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December 22, 2023 58 mins

The great Tom Lehrer has a new album! Put out by Needlejuice records and mixed by our guest, Jeff Morris, from the original reel-to-reel tapes, it's a compilation of all of Tom's songs recorded with an orchestra, now available in stereo for the first time. This gives us a wonderful excuse to revisit Tom's unusual career, his transition from touring artist to UC-Santa Cruz math instructor, and some of our favorite songs, like Silent E, which we include in the podcast.  Jeff tells the story of how he met Tom when Jeff was writing a paper on satire in high school and their subsequent friendship and the discovery of the orchestral tapes in Tom's basement. We also talk about Tom's recent attempt to share his music by placing all his songs in the public domain, which shows just what an extraordinary person he is. Merry Christmas to you all, and, as Tom would say, hail Santa and his reindeer, but don't stand underneath when they fly by. And in the spirit of Christmas, go buy his new album!

Jeff Morris's website:
morrisstudios.com

Tom Lehrer's website:
tomlehrersongs.com

Jeff's Dr. Demento website:
dmdb.org

Where to buy the album:
https://needlejuicerecords.com/products/the-conducted-tom-lehrer-cd

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