Yet his work remains in print. But not like 'N Sync. His career also got an unlikely burst of energy in the early 1970s thanks to Los Angeles-based syndicated radio host Doctor Demento, a longtime Lehrer fan. Lehrer still scores big on Dr. Demento's weekly countdown. No. 3 is Frank Zappa.
Some recording artists hate talking about their signature tunes.
The song doesn't have any message except pure birdie loathing. Pigeons are just on the borderline for people who really don't like them but don't wish them ill, or do wish them ill but wouldn't necessarily poison them themselves. Lehrer once played the song for a roomful of UCSC students just to see how they'd react, said colleague John Dizikes, an American studies professor. It was an example of Lehrer's piercing style, Dizikes said. How appropriate that the performance, featuring a song about doing questionable things to birds and squirrels, took place in front of the Queen Of England herself.