That Was the Week That Was

If you heard the title of this post as a musical refrain, you probably remember Tom Lehrer. He was a brilliant musical satirist who performed on TW3 and released long-playing records on vinyl. I had assumed for decades that he was Catholic, probably because of "Vatican Rag," which demonstrates great familiarity with the Roman Catholic liturgy.

But no, of course he's Jewish, raised on the Upper East Side in a secular household. He went to Harvard, majored in mathematics, was Phi Beta Kappa. He started writing ditties for college parties, like the famous pep song "Fight Fiercely, Harvard."

If you're too young to remember his performances, perhaps you will be impressed to know that he claimed to have invented the Jello shot. He was in the U.S. Army at the time, working in the National Security Agency, and his invention got around the restrictions on alcoholic beverages on the military base.

Lehrer never stopped teaching, although his fame as a performer let him carve out an interesting career path, teaching math in liberal arts programs. He wound up at UC Santa Cruz and didn't retire until he was in his 70s. His last class was on the topic of infinity.

But Tom Lehrer's career as a musical satirist came to an end in 1973, when Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. It was the moment when satire became obsolete, he said.

I've been thinking about Tom Lehrer this week. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on a visit to Washington, displayed a piece of paper nominating Donald J. Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize. Have we come full circle? Or perhaps more precisely, have we gone around the bend? Are we at the point where only the most brilliant satire can describe our plight?

Is it time for Tom Lehrer to come out of retirement?