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Tom Lehrer - The Elements - LIVE FILM From Copenhagen in 1967

The Tom Lehrer Wisdom Channel · 2.4M views · 2012-04-03 · 3:03

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Overview

A 1967 live film of Tom Lehrer performing his patter song "The Elements" in Copenhagen, reciting the chemical elements to a Gilbert and Sullivan tune. It is a short, polished example of his satirical piano-and-voice style.

On Hacker News

HN commenters cite it as a favorite Lehrer song and invoke it as a joke whenever elements or science-themed wordplay come up.

Recommended by 2 HN people across 2 months · HN mentions 2015–2023

Topics

Music performance & songsSatire & parodyChemistry
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tom lehrerthe elementssatirelive performance

What people said

nayuki · 2022-12 · Recommendation

"The Elements" is the Tom Lehrer song that made the biggest impression on me. [LINK] , [VIDEO] There's antimony, arsenic, aluminum, selenium, And hydrogen and oxygen and nitrogen and rhenium, ...

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Diederich · 2020-05 · Recommendation

For those who aren't aware and/or won't look this reference: [LINK] As the other comenter noted, Tom Lehrer is indeed a national treasure, and his satire is top shelf. From the light-hearted "The Elements": [VIDEO] (watch for the surprise at the end) To the gallows comedy of "We Will All Go Together When We Go": [LINK] NB: I appreciate the irony linking to YouTube content in a 'WTF Google/YouTube' thread.

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Kaibeezy · 2023-06 · Joke / meme

Don’t know much about astatine except it’s the rarest naturally occurring element and Tom Lehrer sang about it. [VIDEO]

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Sources

Video by The Tom Lehrer Wisdom Channel, played through YouTube.

Data and selection notes

HN summaries and labels may contain AI errors. HN dates refer to discussions, not video publication.

HN Library: HackerTube export (2026-10-31) and open-index/hacker-news. Upstream summaries and classifications may contain AI errors.

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