Song Info:[]
"My Home Town" Was Released In And Was Featured On The Albums "Songs By Tom Lehrer" And "Tom Lehrer In Concert".
Lyrics:[]
Spoken live introduction on Revisited:
Next we have the “Dear Hearts And Gentle Peoples” school of songwriting, in which the singer tells you that, no matter jow much sin and vice and crime go on where he comes from, it’s still the best place in the world because it’s home, you know. Sort of gets you.
This example is called “My Home Town.”
No fellow could ignore
The little girl next door
She sure looked sweet in her first evening gown
Now there's a charge for what she used to give for free
In my home town
The “Girl Next Door” who Lehrer and others dated, is now a prostitute who charges for sex, which she used to give freely to her fellow teens that she dated.
I remember Dan, the druggist on the corner, 'e
Was never mean or ornery
He was swell
He killed his mother-in-law and ground her up real well
And sprinkled just a bit
Over each banana split
Dan, who ran the local drug store aka pharmacy, murdered his mother-in-law and served her remains (ground up into a powder) to customers, who bought ice cream at the pharmacy.
The guy that taught us math
Who never took a bath
Acquired a certain measure of renown
And after school he sold the most amazing pictures
In my home town
The math teacher, sold pornographic photos to people willing to buy them. Lehrer gives foreshadowing this by claiming that the math teacher was known for “not taking a bath”; this is Lehrer slying referencing the “dirty old man” cliche as far as his refusal to take a bath was a metaphor for him being “dirty minded” and the type of man who collects and sells pornographic material to others.
That fellow was no fool
Who taught our Sunday School
And neither was our kindly Parson Brown
We're recording tonight so I have to leave this line out
The joke of this line, is that the secret of the Sunday School Teacher and the Parson, is so scandalous that Lehrer can’t say what it is. Lehrer never actually wrote a line for what it was, but some fans have speculated it involves the two men being lovers.
In my home town
I remember Sam, he was the village idiot
And though it seems a pity, it
Was so
He loved to burn down houses just to watch the glow
And nothing could be done
Because he was the mayor's son
Here Lehrer positions the “village idiot” cliche with a much more dangerous connotation: that the village idiot was a pyromaniac and killed people/burnt down peoples homes. But worst of all, that he was able to do this with no hope of stopping him, let alone arresting him, because his father was the mayor and as such, Sam (said village idiot) could murder people in such a violent fashion without fear of being arrested, due to his powerful father’s position.
The guy that took a knife
And monogrammed his wife
Then dropped her in the pond and watched her drown
Oh, yes indeed, the people there are just plain folks
In my home town