Tom Lehrer, Musical Hero gave away his songs before he passed. Even more reasons to love this man.
"All copyrights to lyrics or music written or composed by me have been permanently and irrevocably relinquished, and therefore such songs are now in the public domain. " https://tomlehrersongs.com/
(and he just passed at 97)
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/27/arts/music/tom-lehrer-dead.html
btw, Archive of Tom Lehrer's site:
Tom Lehrer has been archived @internetarchive checked and Jason Scott was on it:
@brewsterkahle @scott @internetarchive Meanwhile, fake "Tom Lehrer" albums showed up on Spotify and other music streaming services this week (a few days before he passed away). When YT's algorithm recommended them to me, I wondered, amid mild nausea, if donating his corpus to the public domain caused his legacy to be debased this way. But fake albums afflict other artists too, so presumably just coincidence.
And he did it (released his songs into the wild) in 2007. Worth reading the 'release' notice he wrote, it's extraordinarily comprehensive (also sensitive to others' rights) and closes with: "So help yourselves and dont send me any money."
You get the feeling & flavour of the man right there. 😊
"Tom Lehrer, Musical Satirist With a Dark Streak, Dies at 97
A mathematician by training, he acquired a devoted following with songs that set sardonic lyrics to music that was often maddeningly cheerful."
By Richard Severo and Peter Keepnews
July 27, 2025
(Link around wall to The New York Times)
Everett Palmer
Brewster Kahle
Julie Motz
scott f
Steve KØSTK
Ozzie D, NP-hard 
Su_G
(deleted acct)
John Carlsen 🇺🇸🇳🇱🇪🇺