Sorry for the delay but I have been looking for the lyrics for a couple of Tom
Lehrer tunes that I
think would be appropriate for the post WWIII playlist. Tom Lehrer doesn't get
much air time
since the demise of the Dr. Demento show on US radio so here are short excerpts
from his repetoir
of some 46 satirical songs:
We Will All Go Together When We Go
"No more ashes, no more sackcloth,
And an armband made of black cloth
Will someday nevermore adorn a sleeve.
For if the bomb that drops on you
Gets your friends and neighbors too,
There'll be nobody left behind to grieve."
Or how about this old favorite of the 1960's:
"So long Mom,
I'm off to drop the bomb,
So don't wait up for me,
But though I may roam,
I'll come back to my home,
Although it may be
A pile of debris.
"Remember Mommy,
I'm off to get a commie,
So send me a salami,
And try to smile somehow,
I'll look for you when the war is over --
An hour and a half from now!"
Tom Lehrer's most personal venom was directed on Wernher von Braun, a developer
of the V2 rocket
during WWII and eventually head of the USA's National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA):
"Some have harsh words for this man of renown,
But some think our attitude should be one of gratitude,
Like the widows and orphans in old London town
Who owe their large pensions to Wernher von Braun.
You too may be a big hero,
Once you've learned to count backwards to zero.
'In German oder English I now how to count down,
Und I'm learning Chinese,' says Wernher von Braun."
The spread of nuclear weapons around the world was also a concern of Tom Lehrer.
"Who's Next" concludes with this thought:
"Luxembourg is next to go,
And (who knows?) maybe Monaco.
We'll try to stay serene and calm,
When Alabama gets the bomb"
--- Richard Cuff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> The suggestion of classical music reminds me of Radio Moscow's habit
> when they would lose their leaders back in the day...they'd switch to
> all-somber-all-the-time before announcing that Premier Whatshisname
> had died.
I remember several of these events. The first was the death of Joe Stalin.
Radio Moscow spent
days tracking his demise with daily reports of his vital statics, temperature,
blood pressure,
heart rate, etc. Heady stuff on my new Hallicrafters S-38B radio I bought with
money from mowing
lawns. Of course many skeptics believed Stalin was already dead and the
Kremlin was just covering
up while they found a successor so there would not be a vacuum in the top
office. Georgi Malenkov
bubbled to the top and all was well. The music began.
Joe Buch
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