It is another horribly smoggy ... er, I mean "hazy" (apparently that's the new politically correct term for "smog") ... day here. The air is so thick with filth that it's trying to breathe mud from a toxic bog. Is it any wonder, then, that this Tom Lehrer classic has been dancing around my head all week.
Tom Lehrer was born in 1928 in New York, New York (as David Letterman used to say, "the city so nice they named it twice) to a Jewish-American family. He began studying classical piano at the age of 7, but was more interested in popular music. He began writing comic songs as an undergraduate (studying mathematics) at Harvard University to entertain his friends. His musical career was notably brief. Some say he quit because Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He denies this, although he did say that awarding the prize to Kissinger made political satire obsolete. Some say he was sued for libel by Wehrner van Braun (the subject of one of his songs). He also denies this. When asked why he quit, he has stated that he simply lost interest, disliked touring and grew bored of performing the songs over and over again.
Pollution by Tom Lehrer from the 1965 album "That Was the Year That Was"
Tom Lehrer website
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