Selling Out - Tom Lehrer
2:18
The Remains Of Tom Lehrer, 2003 (recorded 1953)
Written by Tom Lehrer
I've been a big fan of the satirist Tom Lehrer for many decades now. He was a math professor who could have been his era's "Weird" Al, but shunned the limelight. He put all his songs in the public domain. He was a political progressive way, way before it was cool and he wasn't afraid to point at our society's hypocrisies and errors, and even name names. So I know most of his brief oeuvre — but not every single song. For example I don't listen to the spelling songs he made for "Electric Company." So, while "We Will All Go Together" is a more appropriate send-off, this jaded look at artistic ideals vis-a-vis commercialism is a new one to me. "I've always found ideals / Don't take the place of meals." Wise words. RIP to a genius.
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