An Evening Wasted With Tom Lehrer

About this recording: This recording was made in Tom Lehrer's living room one evening when a few friends had dropped in and conversation was becoming strained. In a desperate attempt to save the evening (an attempt which failed, by the way), Mr. Lehrer rushed to the piano and performed the programme heard on this record, making up the songs as he went along. Thanks to a quick-thinking recording engineer, who had happened by with his pockets full of recording tape, the whole fiasco has been preserved for posterity (if any). In the hope of making the record slightly less wearisome, a certain number of coughs, hisses, snores, sneezes, impacts etc., have been edited out (together with some applause and laughter, which were deleted over Mr. Lehrer's dead body); if the demand should warrant it, all this excised matter may some day be issued separately for the true hi-fi connoisseur. Here is an added tip for such connoisseurs, regarding the playing of this record: A survey has shown that many owners of Mr. Lehrer's first LP, "Songs by Tom Lehrer", prefer to play it at 78 rpm, so that it is over with that much sooner. The same technique, may, of course, be used with this record.