A reputation for wit is often a burden – people expect bon mots to drop constantly from your lips – but no one ever wore their reputation for wit more lightly than the great American singer-songwriter Tom Lehrer, who has died aged 97.
Lehrer admirers all over the world know his witticisms from his concert recordings. “If, after hearing my songs, just one human being is inspired to say something nasty to a friend, or perhaps to strike a loved one, it will all have been worthwhile,” he said. A doctor became a specialist, “specialising in diseases of the rich”. And Lehrer reflected on protest singers: “It takes a certain amount of courage to get in a coffee house or a college auditorium and come out in favour of the things that everybody else in the audience is against, like peace and justice and brotherhood and so on.”
