That Was the Year That Was

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That Was the Year That Was
Live album by Tom Lehrer

Publication
(s)

September 1, 1965

admission

1965

Label (s) Reprise / Warner Bros. Records

Format (s)

LP

Genre (s)

satire

Title (number)

14th

running time

37 min 11 s

production

Jimmy Hilliard

Location (s)

San Francisco

chronology
Revisited That Was the Year That Was -

That Was the Year That Was is a live album by the US singer-songwriter Tom Lehrer, recordedin Hungry i in San Francisco in July 1965. It contains 14 satirical songs that teachers originally wrote for NBC's 1964-1965 produced and broadcast weekly television show That Was The Week That Was , the majority of which were performed on the programs. All songs deal with topics from the then current news.

Track list

page 1

  1. National Brotherhood Week - 2:35
  2. MLF Lullaby - 2:25
  3. George Murphy - 2:08
  4. The Folk Song Army - 2:12
  5. Smut - 3:15
  6. Send the Marines - 1:46
  7. Pollution - 2:17

Page 2

  1. So Long, Mom (A Song for World War III) - 2:23
  2. Whatever Became of Hubert? - 2:13
  3. New Math (song) - 4:28
  4. Alma - 5:27
  5. "Who's Next?" - 2:00
  6. "Wernher von Braun" - 1:46
  7. "The Vatican Rag" - 2:14

Subjects of the songs

The songs on That Was the Year That Was always dealt with current events from 1964 and 1965 , in which the satirical program That Was The Week That Was was accompanied by Tom Lehrer.

  • National Brotherhood Week - The song deals with the National Brotherhood Week , which was organized by the National Conference for Community and Justice (NCCJ) every year in the third week of February from the 1940s to the 1980s . The first stanza refers to racism in the United States , namely the segregation of public schools that was not repealed until the Civil Rights Act of 1964 . The song turns against the hypocrisy of the (predominantly white) liberals, the NCCJ, too, was created as an association of white Protestants, Jews and Christians: It's fun to eulogize the people you despise, as long as you don't let 'em in your school ( German : It's fun to praise the people you despise as long as you don't let them into your schools ). In the following text, the hatred between the religions , which was only lifted for National Brotherhood Week , is addressed, which is "as American as Apple Pie" ( Oh the protestants hate the catholics, (...) and the hindus hate the muslims, and everybody hates the jews ).
  • George Murphy - George Murphy was a dancer and an actor on Broadway and in Hollywood , the 1951 one for his work in the film industry honor Oscar received. In the early 1960s he took over the presidency of the Republicans in the state of California . In 1964 he ran for a seat in the California Senate and defeated the Democratic incumbent Pierre Salinger . During the election campaign, Murphy's acting career was discussed extensively and the question raised whether an actor with no political experience would be suitable for the office of senator. Besides Murphy teacher takes in his song also refers to the newly as the third senator for the state Massachusetts elected Robert F. Kennedy , actress and democratic politician Helen Gahagan (which for Richard Nixon the term Tricky Dick coined), and especially in politics boarded actor Ronald Reagan . Teacher: Oh, gee, it's great: at last we've got a Senator who can "really" sing and dance! (German: man, that's great: finally we have a senator who can really sing and dance ).
  • The Folk Song Army - In the mid-1960s, a large number of protest songs were released by numerous performers . They mostly served to support new social movements such as the peace movement , especially in opposition to the Vietnam War and to nuclear armament. Other topics included the fight against racism , which is ubiquitous in the US , world hunger and numerous forms of poverty and injustice. Teacher also alludes to the role of political songs in the Spanish Civil War : Remember the war against Franco ? That's the kind where each of us belongs. Though he may have won all the battles, We had all the good songs! (German: Do you remember Franco? That's our thing! He may have won all battles, but we had the better songs. )
  • Smut - Smut is a slang term in American English for profanity, and particularly for pornography . In 1957, the United States Supreme Court had upheld the conviction of publisher Samuel Roth by six to three votes for distributing obscene writings (erotic literature and nude photographs) by post, since the 1st Amendment to the Constitution did not allow the distribution of this type of publication the United States is protected. Roth was serving a prison sentence of several years as a repeat offender. However, the Supreme Court had also found that art , literature and scientific research are also protected by the first amendment with regard to content of a sexual nature. Thus, numerous works of world literature were no longer subject to censorship and the threat of punishment for their dissemination was no longer applicable. The decision is considered a milestone in US legal history and the handling of "obscene material" was still the subject of public debate in the 1960s.
  • Pollution - Teacher refers here to environmental pollution , namely the pollution of drinking water and air with environmental toxins : If you visit American city, You will find it very pretty. Just two things of which you must beware: Don't drink the water and don't breathe the air! (German: If you visit an American city, you'll find it pretty nice. But you have to be careful of two things: don't drink water and don't breathe air! )
  • So Long, Mom (A Song for World War III) - With this song, Lehrer is a response to the large number of for -profit media releases marking the anniversaries of the American Civil War , the beginning of the First and the end of World War II . This also included numerous releases of LPs with songs from these wars. Against the background of the nuclear deterrent strategy of the balance of horror , teacher countered this with his song on the Third World War, which in his opinion should be written beforehand.
  • Whatever Became of Hubert? - Hubert Humphrey , the first Democratic Senator for the state of Minnesota from 1948 to 1964 , served as Vice President of the United States under Lyndon B. Johnson from January 1965 . With the assumption of office, Humphrey, who had previously been one of the defining figures in US politics, was in the shadow of the president and was hardly noticed in public. With the song, Lehrer takes up the idea that taking over the office of vice president did not represent a career leap, that the vice president only had representative tasks, and that he only gained importance after the president's death. Teacher: Second fiddle's a hard part, I know, When they don't even give you a bow (German: Playing the second violin is hard, I know if they don't even give you a bow ).
  • New Math - The reform of mathematics teaching carried out in the USA and Europe in the wake of the Sputnik shock in the 1960s included turning away from traditional arithmetic teaching and turning to abstract concepts as early as elementary school age. This development has often been criticized by parents and teachers. New Math satirizes the innovations with a number of erroneous "calculation examples". Teacher: In the new approach, as you know, the idea is to "understand what you're doing", rather than to "get the right answer"! (German: The novel approach, as you know, is more to "understand what you are doing" than "to get a correct solution" ). Tom Lehrer himself was also a math teacher.
  • Alma - Alma Mahler-Werfel died in December 1964. In her youth she was a composer and painter, but in the first half of the 20th century she was mainly perceived as the wife of the composer Gustav Mahler , the architect Walter Gropius and the poet Franz Werfel, as well as the lover of the painter Oskar Kokoschka and other celebrities. Although she herself had accompanied her Jewish husband Werfel into emigration, a few years before her death she caught the anti-Semitic abuses in her autobiography And the Bridge is Love , which led to a break with several friends. However, Lehrer's ballad refers only to the three marriages and numerous love affairs of Mahler-Werfel.
  • Who's Next? - In this song, teacher lists states that have already come into possession of nuclear weapons as part of the proliferation of weapons, or might have them in the future: Luxembourg is next to go, And, who knows, maybe Monaco. We'll try to stay serene and calm, When Alabama gets the bomb! Who's next, who's next, who's next? (German: Luxemburg is next, and, who knows, maybe Monaco. We'll try to keep calm when Alabama gets the bomb! Who's next, who's next, who's next? ) In later years exchanged Teachers took the state of Alabama against Neiman Marcus , a US chain of luxury department stores.
  • Wernher Von Braun - The song criticizes the German-born rocket researcher and space pioneer Wernher von Braun , especially with regard to his involvement in National Socialist politics, Nazi forced labor and the construction and manufacture of the " retribution weapon " V2 . The theme is that the "good old American" von Braun was able to continue the work he had begun during the Nazi dictatorship almost seamlessly in the USA: Once the rockets are up, Who cares where they come down? That's not my department, says Wernher Von Braun (German: Once the rockets are up, who cares where they come down? That's not my department, says Wernher von Braun ). The information that Wernher von Braun sued teachers for damages and that taught teacher ended his music career because of this is untrue, as Tom Lehrer stated in an interview in 2003.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Tom Lehrer - National Brotherhood Week Lyrics , text on MetroLyrics.com, accessed October 25, 2018.
  2. ↑ Tom Lehrer - MLF Lullaby Lyrics , text on MetroLyrics.com, accessed October 25, 2018.
  3. ↑ Tom Lehrer - George Murphy Lyrics , text on MetroLyrics.com, accessed October 25, 2018.
  4. ↑ Tom Lehrer - The Folk Song Army Lyrics , text on MetroLyrics.com, accessed October 25, 2018.
  5. ↑ Tom Lehrer - Smut Lyrics , text on MetroLyrics.com, accessed October 25, 2018.
  6. ↑ Tom Lehrer - Send the Marines , text on MetroLyrics.com, accessed October 25, 2018.
  7. ↑ Tom Lehrer - Pollution , text on MetroLyrics.com, accessed October 25, 2018.
  8. ↑ Tom Lehrer - So Long, Mom , text on MetroLyrics.com, accessed October 25, 2018.
  9. ↑ Tom Lehrer - Whatever Became of Hubert? , Text on MetroLyrics.com, accessed October 25, 2018.
  10. ↑ New Math. Tom Lehrer , text on Genius, accessed October 25, 2018.
  11. ↑ Tom Lehrer - Alma , text on MetroLyrics.com, accessed October 25, 2018.
  12. ↑ Tom Lehrer - Who's Next , text on MetroLyrics.com, accessed October 25, 2018.
  13. ↑ Tom Lehrer - Wernher Von Braun , text on MetroLyrics.com, accessed October 25, 2018.
  14. ↑ Stop clapping, this is serious , Sydney Morning Herald, March 1, 2003 accessed October 25, 2018th
  15. ↑ Tom Lehrer - The Vatican Rag Lyrics , text on LyricsFreak, accessed October 25, 2018.