Tom Lehrer - Lobachevsky

[@sislau]

I am AMAZED he was a mathematician/scientist by day, and an entertaining satirist by night. What talent!!

[@alexeicogan4733]

And, when he wasn't in public, teaching in class on weekdays, he went out for walks on weekends, poisoning pigeons in the park.

[@shoenicedeletedvideosx3048]

He still is alive... 5/1/2022

[@Revan058]

He's still kicking as of 10/13/2023.

[@chrissullivan5752]

I found him in my parents album collection. Incredible hard on 4:20

[@carolynthomas3938]

$3000 is about $26,000 in 2019 money. I guess teachers have always been underpaid

[@hank1519]

Yep!

[@seancreppel6833]

Not just a teacher but a professor at Harvard

[@marcgrundfest1495]

Duh

[@ДмитрийЗеленский-ж7х]

Urgh, are y'all serious? If teachers in my country got $26000 (~2 million rubles) a year this would be a huge improvement.

[@SalahEddineH]

@@ДмитрийЗеленский-ж7х EXACTLY! To us too, in Morocco, $26000 a year is like double what a teacher can possibly make. A veteran teacher makes about $12000, at the end of his career, here.

[@emeraldspark101]

Pianist, satirist, mathematician. This man was beyond brilliant. Correction: This man IS beyond brilliant.

[@Jack-mm4cb]

Is*

[@janmiller2929]

You forgot to mention: plagiarist!

[@sleuthman]

Not was... he turned 96 today (April 9, 2024)

[@elliotskydel875]

He's still alive!!

[@billd66]

Nine people don't understand analytic and algebraic topology of locally Euclidean parameterization of infinitely differentiable Riemannian manifolds.

[@allenbooth7033]

Borzhamoi!

[@ymirssons]

Maybe someone should write a book about it.

[@MagicBoterham]

He was talking about analytic and algebraic topology of locally Euclidean metrization of infinitely differentiable Riemannian manifolds, not parametrization, Боже мой!

[@hank1519]

> nine people 😀

[@RabbiHerschel]

Fifty-one people in Dnepropetrovsk found out that someone else published first.

[@san2chi]

"I spoke no Russian (and still speak none), and it was Munro Edmonson who taught me (phonetically) the Russian phrase I used in 'Lobachevsky' regarding going where even the Tsar goes on foot. The first phrase was the first line of Mussorgsky's Song of the Flea, with which I was already familiar and which Ed taught me how to pronounce. It means 'once there was a king who had a pet flea.' The second says 'now I go where even the Tsar goes on foot.' A reference... to the bathroom." --Tom Lehrer

[@chloepainter4064]

and it works in context because the bathroom does stink!

[@tommykl]

It would be a perfect plan to stea-to adapt this song and preceding routine at local comedy gigs. Those who don't know Tom Lehrer would find it funny, and those who do would see the comic value in plagiarising a routine about plagiarism.

[@DeyaViews]

The best kind of meta.

[@adamkirsteins5646]

Thats the best idea I've had all day.

[@SingularCherubim]

You realize, of course, that this is exactly what Lehrer himself did? Of course you do. Circular references are the best kind of references.

[@feartheghus]

Beautiful

[@lynneufeld3175]

@@DeyaViews what is meta? TIA

[@yumyummoany]

To copy from another is plagiarism. To copy from more than one is research. (From the old academic jokes home)

[@clanso7887]

Where did you research this quote from?;)

[@yumyummoany]

@@clanso7887 It is a very old, and true, saying.

[@clanso7887]

Indeed :)

[@tealc6218]

It is ok if I use it? and call it my own....;)

[@yumyummoany]

@@tealc6218 Go ahead my friend!

[@blenderpanzi]

A song that never stops being topical.

[@adrianashilling2573]

He taught a class called “the nature of mathematics “ for non math majors. Bet that class would have been awesome.

[@sakar181]

Gods that would have been amazing.

[@nfo1776]

Such a shame it wasn't recorded.

[@stratognat100]

I dont care if Lobachevsky has been vindicated of plagiarism. Its still a great song.

[@daniiladamov8761]

Rob Hoffman I'm unaware that he was ever accused of it, really. It is indeed a great song.

[@CreeperOnYourHouse]

Rob Hoffman It's not plagiarism, it's _research_.

[@VRichardsn]

+Rob Hoffman According to Lehrer, he chose Lobachevsky just for artistic reasons.

[@Tivaarg]

+Rob Hoffman Lobachevsky was never accused of plagiarism, the name just gives a nice ring to the song

[@feartheghus]

Tom Lehrer apparently chose the name lobachevsky simply for how it sounded and worked with the song, and specifically said that the song was not meant to harm lobachevsky’s reputation or accuse him of plagiarism.

[@tomaspaulicek3866]

Am I the only one around here, whom: "...a friend in Minsk who has a friend in Pinsk whose friend in Omsk has friend in Tomsk with friend in Akmolinsk and his friend in Alexandrovsk has friend in Petropavlosk and his friend somehow is solving now the problem in Dnepropetrovsk..." makes think of Erdos number?

[@joedempseysr.3376]

Evidently.

[@miarencrowsdaughter6434]

I cannot unthink this now.

[@ulrikschackmeyer848]

0

[@mch979]

Exactly...Erdös number of 6 or so.

[@CapinCooke]

*Erdos number. Had to look it up. Yup. That paragraph is definitely a child of the Erdos number 😂.

[@NeelnavoKar]

I've listened to "Lobachevsky" many, many times, yet this is the first time I noticed Lehrer saying, "And I thought it would be interesting to ste-- er, to adapt this idea to the field of mathematics."

[@Frykun]

@MEpianist "жил-был король когда-то, при нём блоха жила" - "there once was a king; a flea lived with him" (a song) "я иду куда сам царь идёт пешком" - "I'm going [to the place] where czar himself walks to" (toilet)

[@stephenbredin6906]

That Plagiarism verse is so good!: Plagorise, let no one elses work evade your eyes, Remember why the good lord made your eyes, so don't shade your eyes, but Plagorise Plagorise Plagorise

[@theq4602]

Oddly enough people think he wrote the tune to the element song (NOPE ITS A PARODY).

[@stephendonovan9084]

+stephen bredin *Plagiarize. Sorry, don't kill me please.

[@balok63a40]

@@theq4602 Since he says in the intro that it's a "possibly recognizable tune," i.e. he starts out by saying that he didn't write the music, one has to wonder who these "people" are.

[@DieFlabbergast]

* plagiarise

[@DodderingOldMan]

I'd heard of Tom Lehrer and knew his reputation, but never actually heard his stuff. Now I have, I can only say that nothing had prepared me for how smart, funny and incisive he is.

[@imagineers0]

I was studying Russian at UCSC when he was a professor of mathematics there. I had no idea. He was not known there beyond mathematics.

[@risingSisyphus]

i love 'research'

[@diceLibrarian]

achillesRising, the Knight of Rage hey AR, I'm lepiosDarkness, the Bard of Light

[@ashie.official]

crash periodic mage of mind!!

[@tuexss]

I plagiarized the lyrics: For many years now, Mr. Danny Kaye, who has been my particular idol since childbirth, has been doing a routine about the great Russian director Stanislavsky and the secret of success in the acting profession. And I thought it would be interesting to st... to adapt this idea to the field of mathematics. I always like to make explicit the fact that before I went off not too long ago to fight in the trenches, I was a mathematician by profession. I don't like people to get the idea that I have to do this for a living. I mean, it isn't as though I had to do this, you know, I could be making, oh, 3000 dollars a year just teaching. Be that as it may, some of you may have had occasion to run into mathematicians and to wonder therefore how they got that way, and here, in partial explanation perhaps, is the story of the great Russian mathematician Nicolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky.* Who made me the genius I am today, The mathematician that others all quote? Who's the professor that made me that way, The greatest that ever got chalk on his coat? One man deserves the credit, One man deserves the blame, and Nicolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky is his name. Oy! Nicolai Ivanovich Lobache... I am never forget the day I first meet the great Lobachevsky. In one word he told me secret of success in mathematics: Plagiarize! Plagiarize, Let no one else's work evade your eyes, Remember why the good Lord made your eyes, So don't shade your eyes, But plagiarize, plagiarize, plagiarize... Only be sure always to call it please, "research". And ever since I meet this man my life is not the same, And Nicolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky is his name. Oy! Nicolai Ivanovich Lobache... I am never forget the day I am given first original paper to write. It was on Analytic and Algebraic Topology of Locally Euclidean Metrization of Infinitely Differentiable Riemannian Manifold. Bozhe moi! This I know from nothing.** But I think of great Lobachevsky and I get idea - haha! I have a friend in Minsk, Who has a friend in Pinsk, Whose friend in Omsk Has friend in Tomsk With friend in Akmolinsk. His friend in Alexandrovsk Has friend in Petropavlovsk, Whose friend somehow Is solving now The problem in Dnepropetrovsk. And when his work is done - Haha! - begins the fun. From Dnepropetrovsk To Petropavlovsk, By way of Iliysk, And Novorossiysk, To Alexandrovsk to Akmolinsk To Tomsk to Omsk To Pinsk to Minsk To me the news will run, Yes, to me the news will run! And then I write By morning, night, And afternoon, And pretty soon My name in Dnepropetrovsk is cursed, When he finds out I published first! And who made me a big success And brought me wealth and fame? Nicolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky is his name. Oy! Nicolai Ivanovich Lobache... I am never forget the day my first book is published. Every chapter I stole from somewhere else. Index I copy from old Vladivostok telephone directory. This book, this book was sensational!*** Pravda - ah, Pravda - Pravda said: "Jeel beel kara ogoday blyum blocha jeli, " ("It stinks"). But Izvestia! Izvestia said: "Jai, do gudoo sun sai pere shcum, " ("It stinks"). Metro-Goldwyn-Moskva bought the movie rights for six million rubles, Changing title to 'The Eternal Triangle', With Brigitte Bardot playing part of hypotenuse.**** And who deserves the credit? And who deserves the blame? Nicolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky is his name. Oy!

[@DieFlabbergast]

Thanks, but * Nikolai (One does not use the letter "c" to transcribe the Russian "k." Especially because in the Cyrillic alphabet, the letter "c" is pronounced only as an "s.")

[@geraniaceae4470]

He is in a class by himself. No one will ever reach his level of brilliance.

[@pretty-dusty]

Lobachevsky been real quiet since this dropped

[@mnm1273]

He's waiting for someone to response to similar criticism.

[@rabbi120348]

Lobachevsky died in 1856 and hasn't published anything since then.

[@loquens5060]

@@rabbi120348 diss so vicious it reached back in time and killed Lobachevsky

[@m.douglaswray2994]

Love the way he brings musical themes into it. Doubles the fun! HEY! lol

[@feartheghus]

Well seeing as the music starts before the lyrics, I’d say it doesn’t double the fun, it begins the fun.

[@space__idklmao]

the Liszt tho

[@Nahrku]

"...analytic and algebraic topology of locally euclidean metrization of infinite differential for riemannian manifold BOZHE MOJ!" xD that guy is awesome

[@georgetirebiter4035]

BOZHE MOJ translates to MY GOD.

[@DieFlabbergast]

* bozhe moy/bozhe moi

[@linkxsc]

such a damn catchy tune.

[@barbaraannmahoney4170]

Courtesy of Kurt Weill from Lady In The Dark (1941), a Broadway musical that featured the heroine undergoing psychiatric treatment.

[@CapinCooke]

@@barbaraannmahoney4170 Well, Hell ‼️ I’m impressed!! Love Kurt Weill but I didn’t know that. Kudos!

[@reallyharried]

.... one of the funniest and most original creative geniuses we've had the pleasure of hearing in our lifetimes!

[@RabbiHerschel]

2:24 when you assign all of your operatives to building an intel network in the Soviet Union

[@cherrypichick6782]

$3000 in 1960 is $31,300.61 in 2024. Nothing has changed in 64YEARS!!! ☹️ (I own ALL of Lehrer's Albums...GENIUS!!!) ❤🎤

[@flowertrue]

It's great how he came up with so many great phrases that rhyme plagiarize

[@CoolJohnDog]

"Who has been my particular idol since childbirth" I'll have to remember that one

[@crazypianolady]

@MultiGeraghty Wikipedia says he taught his last maths class in 2001, on the topic of infinity, and retired. He has remained in the area, and still "hangs out" around the University of California

[@proximacentauri2684]

This is going to be in my head forever.

[@MrEclecticity]

It's been in mine for more than sixty years. Once heard, Tom Lehrer songs are not easily forgotten.

[@CapinCooke]

@@MrEclecticity Likewise. I had a musicphile as a close friend in the 70s. He turned me on to Lehrer, Weill, Bach, Gershwin, etc… Lehrer’s songs are both timeless and impossible to forget!

[@DaekoTan]

"With Bridget Bardot playing part of KKKKKKKKKKHYpotenuse."

[@NickiRusin]

Yuuichi Productions Is that intentional?

[@stephenwoods4118]

+Nick Nirus Yes, the letter H in the Cyrillic alphabet is pronounced like a cross between X and H, He is just slightly exaggerating.

[@NickiRusin]

Stephen Woods Hm, yeah, that does sound like a Russian H.

[@DieFlabbergast]

+Stephen Woods No, there is no letter "H" in the Cyrillic alphabet. The sound Lehrer makes here is "X," which is pronounced like the "ch" in the Scots "loch" or in the German Bach or the Iranian Komeini. That's the closest Russian sound to our "h" (and is what Russians often use instead of an "h" when speaking English) but it definitely ISN'T an "h".

[@Soabky]

DieFlabbergast I’m pretty sure he was saying that the sound was the equivalent to “h,” as he acknowledged the different alphabet.

[@Pssamettih]

Комик, сатирик, музыкант и математик - гений!

[@LeonardoRealdeAsua]

Wonderful. Just wonderful.

[@andrewldexter]

When he said "hhhhhypotenuse!" I lost it.

[@jangilbert8028]

I am never forget the day I discovered Tom Leher!!

[@TnseWlms]

So in real life did Tom Lehrer ever write a research paper on a analytic and algebraeic topology of locally Euclidean metrization of infinitely differentiable Reimannian manifold?

[@tabithavanderpool418]

This comment deserves more than one like

[@arcadew6381]

Bozhe moi!

[@adrianashilling2573]

I don’t know but he was considered a math genius. Started his studies at Harvard at age 14.

[@dyad2r1]

My college rommate nearly drove me crazy singing this song!

[@NivMizzet89]

He doesn't, this song is merely a joke. The reason it is funny is that Lobachevskys greatest achievement was also (independently) discovered by other mathematicians at the same time. Lehrer merely picked Lobachevsky's name because it fit the song well.

[@sullyy1288]

@producer111 Lehrer stated that the song is no slight against Lobachevsky and his name was chosen only because it fit well into the song

[@gaiacaecilia]

So looking forward to playing this inmy comedy seminar at university. I honestly can't wait to see my teacher's expression when she hears it...

[@KellyLincoln]

This such a great homage to Danny Kaye.

[@Roescoe]

Just started watching Lehrer, and he really reminds me of him.

[@VivaRenata]

Hey! Don't criticize, just enjoy. Lehrer's insights into academic life (and life in general) remain brilliant. From one who at least thinks she knows a great deal about this.

[@voiceoreason9884]

Somehow this song became the namesake of my pet rabbit.

[@jmz1736]

Give nicholi Ivanovic loberchevski a hug for me

[@museofthesea]

Absolutely wonderful -- it's been too long since I've heard this song! Thank you so much.

[@kongurous]

It wasn't meant to call Lobachevsky a plagiarist, the name was chosen for comedic effect. In other words, he used it because it flowed right, not to slander the mathematician.

[@scpmr]

Oh yes. It's like "I say to everyone that you are a liar but I don't mean that you a liar". Many people after listening to that song believed it.

[@bethsherdell2413]

Tom Lehrer loved Danny Kaye and got this from one of Danny's greatest routines.

[@Popebug]

This guy did nerd comedy decades before it was cool.

[@AllaChernenko]

Dnepropetrovsk loves Tom ^^

[@shilohndrah]

I love this guy!!!

[@NakulMPande]

@producer111: Apparently it's not meant to be an allegation, Lehrer's on record as saying he chose the name basically because it fit the rhythm.

[@bbfan77]

did he just say "Bože moj?" :D

[@clivegoodman16]

Yes, but in Russian.

[@hedonism13]

Ah, analytical algebraic topology of locally euclidean metrizations of infinitely differential riemannian manifolds. I totes aced that one.

[@EdDueim]

The only current performer close to this guy is Tim Minchin.

[@jod125]

Bo Burnham is also similar

[@duxtorm]

Yeah, I think Tim and Bo might make a funny collab But there's also the chance they might fight off stage XD

[@Rehbock137]

Check out Roy Zimmerman

[@johncleese-mogg365]

I think bill bailey is a good modern equivalent

[@nickmoorem]

Long time watcher, first time commenter. I love the intro.

[@pixiestikks]

I guess Melania learned something from Lobachevsky too!

[@leifvejby8023]

Free Melania!

[@parhhesia]

@@leifvejby8023 I'll take two thanks.

[@VivaRenata]

Tycker om denna version med de inledande kommentarerna om läraryrket! "I could be making, oh, 3.000 dollars a year just teaching." Kommentaren om att han beundrat Danny Kaye (stor amerikansk komiker) sedan barndomen handlar väl om att Kaye var väldigt gammal men ännu håller igång.

[@MrLaytes]

Creative teacher, this is which I call it funny creative soul ♥

[@billfeld1952]

Tom Lehrer was able to predict the means by which Claudine Gay became President of Harvard.

[@captainloggy140]

She remembered why the good Lord made her eyes!

[@yuvalne]

Just realised he made a joke about teachers not being payed enough in 1960.

[@mygills3050]

the more things change, the more they stay the same!

[@CROEmil]

@mabarry3 It's not BORJEMOR its BOZHE MOI which means "Oh my God" :DDD

[@ZeranZeran]

no idea what he is talking about, but i want to know.

[@martinborman4195]

Yes, I have the mp4 on file.

[@BigChief014]

This had me rolling! XD

[@robschmidt1663]

genius

[@gorgeofeternalperil]

Brilliant, just brilliant.

[@VivaRenata]

@mabarry3 More than brilliant and still a reflection of present-day "Academia". From one who knows.

[@СтепанФилонов-ф2ж]

Good humor.

[@lyl9255]

Is there no version of this with a video?

[@leifvejby8023]

Look here - I seem to remember him playing that number in Copenhagen. But it is some time ago, so - - But take a look!

[@sevenseveen1337]

what type of song would this be? like the russian tune

[@cantankerousharridan]

It borrows from Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 - a little musical plagiarism to add to the joke

[@miarencrowsdaughter6434]

@@cantankerousharridan Liszt himself was known for doing 'fantasies' on other people's melodies - so the joke increases.

[@AnnoNymus]

But there is no evidence that Lobachevsky ever copied Gauss. Afaik that was a myth.

[@km8854]

a true genius.///

[@MegF142857]

$3,000 in 1965 would be $20,000 in 2009. Good ole inflation!

[@twistedlot]

$3000 a year from teaching? What year was this?

[@DavidMoscoeUni]

+twistedlot roughly $26'000 in todays dollars

[@johnduchesneau8685]

+twistedlot About 1965. On the other hand, you could buy a house in Cambridge Mass for about $10,000 and a years tuition at Harvard was about 2,000.00.

[@davidlafleche1142]

This was recorded at Harvard in March, 1959.

[@wesselbindt]

@TnseWlms No. He did publish some stuff on probability theory, though.

[@xXicecream9995Xx]

this i know from nothing but i think of great lobachevsky and i get idea HAHA

[@markinwhite]

Bozhe Mojj!

[@TINAliubov30]

every chapter i stolled from somewhere elese.:))))

[@bizoneee]

Haha, begins the fun xD

[@DrDave953]

Wish I could say, "Totally fucking brilliant" and have it say under my nick... 47 years ago :-P Dave.

[@janach1305]

In the arts, the saying is that mediocre artists borrow and great artists steal.

[@BerenElendilAPGaming]

1:05 Skip to the song!

[@tai-imyr849]

But the opening monologue is funny... Bro, why you gotta be so cruel?

[@stephenwoods4118]

+Beren Elendil No his lead-ins are funny in and of themselves.

[@doctorwhom1]

Good artists copy Great artists steal

[@massoudkaykha2200]

Tom Lehrer was a genius

[@ChicagoCharlie]

Well, it is similar to Newton and Leibnitz and the Calculus. Lobachevsky's is the sphere, Gauss the saddle.

[@tikkeltje]

'i could make 3000 dollars a year just teaching'

[@maldarkangel]

amazing

[@MURDERPILLOW.]

0:14

[@chan625]

A Legend!

[@MultiGeraghty]

@ffwrchamotobeics Is Tom Lehrer still around? Maybe teaching as Lehrer I think is German word for teacher. (or is it reader?)

[@Circuitssmith]

Jeez. They had this back then, and now we have to put up with "jizz in my pants" and such witty lyrics as "tomorrow is saturday and sunday comes afterwards"? Oh how the music industry has slid down the crap chute.

[@Malkmusianful]

1. the lonely island are pretty funny, fuck you. they're not aiming for the same satiric level as lehrer - lehrer's concerns are more to do with politics, the social mores "respectable society" doesn't want to talk about, and the quirks of academia, whereas the lonely island mock the absolute stupidity of pop music and our perception of celebrities (i.e. michael bolton hijacking a song to mostly talk about all the films he's seen in the past week). 2. there's always complex and witty lyricism in indie and off-the-radar major label music. check out bandcamp. hell, check out my shit. i've been writing complex shit since 2010 - before i even knew what a rhyme scheme was. 3. rebecca black shade was old even in 2011

[@bigyeetmeister7044]

Hal Emmerich SNAP MOMMA

[@MagicBoterham]

Bo Burnham's pretty good.

[@typhoidss]

Not all modern songs are terrible, and there were bad songs in the 60's too. There were barely any creators like tom lehrer because back then, the shit he wrote was scandalous as hell. He openly made sex jokes while on TV it was still shameful to show a man and a woman in the same bed. This style was not common. He also wrote about taboo political issues which somehow he made funny. The tom lehrer music does not reflect on typical sixties music.

[@parhhesia]

Those curves would be wasted on a triangle.

[@TINAliubov30]

you ve right! its Boje moi :)

[@TheAwnman]

@doctorwhom1 and where does leher fit into that ????????

[@Rohan2300]

@5ive23 you mean Phlem-potenuse ?

[@jakobvanklinken]

I love Tom Lehrer, but i do feel like Danny Kaye outcomedied him on this one. The timing of that guy was just of the highest level

[@Brewnoe]

RIP Mark Russell

[@PatKerr1]

Claudine Gay brought me here.

[@janeandrews1790]

He's still here. He said that he just doesn't find this stuff funny anymore.

[@sawyerquick9959]

A classic.

[@JoeYampolsky]

He didn't really say borjemor, it's more like boje moy (Боже мой - Oh my God in Russian).

[@jpsned]

I always thought the translation was bulls*** 🙂