Lentorama 2009: Great(?) Moments in Catholics on Television
Sometime in 1965: Tom Lehrer debuts "The Vatican Rag" on That Was the Week That Was
Based on a British show of the same name, TW3 was the first notable attempt to televise a satirical news program on US network TV. It was a qualified success, as its notable cast (including Mike Nichols, Elaine May, Alan Alda and Buck Henry) didn't keep it from a short run, airing from January 1964 to May 1965 on NBC.
One of the contributors to the show was Tom Lehrer, a Harvard-educated musician and mathematician who specialized in parodies using well-known tunes with new lyrics. He contributed several songs to the program, and in honor of Vatican II he came up with "The Vatican Rag," which really doesn't have much to do with the council but is pretty damn funny regardless.
You can watch his performance of the song here.
01 April 2009
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1 comment:
Oh how I love Tom Lehrer. I really should put that box set in my car to listen to while I drive. It's mostly not inappropriate for a 9-month-old, though it will be a fun day indeed if I have to explain to the day care providers why Ted has suddenly started saying masochism.
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