Masochism Tango

tom lehrer

at my school, if you could get yourself into a certain professor's theory classes, you were very lucky indeed, for every friday, at the end of his class, he would plop himself down at the piano and play you an old standard or quirky little number you'd never heard before but would instantly fall in love with. it also didn't hurt that he was an older, adorably flamboyant gent who shared my loves for knitting and cats and moonlighted as a performer at a piano lounge in center city.

and so, one friday morning in late october of my sophomore year, my love for tom lehrer sealed with a deliciously naughty wink from said professor as he played his way through "the masochism tango," an annual halloween tradition of his. he growled his way through the best lines and put extra long pauses in all the right places as my classmates and i howled with laughter and exchanged thrilled looks.

of course for the next two years, my friends and i cut our classes the last friday before halloween just go to back and watch him do it again.

meg