Tom Lehrer vs. William Saroyan
Side-by-side comparison of two thinkers
Tom Lehrer
1928 – 2025
Thomas Andrew Lehrer was an American musician, singer-songwriter, satirist and mathematician, who later taught mathematics and musical theater. He recorded pithy, humorous, and often political songs that became popular in the 1950s and 1960s. His songs parodied popular musical forms, often with original melodies.
"You know, of all the songs I have ever sung, that is the one I've had the most requests not to."
William Saroyan
1908 – 1981
William Saroyan was an American novelist, playwright, and short story writer. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1940, and in 1943 won the Academy Award for Best Story for the film The Human Comedy. When the studio rejected his original 240-page treatment, he turned it into a novel, The Human Comedy.
"What is a street? It is where the living weep, where the dead go off in silence to their peace."
Connections
Both wrote about: