Production and release history

Songs by Tom Lehrer was recorded in a single one hour session on January 22, 1953 at the TransRadio studio in Boston for the total studio cost of $15. The first pressing was an issue of 400 copies, produced at Lehrer's own expense in the 10" LP record format. Records were sold for $3.50, and later $3.95. Later releases were issued in 10" and 12" LP format.

The songs from Songs by... were rerecorded for the 1960 live album Revisited. Songs by... itself was re-released as part of Songs & More Songs by Tom Lehrer

Songs & More Songs by Tom Lehrer

Songs & More Songs by Tom Lehrer is a reissue of musical satirist Tom Lehrer's two studio albums , combined with other studio sessions and a newly-recorded version of "I Got It From Agnes"...

 in 1997 and on the 2000 box set The Remains of Tom Lehrer

The Remains of Tom Lehrer

The Remains of Tom Lehrer was, as the title suggests, the presumed final album by musical satirist Tom Lehrer. Released in 2000, The Remains of Tom Lehrer is a box set that consists of all the songs from Lehrer's previous albums along with previously unreleased songs and his works featured in The...

Track listing

Side 1

1. "Fight Fiercely, Harvard
   Fight Fiercely, Harvard
   "Fight Fiercely, Harvard" is a satirical college fight song written and originally performed by Tom Lehrer and dedicated to his alma mater, Harvard University...
   
   "
2. "The Old Dope Peddler"
3. "Be Prepared"
4. "The Wild West Is Where I Want to Be"
5. "I Wanna Go Back to Dixie"
6. "Lobachevsky
   Lobachevsky (song)
   Lobachevsky is a humorous song by Tom Lehrer, referring to the mathematician Nikolai Lobachevsky. In the introduction, Lehrer describes the song as an adaptation of a routine by Danny Kaye, and claims that the secret of success in mathematics is to plagiarize...
   
   "

Side 2

1. "The Irish Ballad"
2. "The Hunting Song"
3. "My Home Town"
4. "When You Are Old and Gray"
5. "I Hold Your Hand in Mine"
6. "The Wiener Schnitzel Waltz"

1966 re-recording

In 1966, following the success of That Was the Year That Was

That Was the Year That Was

That Was the Year That Was is a live album recorded at the hungry i in San Francisco, containing performances by Tom Lehrer of satiric topical songs he originally wrote for the NBC television series That Was The Week That Was, known informally as TW3...

, Reprise Records

Reprise Records

Reprise Records is an American record label, founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operated through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:...

reissued several of Lehrer's previous LPs, but the company was dissatisfied with the technical quality of the original Songs album and persuaded Lehrer to make a new stereo recording of the album. However, in an attempt to make the songs more up to date, Lehrer made some noticeable changes in the lyrics that he later regretted and discarded. As of 2009, this version of the album has not been reissued on CD.

The Reprise version of the album featured a cartoon cover designed by Eric Martin, who also designed the Year cover.

Track listing

Side 1

1. "I Wanna Go Back to Dixie"
2. "The Old Dope Peddler"
3. "When You Are Old and Gray"
4. "The Wild West" (sic)
5. "Fight Fiercely Harvard"
6. "Lobachevsky"

Side 2

1. "The Irish Ballad"
2. "The Hunting Song"
3. "My Home Town"
4. "The Wienerschnitzel Waltz" (sic)
5. "I Hold Your Hand in Mine"
6. "Be Prepared"

Cover versions

During a period when Lehrer's original LP was hard to find (c. 1954), cover versions of all the songs on Songs by Tom Lehrer were released as Jack Eljan Sings Tom Lehrer's Song Satires. The album was performed by singer Jack Nagle under an easily deciphered assumed name. "Eljan"'s album was reissued in 1960 in the wake of Revisiteds popularity.