Tom Lehrer - The Vatican Rag

i love him and im 15. hes clever and funny with catchy tunes

Not disagreeing with you, thats essentially what I'm saying, I was responding to yourbliss, whose reaction to someone pointing out the error seemed excerssive to me.

Cafeeine, lehrer made a mistake, that's all... everybody does from time to time. No need to be like that, nobody's denigrating nobody. A fact is just a fact, no judgement implied. So be calm :) and enjoy

I am also 34 years old turning 35 day after fathers day. when i was a kid i just saw Lehrer's album at the library, got it, (after demento "So long mom") and just liked it from that day foreward. I have the cd box set...somewhere.

i am a huge lehrer fan, i am only 34 but the first song i ever heard of his was masochism tango on dr. demento and from there i was hooked, i have all of his songs and he is just wayyyy too much fun!

i swear during an interview, Tom said he didnt even submit this song. wow!!! A LOT OF PEOPLE WONT GET LEHRER: he did this in the 50's and 60'sl, but then he decided to quit showbusiness and has no interest in going back. He is 7# years old. NOBODY UNDERSTANDS SATIRE really in this day and age.

Dude chill! Noting a flub is not the end of the world, and it doesn't denigrate Lehrer at all. You are being way too defensive, and I assure you Lehrer is too good to require our defense on a msg board.

tom lehrer = genius!!

some people like Wierd Al but I prefer my musical parody in black and white with a touch of sacrilege.

I think that if listening to this lyrics (any song you take) you pay attention to a "slip" in the words he says, it's, like yourbliss888 said, thay you don'get him. You don't understand his critics, his irony, his wit. A math teacher making this comments on politics and the "american way of life" in the 60' is marvelouss, is great, even if he changes a ferw words. Besides, how many musicians do that when they sing live? Bya, Claudia

Nice opinions, but Lehrer made a mistake.

Oops! It's "Horowitz" - a typo!
My point is that if you want to a lyric-perfect performance, it can be purchased online. But it's live, too, so beware!

What the hell difference does it make if he rushed the lyrics? Great artists such as Horiwitz 'flubbed' notes; this is something called a "live" recording. No voice synthesizers or studio enhancement/corrections. Juggler, you're a bigger moron - neither of you obviously 'get' Lehrer's - or anyne's - genius, apparently. Step away from your computer, get out and listen to some live jazz or listen to something other than crack pop-rock. Errors may occur - that's the beauty of live art.

jihadsoup got it right, there was a slip in the lyrics at 0:18, when Lehrer started to do the "Make a cross on your abdomen" line, then quickly started in on the correct "Do whatever steps you want if" line. Surely you can see that it was rather rushed? And what is your problem, yourbliss888, that you would call someone a moron, when he/she probably "gets" Lehrer's genius at least as well as you do? Get a life, already.

I agree

You're right...when he was teaching (or is?) he said his students should call him either Mr. Lehrer or The Almighty...srry I just thought it was funny. lol

he says "make do whatever steps you want if..." while the lyric is simply "do whatever steps you want if..."

That's incredibly unfunny

You moron - Lehrer is a genius. Nobody has reached his parody bar - you shouldn't even be permitted to type about him. "Very good?"
You don't really get him, do ya?

what lyrical mistake?

Very good except for the lyric mistake he makes in the beginning.

he's the personification of everything that's good in the world.

Tom Lehrer is or was a maths professor at, I think, Harvard. Started recording in the late fifties. Two albums and then back to Harvard. he was invited to contribute a topical song every week to the satirical tv show "That was the week that was" Finally gave up on satire when Henry Kissinger won the Nobel Peace Prize saying he couldn't top that. Tom lehrer is now 80 years old.

Tom Lehrer is Jewish!

he's saying the little man in the box will tell you if you've come up with an original sin. It's also a play on the original sin. Jeeze, I didn't think it was that hard to understand.