Question: who said we don't write songs we write records

title: Tom Lehrer
text: The record deal with Reprise Records for the That Was The Year That Was album also gave Reprise distribution rights for his earlier recordings , as Lehrer wanted to wind up his own record imprint . The Reprise issue of Songs by Tom Lehrer was a stereo re-recording . This version was not issued on CD , but the songs were issued on the live Tom Lehrer Revisited CD . The ( live ) recording included bonus tracks `` L-Y '' and `` Silent E '' , two of the ten songs that Lehrer wrote for the PBS children 's educational series The Electric Company . Lehrer later commented that worldwide sales of the recordings under Reprise surpassed 1.8 million units in 1996 . That same year , the album That Was The Year That Was went gold . The album liner notes ( and Lehrer himself in one routine ) promote his songs with self - deprecating humor . ( `` I know it 's very bad form to quote one 's own reviews , but there is something the New York Times said about me ( in 1958 ) , that I have always treasured : ' Mr. Lehrer 's muse ( is ) not fettered by such inhibiting factors as taste . '' )