"The Elements" (1959) is a song by musical humorist Tom Lehrer, which recites the names of all the chemical elements known at the time of writing, up to number 102, nobelium. It can be found on his albums More Songs by Tom Lehrer and An Evening Wasted with Tom Lehrer. The song is sung to the tune of the Major General's Song from The Pirates of Penzance by Gilbert and Sullivan.^[1] See also: 1958 in music, other events of 1959, 1960 in music, 1950s in music and the list of years in music // Events 1959 (date unknown) Jimi Hendrix buys first electric guitar: a White Single pickup Supro Ozark 1560 S. January 5 The first sessions for Ella Fitzgeralds George... Thomas Andrew Tom Lehrer (born April 9, 1928) is an American singer-songwriter, satirist, pianist, and mathematician. ... The periodic table of the chemical elements A chemical element, or element, is a type of atom that is distinguished by its atomic number; that is, by the number of protons in its nucleus. ... General Name, Symbol, Number nobelium, No, 102 Chemical series actinides Group, Period, Block n/a, 7, f Appearance unknown, probably silvery white or metallic gray Atomic mass (259) g/mol Electron configuration [Rn] 5f14 7s2 Electrons per shell 2, 8, 18, 32, 32, 8, 2 Physical properties Phase solid Melting... An Evening Wasted With Tom Lehrer is an album recorded by Tom Lehrer, the well-known satirist and Harvard lecturer. ... Henry Lytton as the Major-General The Major-Generals Song is a patter song from Gilbert and Sullivans 1879 comic opera The Pirates of Penzance. ... Drawing of the Act I finale The Pirates of Penzance, or The Slave of Duty, is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. ... W. S. Gilbert Arthur Sullivan Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian era partnership of librettist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900). ...

The song is also included in the musical revue Tom Foolery, which also includes many of Lehrer's other songs. A revue is a type of theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance and sketches that satirize contemporary figures, news, or literature. ... TomFoolery is a revue musical produced by Cameron Mackintosh and is based on the words and music of Tom Lehrer. ...

Description of the song

The ordering of elements in the lyrics fits the meter of the song, and includes much alliteration, and thus has little or no relation to the ordering in the periodic table. This can be seen for example in the opening and closing lines: In poetry, the meter or metre is the basic rhythmic structure of a verse. ... Alliteration is the repetition of a leading consonant sound in a phrase. ... The Periodic Table redirects here. ...

There's antimony, arsenic, aluminum, selenium,

And hydrogen and oxygen and nitrogen and rhenium,

....

And chlorine, carbon, cobalt, copper, tungsten, tin, and sodium.

These are the only ones of which the news has come to Ha'vard,

And there may be many others but they haven't been discarvard.

Since that time, 15 more elements have been discovered (synthesized, technically), and 9 of those have been named. Those 9 are lawrencium, rutherfordium, dubnium, seaborgium, bohrium, hassium, meitnerium, darmstadtium, and roentgenium. Further work has been done to try and fit these new elements into the main meter of the song, see [1]. This article is about the element. ... General Name, Symbol, Number arsenic, As, 33 Chemical series metalloids Group, Period, Block 15, 4, p Appearance metallic gray Standard atomic weight 74. ... Aluminum is a soft and lightweight metal with a dull silvery appearance, due to a thin layer of oxidation that forms quickly when it is exposed to air. ... For other uses, see Selenium (disambiguation). ... This article is about the chemistry of hydrogen. ... This article is about the chemical element and its most stable form, or dioxygen. ... General Name, symbol, number nitrogen, N, 7 Chemical series nonmetals Group, period, block 15, 2, p Appearance colorless gas Standard atomic weight 14. ... General Name, Symbol, Number rhenium, Re, 75 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 7, 6, d Appearance grayish white Standard atomic weight 186. ... General Name, symbol, number chlorine, Cl, 17 Chemical series nonmetals Group, period, block 17, 3, p Appearance yellowish green Standard atomic weight 35. ... For other uses, see Carbon (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Cobalt (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Copper (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Tungsten (disambiguation). ... This article is about the metallic chemical element. ... For sodium in the diet, see Salt. ... Harvard redirects here. ... This article or section should be merged with Timeline of chemical element discovery The story of the discoveries of the chemical elements is presented here in chronological order. ... General Name, Symbol, Number lawrencium, Lr, 103 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block n/a, 7, d Appearance unknown, probably silvery white or metallic gray Standard atomic weight [262] g·mol−1 Electron configuration [Rn] 5f14 6d1 7s2 Electrons per shell 2, 8, 18, 32, 32, 9, 2 Physical... General Name, Symbol, Number rutherfordium, Rf, 104 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 4, 7, d Standard atomic weight (265) g·mol−1 Electron configuration probably [Rn] 5f14 6d2 7s2 Electrons per shell 2, 8, 18, 32, 32, 10, 2 Physical properties Phase presumably a solid Density (near r. ... General Name, Symbol, Number dubnium, Db, 105 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 5, 7, d Appearance unknown, probably silvery white or metallic gray Atomic mass (262) g/mol Electron configuration perhaps [Rn] 5f14 6d3 7s2 (guess based on tantalum) Electrons per shell 2, 8, 18, 32, 32, 11... General Name, Symbol, Number seaborgium, Sg, 106 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 6, 7, d Appearance unknown, probably silvery white or metallic gray Atomic mass (266) g/mol Electron configuration perhaps [Rn] 5f14 6d4 7s2 (guess based on tungsten) Electrons per shell 2, 8, 18, 32, 32, 12... General Name, Symbol, Number bohrium, Bh, 107 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 7, 7, d Appearance unknown, probably silvery white or metallic gray Atomic mass (264) g/mol Electron configuration perhaps [Rn] 5f14 6d5 7s2 (guess based on rhenium) Electrons per shell 2, 8, 18, 32, 32, 13... General Name, Symbol, Number hassium, Hs, 108 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 8, 7, d Appearance unknown, probably silvery white or metallic gray Atomic mass (269) g/mol Electron configuration perhaps [Rn] 5f14 6d6 7s2 (guess based on osmium) Electrons per shell 2, 8, 18, 32, 32, 14... General Name, Symbol, Number meitnerium, Mt, 109 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 9, 7, d Appearance unknown, probably silvery white or metallic gray Atomic mass (268) g·mol−1 Electron configuration perhaps [Rn] 5f14 6d7 7s2 (guess based on iridium) Electrons per shell 2, 8, 18, 32, 32... General Name, Symbol, Number darmstadtium, Ds, 110 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 10, 7, d Appearance unknown, probably silvery white or metallic gray Atomic mass (281) g/mol Electron configuration perhaps [Rn] 5f14 6d9 7s1 (guess based on platinum) Electrons per shell 2, 8, 18, 32, 32, 17... General Name, Symbol, Number roentgenium, Rg, 111 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 11, 7, d Appearance unknown, probably yellow or orange metallic Atomic mass (284) g/mol Electron configuration perhaps [Rn] 5f14 6d10 7s1 (guess based on gold) Electrons per shell 2, 8, 18, 32, 32, 18, 1...

Lehrer was a Harvard math lecturer, and the final rhyme of "Harvard" and "discovered" is delivered in a parody of a Boston accent, i.e., in a non-rhotic manner, so that the two words rhyme. Lehrer, a native of New York, does not normally speak with that accent. The Boston accent is found not only in the city of Boston, Massachusetts itself but also much of eastern Massachusetts. ... English pronunciation is divided into two main accent groups, the rhotic and the non-rhotic, depending on when the letter r (equivalent to Greek rho) is pronounced. ...

Background

Lehrer drew the inspiration for The Elements from the song Tchaikovsky and Other Russians, written by Ira Gershwin, which listed fifty Russian composers in a similar manner ^[2] This article does not cite its references or sources. ... Ira Gershwin (6 December 1896 – 17 August 1983) was an American lyricist who collaborated with his younger brother, composer George Gershwin, to create some of the most memorable songs of the 20th century. ...

The Elements differs from The Major-General's Song in that:

• Lehrer's usual performance is more monotoned than its source tune, although the sheet music in the 1981 book contains Sullivan's normal score.
• As per usual with Lehrer, it is accompanied solely by his own piano playing (as opposed to a full orchestra).
• On the live version, Lehrer pauses in the middle for a spoken interlude, in which he talks to the audience ("I hope you're all taking notes, because there's going to be a short quiz next period!") while vamping on the piano.
• The verse structure is altered, omitting the third verse of the original as well as all of the "responses" from the play's chorus, and adding an extra two lines at the end of the last verse.
• The song ends with a piano coda: Shave and a haircut, two bits.

A short grand piano, with the lid up. ... In Jazz, a vamp is simply a repeating bass figure. ... Sheet music for Shave and a Haircut. ...

Parodies of the song

• "The Elements" has itself been parodied by the group Amateur Transplants (of London Underground fame) as The Drugs Song.
• The Jewish parody group Schlock Rock acknowledges Lehrer and "The Elements" as inspiration for the "The Shabbat Song" [2] in the liner notes for their CD, "Woodschlock."

Amateur Transplants is a band comprising two medical doctors, Dr. Adam Kay and Dr. Suman Biswas although it is rumoured they have split up due to artistic differences[citation needed]. Their album Fitness to Practice contains comic songs dealing with medical subjects as well as containing the infamous London Underground...

Footnotes

Further reading

• Too Many Songs by Tom Lehrer, 1981, has sheet music for many of Lehrer's songs, including The Elements.

External links

• Lyrics to the song
• Guitar chords from alt.guitar.tab newsgroup
• Flash animation of song