"That Was the Year That Was" (04/24/1990) Comedy Lehrer, Tom, RepriseComposer: Tom Lehrer. Recording information: The hungry i, San Francisco, CA (07/1965). Tom Lehrer's work always had a biting, satirical edge to it, but never was this more obvious than on this album, a collection of songs regarding events of the year 1965. Very little was sacred from Lehrer's sharp wit, from racism to the Catholic Church, and, while much of his subject matter has become outdated, his shrewd comic talents are beyond question. 1965 was obviously a good year for political satire: the threat of nuclear war was present and very real, the Catholic Church launched Vatican 2 in an effort to "modernize" the church, free speech was under threat, and the tide was beginning to turn against institutionalized racism (despite Malcolm X being assassinated that year). Lehrer's musicianship is good, but not brilliant, and his singing style is not exceptional, but the content of his songs is what makes him such a great comedian. Lyrically, he was superb. Where his contemporaries Flanders and Swann relied on clever wordplay, Lehrer's caustic wit was his strength. The nuclear threat was the major theme here, an example being the tale of nuclear proliferation, "Who's Next?," which, when mentioning Israel's need for nuclear weapons, states "The Lord's our shepherd, says the Psalm/But just in case -- we're going to get a bomb." "So Long Mom (A Song for World War 3)" came about because, as Lehrer says in his introduction, "if any songs are going to come out of World War 3, we'd better start writing them now." "Wernher von Braun" questions the United State's dubious moral decision to grant the Nazi scientist von Braun asylum if he worked for the U.S. Space Program, while "Send the Marines" highlights unwritten U.S. foreign policy, specifically on invading another country: "They've got to be protected/All their rights respected/Until somebody we like can be elected."Other themes explored are those of racism ("National Brotherhood Week"), freedom of speech ("Smut"), the growing number of protest songs ("Folk Song Army") ,and new teaching methods ("New Math"). More controversially, the Catholic Church's attempt at modernization is mercilessly lampooned in the "Vatican Rag." This is one of Tom Lehrer's finest works, and it is a pleasure to hear him actually sing these songs himself. While very much a product of the '60s, much of Lehrer's comedy is still relevant. This album gives a fascinating insight into the politics of the 1960s United States and also shows one of the finest comedic talents of that decade at his absolute best. ~ Jonathan Lewis Imagine a Harvard professor (which he was) with a gift for the piano (which he had), and the iconoclastic humorous bent of a Lenny Bruce or George Carlin (right on the money), and you'll get a good picture of musical humorist Tom Lehrer, whose delightfully twisted ditties presaged the counterculture of both the Beats and the hippies. Unlike those bohemian types, Lehrer never let it all hang out; his professorial demeanor was part of his shtick, making his outrageous lyrical content all the more effective. Though he was a key comedic figure throughout the '50s, THAT WAS THE YEAR THAT WAS is Lehrer's only '60s studio recording, and his last before his early retirement from music. No stone is left unturned, as he skewers the Catholic church to ragtime accompaniment on "The Vatican Rag," mocks phony liberalism and racial unrest in "National Brotherhood Week," and takes a well-aimed shot at the then-current folk revival in "The Folk Song Army."
