An Evening Wasted with Tom Lehrer The lyrics of "The Elements" are a recitation of the names of all the chemical elements that were known at the time of writing, up to number 102, nobelium. It can be found on his albums "Songs & More Songs by Tom Lehrer" as well as "An Evening Wasted with Tom Lehrer". The song is sung to the tune of Sir Arthur Sullivan's "Major General's Song" ("I am the very model of a modern major-general...") from "The Pirates of Penzance". Since that time, 16 more have been discovered. At his concert in Copenhagen (1967), Lehrer admitted, "I like to play
Patter song from Gilbert and Sullivan tunes set to different words, such as Tom Lehrer's listing of the chemical elements to the tune of the Major General's Song, later patter songs can be found in early twentieth-century operettas, such as Edward German's "Merrie England" and in a number of musicals. Later examples include "Tchaikovsky (and Other Russians)" in Ira Gershwin and Kurt Weill's "Lady in the Dark" and "Getting Married Today" in Stephen Sondheim's "Company". Another of many examples from musical theatre is Professor Harold Hill's song in "The Music Man", "Ya Got Trouble". Patter song The patter song is characterised by