Francis Beckett doubts whether the Jesuits at his boarding school “ever realised the subversive nature of what we were listening to” (‘My songs spread like herpes’: why did satirical genius Tom Lehrer swap worldwide fame for obscurity?, 22 May). It may surprise him to know that I was first introduced to the incomparable Tom Lehrer by my Roman Catholic parish priest, in north London, who found The Irish Ballad a perfect comment on hypocrisy, in about 1959 or 60, and gleefully brought a copy of the LP round to my parents’ house. It was listened to avidly, among much hilarity. It’s possible, and even probable, that the scholarly Jesuits had as good a sense of the ridiculous as the Benedictines who ran the parish I grew up in.
Kate Enright
Weymouth, Dorset
• Francis Beckett’s article on Tom Lehrer made me laugh and took me whizzing back in time. In the late 1950s, our big brother, Sandy Craig, started at Glasgow University. He discovered Tom Lehrer there and brought him home to us in the shape of two second-hand 10-inch vinyls, which I still have. Our railwayman father laughed his head off at the songs. My sister Pat and I developed a party piece singing one of them with some of the more gruesome lyrics, I Hold Your Hand in Mine. I can still sing it today, ending with: “I’m sorry now I killed you / For our love was something fine / Until they come to get me / I shall hold your hand in mine.”
Maggie Craig
Ruthven, Aberdeenshire
• Thank you, Francis Beckett, for reminding me of Tom Lehrer and his fantastic songs. He was the best thing for me in 1959 when I saw/heard him at the Palladium in London and met my husband of 47 years at the same concert. I think I have all his records/tapes and learned the words of most of his songs. You have reminded me how to cheer myself up.
Annette Thomas
London
• Like Francis Beckett, I grew up listening to the satirical songs of Tom Lehrer compulsively. In 1992, while on an exchange scholarship at the University of California, Santa Cruz, I nervously approached him in the dining hall at Cowell College. “Mr Lehrer,” I said, “I’ve listened to your wonderful music since I was a child.” He looked me up and down and said: “It doesn’t seem to have done you too much harm.” I did not know that in 2020 he put all his work in the public domain. Like much else in his life, it is the action of a mensch.
Dr Marc Hudson
Stone, Staffordshire
• My late father (a research chemist) was a big Tom Lehrer fan, so we played The Elements at his funeral. The funeral director may have been confused by this choice.
Ann Middleton
Frome, Somerset
• I met Tom Lehrer when we were sophomores at Harvard in July 1944 and he was my closest friend for the next 10 years. We were roommates when his record came out in 1953 and I was one of his singers in his show The Physical Revue. Francis Beckett left out two important activities: the show Tomfoolery, produced in England and later around the world, and the songs Tom wrote for the Children’s Television Workshop, including songs for the Electric Company and That’s Mathematics.
David Z Robinson
Naples, Florida, US
• Surrendering celebrity will always be a mystery in a society so obsessed with fame. But to anyone who knows Tom Lehrer, there’s no mystery at all. I was privileged to attend Tom’s 80th birthday party, where he was serenaded by former students singing his songs, to his great delight, including an outstanding rendition of The Masochism Tango by my wife, Lisa, among whose proud accomplishments is once giving Tom a hickey. He loves math, he loves music, he loves his friends and students. Fame and money interest him not at all. We could use more like him.
Tim Goncharoff
Fairfield, California, US
• I was delighted to read the article about Tom Lehrer. I met Tom in London in 1976 when he visited my mother-in-law with two friends from Boston, who were professional singers. My mother-in-law was an opera coach, and I believe they had all first met in Rome when she was living there. Of course, I knew all about Tom from my then boyfriend, now husband, who had been keen to play me his songs at every opportunity.
I never imagined that I would meet him and, like most young people, I assumed that he had died and his joyfully subversive humour with him. You may imagine then, my shock at seeing him in my mother-in-law’s kitchen. Before you ask, yes, I did blurt out: “Oh, I thought you were dead!” He took it very well. He was a charming guest. I remember it was a very rowdy and laughter-filled lunch. How wonderful that he played and sang that day.
Suzanne Ramsay
Rivesaltes, France
• Oh, what a treat to find an article on the genius of Tom Lehrer. Like its author, I was a devotee of Mr Lehrer and his priceless wit. The man who once said “political satire became obsolete when Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel peace prize” remains an ever-present role model. Mr Lehrer is desperately needed in today’s upside-down world. In the States, his satire has regrettably become the reality of our everyday lives. His sarcasm entered my brain early on and I feel certain that it influences my understanding of all I encounter. Had he not been present in my formative years, I would not have been able to cope with the likes of Biden, Bush, Trump, Netanyahu and Putin.
Thanks to the writer I shall dance away the day with memories of The Vatican Rag. Thanks to Mr Lehrer for giving me a lifelong methodology for coping with the insanity that permeates the air, ground and water.
Charlotte Scot
Old Lyme, Connecticut, US
• Lovely piece about a great talent. Many ages ago, a bouncy little musical called Tomfoolery played at the Village Gate in Greenwich Village. It was devised and produced by Cameron Mackintosh and premiered in London. (Mackintosh went on to do some other shows.) At the Gate it was performed by four wonderfully talented actors and my wife worked on the show as company manager. For some reason a guitar was required, though I don’t recall it ever being used; anyway, I ended up owning the guitar, which later appeared in The Will Rogers Follies (and I never saw it again). On a final note, I had a friend in middle school who owned a copy of the original record and, as his house was on the way to my house, it was convenient to stop at his after school and listen to the songs and go on my way rejuvenated and ready to face another day of adolescence.
Christopher C Gibbs
Pittstown, New Jersey, US
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