Dr. Demento called him, “the best musical satirist of the twentieth century. Randy Newman and “Weird Al” Yankovic are huge fans. His 1965 LP with music from the NBC TV series “That Was the Week That Was” is a prized possession for many Keener fans who were discovering their social consciousness.

Tom Lehrer was born on March 10, 1928. He was a mathematician and political scientist, teaching during his long career at MIT and UC Santa Clara. But he could also play the piano, had a love for show tunes and a razor sharp wit.

During his brief musical career, he was one of the foremost satirists of the time, writing sharp, topical tunes about everything from racism and the atomic bomb to religion and pornography. He wrote for the American version of the BBC series, “That Was the Week That Was” during it’s brief prime, from January of 1964 through May of 1965.

It’s unclear if any of his stuff ever made it to the WKNR airwaves, but if you came of age in the mid-60s, it’s likely you not only heard Tom Lehrer’s stuff, but you might also still have at least one of his albums among your LP collection.

Here’s Tom’s take on “The New Math”.