For anyone with a final coming up, or with a hankering for some Tom Lehrer, a rare recording (and lyrics) from a musical comedy he wrote in the ’50s while teaching at a certain community college up in Massachusetts. A fun listen for review session season:
Ha, he asks if there are any questions.
Holy smoke have I got questions!
I’ve got a ton, and every one,
Would take him half a day to do.
But I don’t really want to stay here
Since he’s said all he has to say here
But it’s agreed that I shall need
Much more than luck on the examination.
And so I think I’ll let him say goodbye
I guess that he is as relieved as I
Goodbye, goodbye,
Thank God the course is over now, goodbye
A performance in 1951
Trivia: Tom Lehrer, of course, became a very successful satirical songwriter — one of the two or three most widely known during the 50s, 60s, and early 70s. Two of the other cast members were advisors to U.S. presidents, one became a photographer for Time and Life magazines, and three others became highly-regarded professors at Tulane, Case Western, and UC Davis. The recording of the show was made by a young professor, Norman Ramsey, who went on to win the Nobel Prize.
Science in Society 