Tom Lehrer: The Irish Ballad (concert live) (1960)
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- čas přidán 18. 09. 2010
- The first part of the video (my signature slide) is overlaid by the final bars of "National Anthem of Uruguay", which I played on my keyboard.
The main part of the song is one of Tom Lehrer's live performed songs, "The Irish Ballad". It is part of Tom's second published live performance album, "Tom Lehrer Revisited". But I obtained the actual music from the box set, "The Remains of Tom Lehrer", which was released in 2000. Enjoy.
And the last part is the main theme of "The Phantom of the Opera", by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Simply the 'cherry on top', and my personal song.
Here's the description Tom Lehrer himself made about the song: "The folk song has in recent years become the particular form of permissible idiocy of the intellectual fringe. Here, for these elite, is an ancient Irish ballad; it is complete with modal tune, simple story line, and inane refrain, but it differs from other ancient ballads in that it was written in 1950."
Sorry I gave so much information about the music earlier. I don't want to get screwed by stupid WMG again. They are a bunch of arse-holes. And to make sure I am not screwed, have them read the following credits:
Recorded at KRESGE AUDITORIUM, MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, Cambridge, MA (11/23/59 & 11/24/59)
Produced by TOM LEHRER
Engineered by STEPHEN FASSETT
From the album "Tom Lehrer Revisited", Decca [U.K.] #LK-4375 (1960)
[NOTE: A somewhat different version of this album, incorporating portions of concerts done in Australia in 1960, was issued domestically as Lehrer #TL-201 (1960)]
"The Remains of Tom Lehrer" Compilation ℗ 2000 Warner Bros. Records Inc. & Rhino Entertainment Company. - Hudba
Let us all have a moment of silence for the people that have not yet discovered Tom Lehrer.
Paris 54 ....I just have this very minute! 😍
Thanks for your prayers...I’m here now!
I've discovered him 5 days ago and I can't stop listening
@@LadyOrland0_ That’s the way to go.
That is the most tragic thing I heard today...
One thing can definitely still be said, and that is that Tom Lehrer was, is, and shall be unique.
I agree there haven't been anyone like him, but that's strange... He seems like an archetype it would be easy to imitate. I guess Tim Minchin is inspired.
Damn.. the lines on this man... he's still alive and 91 years old now... what a great singer and writer
94 today! (unless he died in the last 24 hours)
I was shocked when I found out he’s still alive! (He’s 95 now, in case you couldn’t do the math based on the last comment)
Just passing by to confirm that mathematics still work, making Tom 96 this year.
He's joking but I'm using this for a song in my dnd bards repertoire
i have an Irish bard planed this is definitely the perfect intro for her
Oddly enough, so am I!
Count me in too.
He’s like Bo Burnham and John Mulaney rolled into one and sent back in time.
That’s exactly what I thought
I was about to comment he was 20th century bo burnham
@@magicman4326 Would not a more accurate statement be 'Bo Burnham is a 21st century him"?
@@carlmanvers5009 I 100% agree.
I'd say a musical Norm Macdonald
I memorized “An Evening (Wasted) With Tom Lehrer” at age 10 (in 1961). I credit Mr. Lehrer with providing the foundation for my sense of humor.
Me, tooooo! Credit goes to my dad that I was 4, though. The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour was canceled on my 6th birthday -- also credit to my dad that I hadn't missed a night of it❤.
Good for you! I have written (very irreverent and vulgar) songs that I could never have come up with without the valuable Lehrer foundation. Only one. "Cell Phone" is recorded on CZcams, but I suspect that after my death the others will become hits.
I hope your wishes come to pass.
The real trick in any given Tom Lehrer song is its solid basis in the type of music it parodies. This one is very much in the mode of Thomas Moore’s songs written around 1800.
I'm 60, I discovered Tom Lehrer when I was 16 on an old '78 record I found in a junk store. I loved him immediately, & I played guitar so I promptly wrote out the lyrics then added the guitar chords over them. These were songs no one had heard, i had a LOT of fun with them!! He helped me overcome some of my shyness, I love this guy to this day. You may have copyrights on lyrics, I had & sang these songs I would imagine before you were born. :0)
Nice
I'm 61, first heard him when I was maybe 16 on dr demento. Poisoning Pigeons in the park. I was hooked from then on
@@jack002tuber I'm 53 and I also first heard Tom Lehrer on Dr Demento in 1983 with the song Be Prepared. Sadly I thought to myself who is this guy ripping off Mark Russell? I eventually learned the inverse was true thanks again to the good doctor.
I am a halfway decent vocalist and a very mediocre pianist. A couple of months ago, I managed to transpose and play the accompaniment for "Irish Ballad." Like most so-so tunes, it only has three chords. I just had to switch stuff around a bit so it didn't get too old...although the last verse is pretty much dead-on: "If you do not enjoy my song, you've yourselves to blame if it's too long. You should never have let me begin."
I'm sure my neighbors are sick of it. XD I want to learn "The Vatican Rag." An issue I have is it takes me a long time to learn a piano tune, but the key I need to sing it in depends upon vocal circumstances. Sometimes when my voice is overused, I can't sing notes near my break, so I have to "cheat" by transposing my digital piano.
When I sing in my tiny little venues, I wouldn't dream of using autotune or lip-syncing, but I'd sure as hell transpose the keyboard. ;) I guess as an amateur, I still have to cheat.
did you ever tell anyone in your life that you were interested in this style of comedy? how did they react to it?
My goodness, the man is a genius.
Absolutely!!!
I'm just discovering Tom Lehrer -- HILARIOUS!!!
Me too. I was introduced to him only this week, by a good friend to whom I now profoundly indebted.
And so am I
Still grinning stupidly from discovering him in July 2019. I've definitely binged on WORSE things though!
same here in 50 years late.
Its 2019. I just discovered him thanks to CZcams Algorithm
Thanks YT
It sounds so much like an actual Irish Ballad that it's messing with me head.
Actually the music itself doesn't sound Irish but his accent isn't bad.
@@themaggattack
Sounds a little like,
There is a Tavern in The Town
(Welsh Ballad).
@@alanpennie8013 Nothing at all like it.
I love how he says that they’re recording anything these days, and those were the days before Despacito and Señorita.
Thank God I got bored at midnight! Or else I would've never found this hilarious man!
He is so incredibly dry and I love it
the song proper starts at 2:28
Thanks
@@erroryara but then you are missing all the fun :P
This is a song that you would hear in a Tim Burton movie sung by a female ghost wearing an all white tattered dress on a piano made of bones
I love it!
I dunno why but I could see that happening. I could picture it vividly 😂😍
1. Tim Burton did a lot of work with Depp
2. Depp can sing, as proven in Sweeney Todd
These are facts, make of those what you will
As an avid consumer and singer of folk music, I think this qualifies as an instant traditional classic. Step it Out Mary, Whiskey in the Jar, Drunken Sailor, and many more, this one fits right in. Perhaps I'll introduce it to the Irish Folk group I often sing with; see if they can even tell it's from less than a century ago. 😂
Have been listening to Irish folk music for years; this is... really not that far off from a lot of the real ones. (Check out "Bean Phaidin," for instance.)
I bought Tom Lehrer's album that included this in 1964, and played it endlessly for friends. The other songs were equally memorable. Good memories.
In 1972, Tom joined the faculty of the University of California, Santa Cruz, teaching an introductory course entitled The Nature of Mathematics for liberal arts majors . The truth! He graduated magna cum laude in mathematics from Harvard.
Fight fiercely Harvard, fight fight fight!
Demonstrate to them our skill.
Albeit they possess the might
Nonetheless we have the will.
Oh we will celebrate our victory
We shall invite the whole team out to tea - how jolly!
So hurl that spheroid down the field and fight, fight fight -- and do fight fiercely...
My son entered Harvard in 1999. The next Harvard-Yale game that was in Boston (2000) I prevailed upon him to go, just for the experience. Harvard lost and I called him to rag on him a bit (I went to Columbia, which owns the longest NCAA football losing streak at 44 games). He commented, "My HS team could beat either of those teams." Probably true, but very few of his HS classmates will be pulling the levers of industry and government and academia in the next decades.
this man was clearly a pioneer of modal jazz
the crew in abbey tavern, howth ireland used to sing this song with gusto. wonder if they still do
You do realise this is not a real Irish song and is largely unknown in Howth?
The OP was probably just making a joke, but there are plenty of real traditional drinking songs which are over the top macabre like this, so I'm sure it could be adopted easily enough.
@@otooleger I have known the origins of this song since 1962. Tom Lehrer an american mathematician wrote it, and many other scathing songs - hilarious too.
As good as it gets. Classic. I was RAISED on these songs!
Somehow seem to have lost my comment - anyway, though I did not sing anything except background in production of "Tomfoolery" in tnis song but I did get to do the introduction. Also, I was assigned to play the violin during the show. I'd never played a string instrument in my life, but somehow managed to play it badly but close enough to be funny. Reminiscent of "Man Who Came To Dinner", when they taught me simple chords to play on the piano for my character, Beverly Carlton (Noel Coward). One night, I lost track of the keyboard and made a total hash of what I was supposed to play. Director later told me he heard a commend from an audience member, "He must be a MARVELOUS musician to play that badly that well!"
:-)
I first heard Tom Lehrer via my brother's record in the mid fifties. I was approximately 8 or 9 years old (I literally wore out the record) and have been a fan of his musical satire and commentary ever since.
The original Bo Burnham.
The sense of sight is what guides us right when we go out on walks
Only just found tom wich confirms my childhood assumption that none of my parets/grandparents had a sense of humour, well if they did i wud already know these songs.
Now i want to hear mark hamill singing this in his joker voice....
I go loooooney!
That would be the best thing ever. I'd also like to hear him do that with "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park"
YES THANK YOU
@@ryane269 Positively looooonyyy..
"... will sit around enthralled ..."
Maybe, but my 17-year-old self wasn't familiar with that word at the time. (I'm 23 now.)
@@AlexSh789 Not maybe - definitely.
Dr. Demento used to play this version on his show in the early 90s (as well as the Hunting Song) - helped me rediscover Tom Lehrer, and remind me that he was also behind several songs from The Electric Company that I'd watched in reruns when I was very young - absolutely brilliant stuff!
Song starts at 2:28
I think he secretly worships that "idiotic refrain" even now.
And so shall we!
I’m surprised the Smothers Brothers didn’t cover this song.😄
Holy cow, this song is as old as me.
Unique
Would love to meet this dude
Hahaha. Making fun of my roots never was so....funny. :D
I sing this since 1953!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Even darker humor than his other songs
Really? Even darker than "I Hold Your Hand In Mine"...?
@@AlexSh789 Only one person died in that one.
@@martincohen8991 - Touché!
There were a lot of people pissed off in the comments for "it makes a fellow proud to be a soldier". Odd that everyone is so much cooler about this song.
Fantastic piano work on this version
I love it
This also is brilliant. I do know several folk songs, some of them quite vulgar, but he's right about several of the recently-born "folk songs".
Was in puberty while singing this 😂
Old Tom wasn't too happy with that,
"Three chords and the truth" schtick.
I was taught this at school when we were 10.
In 1988
This and the jobs worth song
Jobsworth song:
czcams.com/video/fz44_Sp0K8A/video.html
In the dictionary under "Black Humour" it only says, see Tom Lehrer's The Irish Ballad. ; )
Or “I hold your hand in mine”
It just sounds like what you would expect from Game of Thrones after hearing about it but before actually seing the show...
...maybe.
Certainly, before it's desecration this season.
I can confirm. I have never watched it, and this is precisely what I expect, except with a lot more sex and incest.
@@paris5410
Oh the songs in the actual show were quite a bit more disturbing.
Particularly,
It's always Summer beneath The Sea.
@@alanpennie8013 Oh dear I need to listen to that
@@paris5410
It's definitely on CZcams.
Check out “The Elements” by Tom Lehrer.
DEAR GOD
What is the referral to Davy Jones please?
Davy Jones' locker is a common term for the bottom of the sea.
Alexander Shekhtman thank you kindly, this ballad just became more morbid!
Must say that i dislike the inclusion of the additional song at the start, but other than that I must say it is rather enjoyable.
+ForgotenTemplar I totally agree with you on that
+ForgotenTemplar I love that intro, it's hilarious! If you not like, you're a fool
+ForgotenTemplar The signature slide is necessary, as it shows who is making the video, however it is enjoyable. Though another slide could have been used.
What about the description?
You could say who made the video there
a macabre tale made into a song. I wonder why Tom Lehrer was fond of performing it.
gallows Humor
Interesting, so older people have always hated the popular music of their current day and age.
Thanks for uploading, I haven't heard this one before :) But at 0:39, I'm pretty sure he said "enthralled"?
He did, without a shadow of a doubt. Anything else would have been ungrammatical, and Mr. Lehrer was a highly educated man.
Still Brilliant
You just know George Carlin loved this guy!!!
The Quarantine Ballad
Has a Rob Zombie "House of a thousand corpses" about the pieces of skin. Lol still tryin to figure him out but what a great singer!
#Thanks
is the "remember pearl Habor" song this song?
/watch?v=5Nf_SzRFlHY
Tom wasn't exaggerating (much). Look up the old ballads, plenty of drowning people in rivers and such.
They're called 'murder ballads'. They've existed for centuries. It's a long tradition in folk music all over northern parts of Europe to sing the ballads of those who've been murdered and who've committed murder. It was basically like an oral history equivalent to homicide records.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_ballad
Nick Cave has a fantastic album of contemporary murder ballads:
www.amazon.com/Murder-Ballads-Nick-Cave-Seeds/dp/B000002N5S
are you thinking of "the old woman from Wexford"??
and the is a nordic song "Ebbe Skammelsøn". He does his family in also, including his bethroed!
Lehrer was delightfully demented.
@jabiel1210 Honestly, I don't know. I've never heard of it.
All thanks to my introduction to the Phenomena that is Tom Lehrer are due to Eric Wienstien.
To think!? I might have gone my whole life without this otherwise!
I believe every fan of Tom Lehrer is indebted to the person who introduced him to them. I am indebted to my middle school physics teacher, Mr. Kestenbaum.
No, it's just buggy.
- ET3 Alexander B. Shekhtman, USN
Me
She invited the nrighbours with a modest proposal.
Tom Lehrer said this song is modal so which mode or modes does it use?
Needs a verse about her execution.
Try 'The River Saile'/'Weile Waile'.
Legitimately a good song for me at least.
perfect for halloween :)
Dunno who that girl is but I like her :)
For some one who was not Irish . AYE HE GOT IT RIGHT ! I am Irish and I am laughing . 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣. Sure its daft.
I love YT!
2:27
I don't understand his Sessue Hayakawa joke. Can someone explain?
I'll respond to your question, with a question: Who attacked Pearl Harbor?
The name is Japanese, the Japanese attacked pearl harbor
Wow people back than got away with a lot more stuff now a days. I was cooking singing this song and police were almost called on me XD I wish I was born in this time!!!
wat?
Song starts at 2:32 right?
Zakeraka Gaming - Yup, this is the concert recorded version. If you'd like to hear the studio recorded version that begins right away, you can find it here: czcams.com/video/P_jjRNMOopA/video.html .
Twisted
Wow how can it be that i never encountered him before... what is wrong with people
🇮🇪
Am I the only one that always freezes for about ten seconds at 0:04?
He says "in thrall" It means the same thing as enthralled though.
No, he doesn't: I would see an ear specialist if I were you. And, no, while "in thrall to" means the same as "enthralled with," Lehrer here says "...will sit around enthralled, singing..." , in which case, it goes without saying, "...will sit around in thrall, singing..." would not be grammatically correct English, and would therefore be inconceivable from this supremely literate man.
He does NOT say "in thrall": that would be ungrammatical, as one cannot use "in thrall" one its own, without reference to whatever it is the person is in thrall to. He quite clearly says "enthralled." If you cannot hear this, I suggest you see a doctor.
@@DieFlabbergast quiet your coochie doctor serious
The nerd as rockstar
Started out funny, quickly became disturbing
After seeding Pandora with an Irish group, I've come to realize a lot of Irish/Celtic style music is disturbing.
Prescient!
Good song. Could've used a few more verses though.
I am here because of better call Saul
Viral Patel -Thats where I heard this!! Perfect for Gale the lab geek, right?? The song he was singing on Breaking Bad was pretty hard to memorize as well... ‘Crapa Pelada.’ There’s probably a video clip here with him singing it..
this is like if Bo Burnham was born a few decades earlier
I didn't know you could copyright copyrighted lyrics... The more you know!
It was more of a joke than an actual claim, but thanks for replying.
***** It's always bothered me a little bit that you put other music before the music, in the Masochism Tango it actually covers up Tom Lehrer, and the © bothers me a little, if I want to know who published the video, which I don't, I'll look below it. Because of that, I and possibly many other people, actively avoid your videos. Also, I can tell who wrote the comment from your username, you don't need to sign it.
-Finn B. Flaherty
That's actually strange how many there are. The thing that bothered me wasn't the trademark, it was the fact that a music video had music I didn't come to hear. If you're wondering, it was the Masochism Tango which had your music covering up the D and D# in the beginning. I'm not angry that your channel is successful, I'm happy for you, I'm just saying that there are probably other people like me who avoid your videos. I shouldn't have gotten so angry, and for that, I apologize. I'd like it if you'd take off the other song, especially for the Masochism Tango, but I recognize that I can't reasonably make requests of you, and that being a CZcamsr is hard. Thanks for responding.
@ jabiel1210 - That was a joke. There is no such song.
enthralled not, and thrall.
This one is too dark for me. Not the concept, but the specifics.
Try "I Will Hold Your Hand in Mine."
2019?
I love this version but Darby O’Gills is better I just can find it so
I don't believe a word of it.
But lying is a sin.
god this is hilarious
Bo Burnham but make it ww2
He loved making fun out of Irish Catholics Mexicans!