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Tom Lehrer's sharpest satirical song IMHO is "Wernher von Braun" When rockets are up, Who cares where they come down, It's not my department Says Wernh

by lr1970 6y ago

Tom Lehrer's sharpest satirical song IMHO is "Wernher von Braun" When rockets are up, Who cares where they come down, It's not my department Says Wernher von Braun plus many more satirical pearls in just one song.

Diederich 6y ago
For those who haven't watched any of his material, please click here to see the above performed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTKn1aSOyOs&t=63 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTKn1aSOyOs&t=63 He is amazingly talented across many different axes.
alangibson 6y ago
I was just watching some color footage of von Braun riding around with JFK and thought of this song. Who cares indeed...
unethical_ban 6y ago
"In German, oder Englisch, I know how to count down... Und I'm learning Chinese", Says Werner von Braun --- Pretty prophetic for 1962, pre-moon-landing.
205guy 6y ago
One of the other comments mentioned how Tom Lehrer's song have remained relevant. This song is a gem, but I'd forgotten the last lines (from the video in sibling comment): "In German oder Englisch, I know how to count down And I'm learning Chinese, says Wernher von Braun."
- HarryHirsch 6y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_Bombs,_One_Satellite https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_Bombs,_One_Satellite
thaumasiotes 6y ago
Some have harsh words for this man of renown / but some feel our attitude should be one of gratitude / like the widows and cripples in old London town / who owe their large pensions to Werner von Braun
jjkaczor 6y ago
Used to great effect in "For All Mankind" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_All_Mankind_(TV_series)#Soundtrack https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_All_Mankind_(TV_series)#So...
dllthomas 6y ago
I think the most brutal in that song was "... who owe their large pensions..."
gHosts 6y ago
Reminds me of The Good Old Bad Old Days of the South African arms industry..... ...built entirely to circumvent sanctions and fight "Die Swart Gevaar/Rooi Gevaar"... ("Black Danger" / "Red (Communist) Danger") When the changes came they continued on without missing a beat except their number one problem now was to convince someone to continue paying them to carry on making munitions.
- spopejoy 6y ago
  "Deutschland 86" makes some pretty good TV out of West Germany buying arms via South Africa (from East Germany? can't remember) to escape sanctions

by lr1970 6y ago

Diederich 6y ago

For those who haven't watched any of his material, please click here to see the above performed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTKn1aSOyOs&t=63 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTKn1aSOyOs&t=63 He is amazingly talented across many different axes.

alangibson 6y ago

I was just watching some color footage of von Braun riding around with JFK and thought of this song. Who cares indeed...

unethical_ban 6y ago

"In German, oder Englisch, I know how to count down... Und I'm learning Chinese", Says Werner von Braun --- Pretty prophetic for 1962, pre-moon-landing.

205guy 6y ago

One of the other comments mentioned how Tom Lehrer's song have remained relevant. This song is a gem, but I'd forgotten the last lines (from the video in sibling comment): "In German oder Englisch, I know how to count down And I'm learning Chinese, says Wernher von Braun."

HarryHirsch 6y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_Bombs,_One_Satellite https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_Bombs,_One_Satellite

thaumasiotes 6y ago

Some have harsh words for this man of renown / but some feel our attitude should be one of gratitude / like the widows and cripples in old London town / who owe their large pensions to Werner von Braun

jjkaczor 6y ago

Used to great effect in "For All Mankind" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_All_Mankind_(TV_series)#Soundtrack https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_All_Mankind_(TV_series)#So...

dllthomas 6y ago

I think the most brutal in that song was "... who owe their large pensions..."

gHosts 6y ago

Reminds me of The Good Old Bad Old Days of the South African arms industry..... ...built entirely to circumvent sanctions and fight "Die Swart Gevaar/Rooi Gevaar"... ("Black Danger" / "Red (Communist) Danger") When the changes came they continued on without missing a beat except their number one problem now was to convince someone to continue paying them to carry on making munitions.

spopejoy 6y ago
"Deutschland 86" makes some pretty good TV out of West Germany buying arms via South Africa (from East Germany? can't remember) to escape sanctions