I could be studying, but that would be too sensible.

Sometimes (ok, often), instead of programming for my thesis, I go to Butler Library and search the stacks, folios, and microfilm reserves for articles about Mr. Tom Lehrer. I've been tracking down articles that I haven't been able to find on the fan sites and forums. Generally, it's the same standard talking points, but sometimes, I come across some really good stuff (like that 1981 American Scholar Article).

This is actually a fun hobby, and it presents a good opportunity to learn a different aspect of scholarly research that I wouldn't have otherwise been exposed to (at least that's how I justify the wasted time). Most engineers never see the inside of the periodicals room, and we discount microfilm in pretty much the same prehistoric technological category as the abacus.

There is this one guy in the periodicals room at Butler who has been helping me for a few weeks now, and has shown me how to use the microfilm machines. Today, I stopped by during lunch to try to track down some New York Times articles from 1967. I suppose he couldn't contain his curiosity any longer, and he asked me whether I was a history or journalism major. To his surprise, I explained that I was actually in the math and engineering fields, and this was really a sort of hobby. Completely ignoring the dozens of frustrated history doctoral students banging their heads against the microfilm monitors, he agreed to help me anyway.

So, I've tracked down quite a few of these articles. For the more recent stuff, I usually get the text of the article from ProQuest, and if I want to see the print (for the pictures) I go to the microfilm or the folios. There are a lot of articles from the early 80s (coinciding with the release of "Tomfoolery") and from 2000s (coinciding with the release of "The Remains of Tom Lehrer").

Today, I found two articles from 1967, about some controversy that came up in a suburban NY State school after a teacher played Mr. Lehrer's "That Was The Week That Was" record for her class. The first article is from May 12, and has a funny bit at the very end, where they ask Mr. Lehrer to comment on whether he thought that the words to his songs were in bad taste. His reply was "Certainly they are. They are in very bad taste. Now someone should come along and write a pro-Catholic song." On May 25th of 1967, the NYTimes wrote a follow-up to that article, about how the teacher was reprimanded.

While I was there, I also found the original review from February 9, 1959, containing the now famous line "Mr. Lehrer's muse was not fettered by such inhibiting factors as taste..."