Well, those of you who know my musical tastes know that I love the “bad” classical music of P.D.Q. Bach, or the “really rotten” nightclub music of Jonathan and Darlene Edwards (aka Paul Weston and Jo Stafford), and the musical satire/political commentary of Tom Lehrer. Well, here’s one from Tom Lehrer years ago about Henry Kissinger:
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… Since you brought him up. 
… it doesn’t get better than Lehrer … in order
- Wernher von Braun
- Who’s Next?
- Poisoning Pigeons in the Park
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This are awesome finds. Worth storing in the hard drive files.
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Ahhh wonderful tunes!! I’d forgotten there were these videos of him performing them. The Periodic Gilbert and Sullivan was good too (one of my faves)
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I have been a fan of his (and PDQ Bach, aka Peter Schickele) since I was a kid. I used to drive my parents (and later my dates) crazy listening to their records and singing their songs. Glad my wife liked them too! They are both still alive; PDQ is 88 & Lehrer is 95!
Tom Lehrer has placed all his songs in public domain status and released them here:
So, for all you sick twisted freaks out there like me, and apparently QVBB, Scarmoge & Dr. F., enjoy!
I just recently learned of Jo Stafford’s comedy schtick with her husband. She had always been a favorite of my wife’s but neither of us knew of her comedic ventures. It takes a very secure and talented performer to do what she & her husband did, and to pull off the comedy so effectively,she deliberately singing off key and Paul being the world’s worst accompanist, which was such a departure from her serious vocal performances! 
Here is a classic skit they did with the great Jack Benny (who also WAS a decent violinist in reality) and Ed Wynn:
Again, Enjoy. We all need a good laugh during these trying times!
WhiteRaven
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If you REALLY are paying attention to Jonathan and Darlene Edwards, try beating the meter signature when they’re in purely instrumental sections, the occasional extra beat snuck into a measure here, a measure there, and done flawlessly, will drive any armchair conductor nuts! (I should know)
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Been there, done that too!
They are both very skilled in constructing their musical horror show, but they are doing it for comic effect, not thinking they are creating great art music, in contrast to, for example, this alleged music from our friend Arnold:
Schoenberg is one big yuck… I posted some of his piano chunks (I can’t call them pieces) some time ago, along with Nora the Cat, on this forum. It was pretty well overwhelming that people preferred Nora the Cat to Schoenberg’s piano chunks.
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… it is sad to realize that from time to time Deutsche Grammophon pressed such, such … well you know. On the bright side however, they did quite a number of recordings of …
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… since I brought up Bernstein (the musical one - not any of the bears, they’ll be no Mandela Effect today!). One of Dr. Farrell’s oft mentioned …
Bernstein, Leonard (1976). The Unanswered Question: Six Talks at Harvard. Volume 33 of the Charles Eliot Norton Lectures, Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674920019, includes three vinyl LPs. I was fortunate to stumble across this set at our local library booksale a few years ago for a whopping 1$ (USD). I have attended this sale since 1983 and over the years have been continually astounded by what the librarian “gatekeepers” allow onto the dollar shelves. A wise man (a very well known rare and scarce bookseller) once told me that librarians know only about cataloguing and nothing else about books. (No offense intended to any librarians who may be members of The Giza Community)
What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. And a sentimentalist, my dear Darlington, is a man who sees an absurd value in everything, and doesn’t know the market place of any single thing. - Oscar Wilde
All of the lectures are available gratis on YT.
Here is a link to Lecture 1, The Unanswered Question: Musical Phonology
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… for those who appreciate Ed Wynn, he is featured in two Twilight Zone episodes “One For The Angels” and “Ninety Years Without Slumbering” … a little about Ed Wynn
Ed Wynn (November 9, 1886 - June 19, 1966) was an American character actor. Wynn was born Isaiah Edwin Leopold in Pennsylvania, and had a long career in Vaudeville before entering the film industry. He was the father of actor Keenan Wynn. In his later years, Ed Wynn became famous for his appearances in Disney movies, such as “Alice in Wonderland”, “Babes in Toyland”, and “Mary Poppins”
You may know Kennan Wynn from a little movie he was in titled "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb’ (1964) - “You’re going to have to answer to the Coca-Cola Company”. One of my favorite film lines.
… Reincarnation is True!
Kennan Wynn
William James
… and Keenan Wynn played Bob Newhart’s Psychology mentor in an episode of The Bob Newhart Show … pretty trippy (used in it’s adjectival sense)
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