I just discovered the delightful pianist and satirist, Tom Lehrer, via Roderick Long’s blog. A mathematician (BA magna cum laude from Harvard, a phi beta kappa, and teaching stints at MIT, Harvard, and Wellesley, although he never finished his doctorate), Lehrer was employed at Los Alamos and the National Security Agency and then lectured widely in political science and musical theater. There are dozens of great pieces of his posted on youtube, on everything from Werner von Braun to World War III. To my ears, Lehrer sounds a bit like Danny Kaye (another of  my favorites) –  for the politically savvy.

The lyrics of this song, “Poisoning Pigeons In the Park,” perfectly capture the macabre sangfroid toward cruelty and wanton destruction that the corporate-state tries to inculcate in the population.

Poisoning Pigeons in the Park

Spring is here, a-suh-puh-ring is here.
Life is skittles and life is beer.
I think the loveliest time of the year is the Spring.
I do, don’t you? ‘course you do.
But there’s one thing that makes Spring complete for me,
And makes ev’ry Sunday a treat for me.

All the world seems in tune on a spring afternoon,
When we’re poisoning pigeons in the park.
Ev’ry Sunday you’ll see my sweetheart and me,
As we poison the pigeons in the park.

When they see us coming, the birdies all try an’ hide,
But they still go for peanuts when coated with cyanide.
The sun’s shining bright, ev’rything seems all right,
When we’re poisoning pigeons in the park.

Lalaalaalalaladoodiedieedoodoodoo

We’ve gained notoriety, and caused much anxiety
In the Audubon Society with our games.
They call it impiety, and lack of propriety,
And quite a variety of unpleasant names.
But it’s not against any religion
To want to dispose of a pigeon.

So if Sunday you’re free, why don’t you come with me,
And we’ll poison the pigeons in the park.
And maybe we’ll do in a squirrel or two,
While we’re poisoning pigeons in the park.

We’ll murder them all amid laughter and merriment.
Except for the few we take home to experiment.
My pulse will be quickenin’ with each drop of stry-chnine
We feed to a pigeon. It just takes a smidgin!
To poison a pigeon in the park.