Well, the daffodils are out, even the shrubs in my small garden are starting to grow. The weather has been rather nice of late. So, in this spirit, take it away, Mr Tom Lehrer:
Spring is here, a-suh-puh-ring is here.
Life is skittles and life is beer.
I think the loveliest time of the year is the spring.
I do, don’t you? ‘Course you do.
But there’s one thing that makes spring complete for me,
And makes every Sunday a treat for me.
All the world seems in tune
On a spring afternoon,
When we’re poisoning pigeons in the park.
Every Sunday you’ll see
My sweetheart and me,
As we poison the pigeons in the park.
When they see us coming, the birdies all try an’ hide,
But they still go for peanuts when coated with cyanide.
The sun’s shining bright,
Everything seems all right,
When we’re poisoning pigeons in the park.
We’ve gained notoriety,
And caused much anxiety
In the Audubon Society
With our games.
They call it impiety
And lack of propriety,
And quite a variety
Of unpleasant names.
But it’s not against any religion
To want to dispose of a pigeon.
So if Sunday you’re free,
Why don’t you come with me,
And we’ll poison the pigeons in the park.
And maybe we’ll do
In a squirrel* or two,
While we’re poisoning pigeons in the park.
I’ve always been a sucker for puns, plays on words and the like and this song contains one of the best forced rhymes in song writing history.
I used to be a fan of Lehrer and this one has always made me smile.
“We’ll murder them all
Amid laughter and merriment,
Except for the few
We take home to experiment!
My pulse will be quick’nin’
With each drop of strychnine
We feed to the pigeons –
It just takes a smidgen! –
To poison a pigeon in the park!”
Bah, to coin a phrase, humbug. It’s been raining all day here and, looking at my little Firefox weather thingy, I see we’re in for 30mph winds tomorrow.
Spring, forsooth!
(Agreed about Lehrer, though. By the way, why the asterisk at “squirrel”?)
I certainly share his dislike of pigeons.
Tom Lehrer wrote and sang some far better lines than those in Springtime. For example,
“Join in the folksong army,
Everyone of us cares,
We all hate poverty, war and injustice,
Unlike all of you squares.”
The Vatican Rag, National Brotherhood Week, Pollution and Proliferation, to mention just a few, are all full of great lines.
Although some of his cultural references are lost on most of us now – eg Who was Sheriff Clark – the attitude of his songs is still relevant.
Unlike so many “comics” now he didn’t follow a progressive party line, but was equally at home satirising the left as the right.
I love Lehrer.
Sometimes hilariously dark and sometimes just hilarious.
All his lyrics here!
And then there’s this.
Lehrer can be enjoyed no matter where you are on the political spectrum, too. I think when he enthusiastically sang about sending the marines he was being satirical and hist song in praise of Hubert Humphrey was sincere, but you can just as easily take them the other way around. It was at least 10 years, maybe more like 20 after I first heard “smut” that it occurred to me he was on the side of the bluenoses. Who cares! I have devoured where others merely nibbled.
For a British version of Lehrer, try and find records and lyrics by Paddy Roberts. The ballad of Bethnal Green and The Englishman is noted for his sang froid which translated means his uusal bloody cold , priceless.
See also ‘The Other Side Of Summer’ – Elvis Costello. He has a little pop at John Lennon and Pink Floyd with this:
Was it a millionaire who said imagine no possessions?
A poor little schoolboy who said we dont need no lessons?
I also noticed that spring has finaly sprung here in my part of Germany, the damn ABBAFEST signs are back up. I still dont understand the German love of Abba, must be a blond hair thing.
Lehrer has inspired me to learn to tango (warning: midi tango music).