The New York Times would remind him: “Love them or hate them, those plump gray and white cooing birds are considered property of the state, and it is illegal to harm them.”

You are also prohibited from feeding pigeons in many parks, though it is not illegal. Either way, Lehrer as we’re sure you know, was only demonstrating his well known acerbic satire and, as far as we know, was not a pigeon poisoner. He was, as The New Yorker recently described, “a satirist by nature and a recording artist by accident.”:

He started writing and performing while an undergraduate at Harvard (“Fight Fiercely, Harvard,” a parodic college fight song, dates from 1945), and he continued clowning through his graduate studies in math. In 1953, Lehrer bought an hour of studio time and released “Songs by Tom Lehrer”; over the decade that followed, he became, much to everyone’s surprise, a pop-culture sensation. His songs had more to do with show tunes than rock—“The Elements” set the periodic table to Gilbert and Sullivan’s “Major-General’s Song”—but he also had a nasty topical streak, and his work has directly influenced performers as diverse as Mark Russell, “Weird Al” Yankovic, and Stephin Merritt, of Magnetic Fields (when he sent Lehrer a copy of his magnum opus, “69 Love Songs,” Lehrer responded “Now you realize that ‘69 Love Songs’ is 67 too many”).

Upcoming Lyrics & Lyricists include Lyrics & Lyricists Downtown™ – Ahrens and Flaherty At 92YTribeca (Apr 19) and Lyrics & Lyricists™—In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening: The Stardust of Hoagy Carmichael (Jun 5).

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