Angels we have heard on High Tell us to go out and Buy. Tom Lehrer More Quotes by Tom Lehrer More Quotes From Tom Lehrer Things are much more complicated. Feminism versus pornography, for example. There are a lot of feminists who think it is bad, but others think it's good. Tom Lehrer writing song thinking You can make fun with Saddam Hussein jokes ... but you can't make fun of, say, the concentration camps. I think my target was not so much evil, but benign stupidity people doing stupid things without realising or, instead, thinking they were doing good. Tom Lehrer stupid fun thinking Step up and shake the hand Of someone you can't stand, You can tolerate him if you try! Tom Lehrer steps trying hands Be it ever so decadent, there's no place like home. Tom Lehrer home Once the rockets are up, who cares where they come down? Tom Lehrer who-cares rockets care The poor folks hate the rich folks, and the rich folks hate the poor folks. All of my folks hate all of your folks, it's American as apple pie. Tom Lehrer apples pie hate The civil liberties types who are fighting this issue have to fight it, owing to the nature of the laws, as a matter of freedom of speech and stifling of free expression and so on. But we know what's really involved, dirty books are fun. That's all there is to it. But you can't get up in a court and say that. Tom Lehrer fun book dirty From the three, you then use one to make eight ones. You add those ones to the three, and you get one-three base eight, or, in other words, In base ten you have eleven, and you take away seven. And seven from eleven is four. Now go back to the sixty-fours, you're left with two. Tom Lehrer eight add two You can raise welts like nobody else, as we dance to the Masochism Tango. Tom Lehrer tango raises dancing My last public performance for money was in 1967. For free, it was 1972, with the exception of two little one-shot, one-song things. But that's just for friends, out of friendship for the people involved, and also because it was fun. Tom Lehrer song fun two I have always found it interesting... that there are people who regard copyright infringement as a form of flattery. Tom Lehrer flattery people interesting There's ten stuffed heads in my trophy room right now, two game wardens, seven hunters, and a cow. Tom Lehrer games animal two The real issues I don't think most people touch. The Clinton jokes are all about Monica Lewinsky and all that stuff and not about the important things, like the fact that he wouldn't ban landmines...I'm not tempted to write a song about George W. Bush. I couldn't figure out what sort of song I would write. That's the problem: I don't want to satirize George Bush and his puppeteers, I want to vaporize them. And that's not funny....OK, well, if I say that, I might get a shock laugh, but it's not really satire. Tom Lehrer real writing song Filth, I'm glad to say, is in the mind of the beholder. When correctly viewed, everything is lewd. Tom Lehrer filth mind sex Comedy is very important. For one thing, it keeps you sane. But it's not really a conversion. I mean, it's marginally a conversion, because if people tune in or go to a nightclub or even watch television, and hear that a lot of other people are laughing at something you thought was not funny, at least it'll force you to reconsider. Tom Lehrer laughing mean people I always like to make explicit the fact that before I went off not too long ago to fight in the trenches, I was a mathematician by profession. I don't like people to get the idea that I have to do this for a living. I mean, it isn't as though I had to do this, you know, I could be making, oh, three thousand dollars a year just teaching. Tom Lehrer fighting teaching mean People are stupider than anybody. Tom Lehrer people To me, being funny is more important than making a point, but I don't know. Most politicians are so interested in making points that they don't ... I'd rather be funny myself, and I'd rather listen to somebody with a little sense of humor. Tom Lehrer sense-of-humor politician important And although I'm all for freedom of expression and against censorship, there are certain things I'm not willing to go to jail for. Tom Lehrer censorship jail expression If you asked me to write a rock song or a rap song, I couldn't do it because they're not in my fingers. Tom Lehrer rap writing song
