"So Long, Mom"--along with "The Vatican Rag", "New Math", "Whatever Became of Hubert?", and other witty ditties--are on the album "That Was The Week That Was", recorded live somewhere in San Francisco circa 1965 (and maybe even at The Purple Onion)--which may or may not account for the purple text on the LP's sleeve. Another favorite therein is his tribute to Euro-trophy-husband gatherer Alma Mahler.

I've seen Lehrer's rare album in a couple used-record-store racks over the years, but didn't need to buy it; my late brother was a Lehrer admirer and bought it when released, allowing me to play and replay those tunes as an 11-year-old. Ergo my cynicism as an adult.

BRYAN STYBLE/Florida

On 6/5/23 9:54 AM, radioacti...@gmail.com wrote:
> "So Long, Mom"--along with "The Vatican Rag", "New Math", "Whatever
> Became of Hubert?", and other witty ditties--are on the album "That
> Was The Week That Was", recorded live somewhere in San Francisco
> circa 1965 (and maybe even at The Purple Onion)--which may or may not
> account for the purple text on the LP's sleeve. Another favorite
> therein is his tribute to Euro-trophy-husband gatherer Alma Mahler.
>
> I've seen Lehrer's rare album in a couple used-record-store racks
> over the years, but didn't need to buy it; my late brother was a
> Lehrer admirer and bought it when released, allowing me to play and
> replay those tunes as an 11-year-old. Ergo my cynicism as an adult.

Available here:

https://tomlehrersongs.com/albums/

Free, at present.

https://www.openculture.com/2022/12/tom-lehrer-puts-his-songs-into-the-public-domain-makes-them-free-to-download.html

There's some quibbling whether 'available free' is the same as 'in the
public domain' but the link has the story.

On 6/5/2023 11:15 AM, mINE109 wrote:
> On 6/5/23 9:54 AM, radioacti...@gmail.com wrote:
>> "So Long, Mom"--along with "The Vatican Rag", "New Math", "Whatever
>> Became of Hubert?", and other witty ditties--are on the album "That
>> Was The Week That Was", recorded live somewhere in San Francisco
>> circa 1965 (and maybe even at The Purple Onion)--which may or may not
>> account for the purple text on the LP's sleeve.  Another favorite
>> therein is his tribute to Euro-trophy-husband gatherer Alma Mahler.
>>
>> I've seen Lehrer's rare album in a couple used-record-store racks
>> over the years, but didn't need to buy it; my late brother was a
>> Lehrer admirer and bought it when released, allowing me to play and
>> replay those tunes as an 11-year-old.  Ergo my cynicism as an adult.
>
> Available here:
>
> https://tomlehrersongs.com/albums/
>
> Free, at present.
>
> https://www.openculture.com/2022/12/tom-lehrer-puts-his-songs-into-the-public-domain-makes-them-free-to-download.html
>
>
> There's some quibbling whether 'available free' is the same as 'in the
> public domain' but the link has the story.

In and of themselves, the terms are not
equivalent. Copyrighted material can be
made available free if the copyright
owner so chooses while still retaining
the copyright (including the right to
revoke the free distribution) -- lots
of computer "freeware" falls into this
situation. However, on his site Lehrer
makes clear that he is abdicating his
copyrights and declaring his material
to be in the public domain. However,
that does not oblige him to make it
available himself indefinitely; he
does indicate that at some point soon
the website will be taken down.

(I don't know why Bryan refers to the
TW3 album [recorded at the hungry i, not
the Purple Onion, in San Francisco] as
"rare"; it's never been out of print
from Reprise Records in one form or
another since its 1965 vinyl release.)