Tom Lehrer Quotes About Writing

Quotes about: Writing

• The real issues I don't think most people touch. The Clinton jokes are all about Monica Lewinsky and all that stuff and not about the important things, like the fact that he wouldn't ban landmines...I'm not tempted to write a song about George W. Bush. I couldn't figure out what sort of song I would write. That's the problem: I don't want to satirize George Bush and his puppeteers, I want to vaporize them. And that's not funny....OK, well, if I say that, I might get a shock laugh, but it's not really satire.

  Tom Lehrer

  Song, Real, Writing

  Sydney Morning Herald interview, www.smh.com.au. March 1, 2003.

• I figure I wrote 37 songs in 20 years, and that's not exactly a full-time job. It wasn't that I was writing and writing and writing and quit.

  Tom Lehrer

  Song, Jobs, Writing

  Interview with Stephen Thompson, www.avclub.com. May 24, 2000.

• If you asked me to write a rock song or a rap song, I couldn't do it because they're not in my fingers.

  Tom Lehrer

  Song, Rap, Writing

  "The Music Show" with Andrew Ford, www.abc.net.au. July 8, 2006.

• Don't write naughty words on the wall if you can't spell!

  Tom Lehrer

  Wall, Writing, Naughty

• I didn't feel the need for anonymous affection, for people in the dark applauding. To me, it would be like writing a novel and then getting up every night and reading your novel. Everything I did is on the record and, if you want to hear it, just listen to the record.

  Tom Lehrer

  Reading, Writing, Dark

• I'm not tempted to write a song about George W.Bush. I couldn't figure out what sort of song I would write. That's the problem: I don't want to satirise George Bush and his puppeteers, I want to vaporise them. And that's not funny.

  Tom Lehrer

  Song, Writing, Want

  "Stop clapping, this is serious". Sydney Morning Herald interview, www.smh.com.au. March 1, 2003.

• Things are much more complicated. Feminism versus pornography, for example. There are a lot of feminists who think it is bad, but others think it's good.
  I have become, you might call it mature - I would call it senile - and I can see both sides. But you can't write a satirical song with 'but on the other hand' in it, or 'however'. It's got to be one-sided.

  Tom Lehrer

  Song, Writing, Thinking

  Sydney Morning Herald interview, www.smh.com.au. March 1, 2003.

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