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    Tom Lehrer Lyrics

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    CarvalhoR
    This document contains the lyrics to two songs by Tom Lehrer - "So Long, Mom" and "We Will All Go Together When We Go". "So Long, Mom" is sung from the perspective of a soldier going off to World War 3, bidding farewell to his mother but reassuring her she can watch him drop bombs on TV. "We Will All Go Together When We Go" darkly comments on the idea that in a nuclear war, everyone on Earth will be killed together in atomic fire so there will be no one left to grieve or collect life insurance.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Tom Lehrer Lyrics

    Uploaded by

    CarvalhoR
    111 views3 pages
    This document contains the lyrics to two songs by Tom Lehrer - "So Long, Mom" and "We Will All Go Together When We Go". "So Long, Mom" is sung from the perspective of a soldier going off to World War 3, bidding farewell to his mother but reassuring her she can watch him drop bombs on TV. "We Will All Go Together When We Go" darkly comments on the idea that in a nuclear war, everyone on Earth will be killed together in atomic fire so there will be no one left to grieve or collect life insurance.

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    Lyrics for some satirical songs by Tom Lehrer.

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    This document contains the lyrics to two songs by Tom Lehrer - "So Long, Mom" and "We Will All Go Together When We Go". "So Long, Mom" is sung from the perspective of a soldier going off to World War 3, bidding farewell to his mother but reassuring her she can watch him drop bombs on TV. "We Will All Go Together When We Go" darkly comments on the idea that in a nuclear war, everyone on Earth will be killed together in atomic fire so there will be no one left to grieve or collect life insurance.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    111 views3 pages

    Tom Lehrer Lyrics

    Uploaded by

    CarvalhoR
    This document contains the lyrics to two songs by Tom Lehrer - "So Long, Mom" and "We Will All Go Together When We Go". "So Long, Mom" is sung from the perspective of a soldier going off to World War 3, bidding farewell to his mother but reassuring her she can watch him drop bombs on TV. "We Will All Go Together When We Go" darkly comments on the idea that in a nuclear war, everyone on Earth will be killed together in atomic fire so there will be no one left to grieve or collect life insurance.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    You are on page 1of 3

    Cultura Norte-Americana 3 2012-13 / Tom Lehrer / 1

    So Long, Mom (A Song For World War III)


    (Spoken Introduction: This year we've been celebrating the hundredth anniversary of the Civil
    War and the fiftieth anniversary of the beginning of World War I and the twentieth anniversary
    of the end of World War II. So all in all, it's been a good year for the war buffs. And a number
    of LPs and television specials have come out capitalizing on all this nostalgia, with particular
    emphasis on the songs of the various wars. I feel that if any songs are gonna come out of World
    War III, we'd better start writing them now. I have one here. Might call it a bit of pre-nostalgia.)
    This is the song that some of the boys sang as they went bravely off to World War III:
    So long, mom,
    I'm off to drop the bomb,
    So don't wait up for me.
    But while you swelter
    Down there in your shelter
    You can see me
    On your TV.
    While we're attacking frontally
    Watch Brinkally and Huntally**
    Describing contrapuntally
    The cities we have lost.
    No need for you to miss a minute of the agonizing holocaust. Yeah!
    Little Johnny Jones, he was a US pilot,
    And no shrinking violet was he.
    He was mighty proud when World War III was declared.
    He wasn't scared, no siree!
    And this is what he said on
    His way to Armageddon:
    So long, mom,
    I'm off to drop the bomb,
    So don't wait up for me.
    But though I may roam,
    I'll come back to my home
    Although it may be
    A pile of debris.
    Remember, mommy,
    I'm off to get a commie,
    So send me a salami
    And try to smile somehow.
    I'll look for you when the war is over,
    An hour and a half from now!
    Tom Lehrer (1965)

    Cultura Norte-Americana 3 2012-13 / Tom Lehrer / 2


    We Will All Go Together When We Go
    When you attend a funeral,
    It is sad to think that sooner or
    Later those you love will do the same for you.
    And you may have thought it tragic,
    Not to mention other adjecTives, to think of all the weeping they will do.
    But don't you worry.
    No more ashes, no more sackcloth.
    And an armband made of black cloth
    Will some day never more adorn a sleeve.
    For if the bomb that drops on you
    Gets your friends and neighbors too,
    There'll be nobody left behind to grieve.

    And we will all go together when we go.


    What a comforting fact that is to know.
    Universal bereavement,
    An inspiring achievement,
    Yes, we all will go together when we go.

    We will all go together when we go.


    All suffuse with an incandescent glow.
    No one will have the endurance
    To collect on his insurance,
    Lloyd's of london will be loaded when they go.

    Oh we will all fry together when we fry.


    We'll be french fried potatoes by and by.
    There will be no more misery
    When the world is our rotisserie,
    Yes, we will all fry together when we fry.

    Down by the old maelstrom,


    There'll be a storm before the calm.

    And we will all bake together when we bake.

    Cultura Norte-Americana 3 2012-13 / Tom Lehrer / 3


    There'll be nobody present at the wake.
    With complete participation
    In that grand incineration,
    Nearly three billion hunks of well-done steak.

    Oh we will all char together when we char.


    And let there be no moaning of the bar.
    Just sing out a te deum
    When you see that i.c.b.m.,
    And the party will be "come as you are."

    Oh we will all burn together when we burn.


    There'll be no need to stand and wait your turn.
    When it's time for the fallout
    And saint peter calls us all out,
    We'll just drop our agendas and adjourn.

    You will all go directly to your respective valhallas.


    Go directly, do not pass go, do not collect two hundred dolla's.

    And we will all go together when we go.


    Ev'ry hottenhot and ev'ry eskimo.
    When the air becomes uranious,
    And we will all go simultaneous.
    Yes we all will go together
    When we all go together,
    Yes we all will go together when we go.
    Tom Lehrer (1959)

    Source: Tom Lehrer Song Lyrics (With Annotations) by Graeme Cree


    http://graeme.50webs.com/lehrer/index.htm

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