Too many favorites to enumerate here! The tops? Vatican Rag, Elements, We Will All Go Together When We Go, Plagiarize, Oedipus Rex, Clementine, Pollution, Senator Murphy (might not have that name). . . and anything that used Gilbert and Sullivan.

NPR had a "funny dentist" story a few weeks ago, with some half-assed attempts at putting new words to standard rock classics. It was so non-funny I wondered who got paid to run the stupid thing. The kids were in the truck with me when I muttered "Tom Lehrer doesn't need to worry about this guy!" and they thought that was pretty funny. I corrupted my children a couple of years ago. I consciously got out the CD and put it in the player and told them to stay there for a few minutes, there was something I wanted them to hear. They were instantly smitten. Even better than that, they understood his point of view and well-placed satire and sarcasm. Want your kids to instantly understand the motivation behind drug pushers and why they are un-cool? Just play "The Old Dope Peddler."

For some unknown reason I no longer had copies of all of the songs, so this year for christmas my 15-year-old burned a copy of "That Was the Year That Was" after a friend gave the CD to her. A very nice stocking stuffer! Visit Amazon for several Lehrer disks.

SRS