Tom Lehrer's Songs

Tom Lehrer released his musical works into the public domain. The lyrics, sheet music, and recordings can be found on Tom Lehrer’s website, and are mirrored on the internet archive.

¶ That’s Mathematics

See here for the original sheet music.

Key: 1=Bb

      3'-2'|1'----7-3|1'731'-7-3|7----6-3|7637-6-3|

| Counting | sheep When you're | trying to sleep, Being | fair When there's | something to share, Being |

|5----5-4|353'1'----|003'-2'-1'-|3'--2'-3'-2'|1'----7-3|

| neat When you're | folding a sheet, | That's math - e - | mat - ics! When a | ball Bounces |

|1'731'-7-3|7----6-3|7637-6-3|5----5-4|353'1'----|

| off of a wall, When you | cook From a | recipe book, When you | know How much | money you owe, |

|001'-6-7-|2'--1'-1'-^1'|2'-2'1'2'-2'1'|2'1'_3'2'-1'-_6|5-535-53|

| That's math-e- | matics! How much | gold can you hold in an | elephant's ear? When it's | noon on the moon Then what |

|53_76----|003-3-3-|3235--65|3'-1'62'/2'/7-5|1'/1'1'/647/7/5--|

| time is it here? | If  you could | count for a year Would you | get to infinity or | somewhere in that vicinity? |

|3''-1''6'2''7'-5'|1''-6'4'7'5'3'2'|        |        |        |        |
|1'-6475-3|6-425300|1'----7-3|1'731'-7-3|7----6-3|7637-6-3|

|        |    When you | choose how much | postage to use, When you | know what's the | chance it will snow, When you |

|5----6-5|3'_3'2'^1'---5|^4-51'3'-1'6|4-61'3'2'1'2'|3'-------|1'-000000|

| bet and you | end up in debt, Oh, | try as you may, You just | can't get away From math-e- | mat -    | ics! |

|3''-1''6'2''7'-5'|1''-6'4'7'5'3'2'|        |        |        |        |
|1'-6475-3|6-425300|1'----7-3|1'731'-7-3|7----6-3|7637-6-3|

|        |    Tap your | feet, keeping time | to the beat, Of a | song while you're | singing along, Harmo |

|5----6-5|3'^2'=2'^1'---5|^4-61'3'-1'6|4-61'3'2'1'2'|3'-------|1'----000||

| -nize with the | rest of the guys, Yes, | try as you may, You just | can't get away From math-e-  | mat -    | ics! |

¶ The Elements (Aristotle’s Version)

See here for the original sheet music.

|0 3 0 4|0 3 5 -|0 3 0 4|0 3 5   5|5 5 5 5|5 5 5/5. |1 5,/#/4,/5,/b6, 5, |0 5 1' 0||
|  1   2|0 1 5, -|  1   2|  1 5,  #2|3 3 3 3|3 3 3/3. |           |  4 5  ||
|  5,   7,|  5,    |  5,   7,|  5,     7,|       |        |           |  2 3  ||
|      5,|       |      5,|         |       |        |           |  7, 1  ||
|       |       |       |        4,|       |        |           |    1,  ||
|1,, 0 5,, 0|1,, 0 0 5,,|1,, 0 5,, 0|1,, 0 0   5,,|1, 5, 5,, 5,|1, 5, 5,, 5, |1,, 5,,/#/4,,/5,,/b6,, 5,, |0 5,, 1,, 0||

Lyrics:

There's earth and air and fire and wa-ter.

¶ A similar adaption for the classical Chinese elements

Clumsily made by me.