I* have anything to do with it... >=)
shiekko 2 years ago
Well, no. You will die of stupidity.
Wekker56 2 years ago 3
Hey. Give me a hug.
dadoody 2 years ago
Hmm, then I wonder why he was arrested by the Gestapo or several of his peers mention that he was in a position where detested the use of slave labor but was unable to do anything about it without losing his own life?
Von Braun was a scientist put between a hard place and a harder one.
BaronUberstein 2 years ago 4
1.He was arrested, because they thought he would hide or sell away construction plans.
In fact, that IS what he did, as he already planned to leave for the USA.
2. His peers say that, but none of the surviving victims ever said it.
Who do you think tells the truth? The victims or the accused?
Facts tell a clear story sometimes, and men lie.
They simply lied about him and their own crimes.
schusterlehrling 2 years ago
Von Braun was like most people doing science: Its the result. And that alone. Morality is an encumberence. "Expediency daily shakes hands with ideals". When we look at technology and the its use,especially with politicians, we know this is true.
IExposeMormonism 2 years ago
Ein sehr lustiges Lied :) es gefällt mir als Deutschem ganz besonders. Wernher von Braun war aber wirklich apolitisch, ihn interessierte hauptsächlich, wo er seinen Traum vom Weltraumflug verwirklichen kann.
Fliegertruppe 2 years ago 3
what does that mean? Could you please translate, or could someone translate that for me? I need to see why people seem not like this particular comment
cableguys1234 2 years ago 2
When the Chinese win WW3 he'll be looking for another paymaster. "A man whose allegiance is ruled by expedience"
eve4001 2 years ago 6
@ cableguys: No idea why someone doesnt like my comment o.O I just said I, as a German, especially find that song funny and that von Braun was indeed apolitically, the only thing that drove him since he was a teenager is one day realizing a land on the moon.
Fliegertruppe 2 years ago 3
I can roughly, I speak a bit of German. Let's see here.... " A very fun song. It cuts at Germans(?). Wernher von Braun was really apolitical. he was basically interested in science, where he would dream of what the world dreams of: to be able to achieve flight.
I may be a bit off, my German is fairly basic, but that's the general idea of it.I think.
Bin ich gut Fliegertruppe? Bist du ins Armee? Ich denke es, für du hasst "truppe" ins deine Name.
TheHappyGrunt 2 years ago 3
This has been flagged as spam show
tom is jackass
bakas21 2 years ago
How so?
CchrisSx95 2 years ago 6
bakas21, even if you don't like Lehrer or his songs, this is just a rude and stupid comment. And people who are unable to enjoy comedy or satire should NOT watch Lehrer on YouTube.
6funswede 2 years ago
sooooooo cute...
i m born half a century too late!!!
etchh 2 years ago 3
This has been flagged as spam show
6funswede, thanks for posting this! I'm currently working on a degree in space studies, and while I've been pouring over texts about the early space age, there was always a lot of debate over Von Braun...and I came across a reference to this song by Tom Lehrer. It's just brilliant. So glad you could share it! :)
caharris1974 3 years ago
Comment removed
caharris1974 3 years ago
One wishes that there were a Tom Lehrer for our generation.
So much material to work with....
ROBwithaB 3 years ago 14
Bo Burnham is the closest I know.. He doesn't really touch all the good stuff tho haha..
Also Weird Al.. but he's old hat lol.
IDK.. just look up parody songs about current issues I suppose.. I think I just might haha..
I saw alota funny spoofs and stuff on the election back while the race was still on lol
T1MP0SSIBLE 3 years ago 2
I like this guy way better than Bo because bo has a tendency to be really obscene. = /
fluffyxsama 3 years ago 4
Roy Zimmerman is the closest i can think of
ccowws 3 years ago
I have read an interview where Tom says he knows and loves Weird Al.
pazzensutra 2 years ago
try amutuer transplants, you might like
xavierrrr 2 years ago
Capitol Steps are a pretty good group making fun of American politics. As for world issues, I don't know.
brainiac256 2 years ago
This is and has always been one of my favourite Tom Lehrer tunes - like so many of his songs, it first makes you laugh and then makes you think, and he really manages to make an excellent point all the while entertaining his audience as well.
Thanks a lot for making these available, and thanks of course to Tom himself for allowing these to be made available as well.
Schneelocke 3 years ago 4
Schneelocke, thank you for your comment. Yes, I am most grateful to Lehrer for allowing us to enjoy these twelve song from a forgotten Ampex video tape. He is such a witty and timeless satirist, but at the same time he is a kind man :-)
6funswede 3 years ago
Thank you VERY MUCH. These are treasures indeed!
ikim70 3 years ago
Thanks, the Lehrer clips are an incredibly valuable resource, and you are doing the world a service by having them here.
The widescreen version is just annoyingly tight on his face though. I know it's fun to experiment with, but the original format has the most content and it's better. Forget YouTube's new format, and stick to the original. (You're kind of doing the opposite of "pan and scan" and removing content by going wide screen! Not good.)
More Lehrer though! Great stuff!
rockyPants4000 3 years ago
rockyPants4000, thank you for your comment. It really is Tom Lehrer himself who are doing the world a service by allowing the channel to exist. As for the conversion, I would never have substituted the original 4:3-version with the version on this page. This was an experiment. If you study the 4:3 original, you will see that nothing very important was left out, although I'll agree that the close-up got very close here :-)
6funswede 3 years ago
Fantastic song....Anyone who likes this should check out Jake Thackray too
ludovica36 3 years ago
ludovica36, thank you so much for appreciating Tom Lehrer. Yes, I just watched Thackray's "On Again". Hilarious!
6funswede 3 years ago
You're welcome!6funswede. I've known some Tom Lehrer songs since I was a little kid, as my dad is a huge fan and always has been. He has all the records and the sheet music and lyrics etc LOL
ludovica36 3 years ago
That's nice. The twelve videos on The Tom Lehrer Wisdom Channel are rare, but Lehrer thinks that people should be able to enjoy them. Spread the word :-)
6funswede 3 years ago
This is such a wonderful classic. Thanks for posting.
Flerndip22 3 years ago 2
This song was originally published in July of 2007, and the original version is still on the channel. But here is a widescreen version with a spoken intro. If possible, try to watch it in higher quality. The video was encoded from a source with the pixel size of 1024 X 576.
6funswede 3 years ago
I thought YouTube reencodes these at 640x360.
SKUNKOFPOWER 3 years ago
SKUNKOFPOWER, that's true. I just tried to use a SOURCE clip with higher resolution for test purposes. The actual result is 640X360, and I can see that the video isn't technically good. Thank you for commenting.
6funswede 3 years ago
Looks fine to me! I just have a horrible computer so I don't want to waste any cycles when encoding, heh
SKUNKOFPOWER 3 years ago