Songs by Tom Lehrer

Songs by Tom Lehrer
Studio album by Tom Lehrer
Released 1953
Recorded January 22, 1953
Genre Satire
Length
Label Lehrer Records
TL-1
Producer Tom Lehrer
Tom Lehrer chronology
Songs by Tom Lehrer
(1953)		 An Evening Wasted with Tom Lehrer
(1959)

Songs by Tom Lehrer is the name of the debut album of musical satirist Tom Lehrer.

Contents

Production and release history

Songs by Tom Lehrer was recorded in a single one hour session on January 22, 1953 at the TransRadio studio in Boston for the total studio cost of $15. The first pressing was an issue of 400 copies, produced at Lehrer's own expense in the 10" LP record format. Records were sold for $3.50, and later $3.95. Later releases were issued in 10" and 12" LP format.[1]

The songs from Songs by... were rerecorded for the 1960 live album Revisited. Songs by... itself was re-released as part of Songs & More Songs by Tom Lehrer in 1997 and on the 2000 box set The Remains of Tom Lehrer

Track listing

Side 1
  1. "Fight Fiercely, Harvard"
  2. "The Old Dope Peddler"
  3. "Be Prepared"
  4. "The Wild West Is Where I Want to Be"
  5. "I Wanna Go Back to Dixie"
  6. "Lobachevsky"
Side 2
  1. "The Irish Ballad"
  2. "The Hunting Song"
  3. "My Home Town"
  4. "When You Are Old and Gray"
  5. "I Hold Your Hand in Mine"
  6. "The Wiener Schnitzel Waltz"

1966 re-recording

In 1966, following the success of That Was the Year That Was, Reprise Records reissued several of Lehrer's previous LPs, but the company was dissatisfied with the technical quality of the original Songs album and persuaded Lehrer to make a new stereo recording of the album. However, in an attempt to make the songs more up to date, Lehrer made some noticeable changes in the lyrics that he later regretted and discarded. As of 2009, this version of the album has not been reissued on CD.[2]

The Reprise version of the album featured a cartoon cover designed by Eric Martin, who also designed the Year cover. [1]

Track listing

Side 1
  1. "I Wanna Go Back to Dixie"
  2. "The Old Dope Peddler"
  3. "When You Are Old and Gray"
  4. "The Wild West" (sic)
  5. "Fight Fiercely Harvard"
  6. "Lobachevsky"
Side 2
  1. "The Irish Ballad"
  2. "The Hunting Song"
  3. "My Home Town"
  4. "The Wienerschnitzel Waltz" (sic)
  5. "I Hold Your Hand in Mine"
  6. "Be Prepared"

Cover versions

During a period when Lehrer's original LP was hard to find (c. 1954), cover versions of all the songs on Songs by Tom Lehrer were released as Jack Eljan Sings Tom Lehrer's Song Satires. The album was performed by singer Jack Nagle under an easily deciphered assumed name. "Eljan"'s album was reissued in 1960 in the wake of Revisited's popularity.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b Lehrman, Paul D. (1997). "A Conversation with Tom Lehrer: the full text". paul-lehrman.com. http://www.paul-lehrman.com/insider/1997/12insiderfulltext.html. Retrieved 2009-05-25. 
  2. ^ a b Morris, Jeff (2005). "Tom Lehrer Discography". Demented Music Database (dmdb.org). http://dmdb.org/discographies/lehrer.disco.html. Retrieved 2009-05-25.