PreprintCC BY 4.0arXiv
Updating Tom Lehrer's "The Elements"
Abstract
We analyze the poetico-comedic criteria by which Tom Lehrer arranged the chemical elements in his 1959 hit "The Elements," a parody to the tune of Gilbert and Sullivan's "The Modern Major-General" (1879). We compose a new version to the same tune incorporating all 118 currently known elements and fulfilling, so far as possible, the same artistic aims.
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BibTeX
@misc{odorney2026updating,
title = {{Updating Tom Lehrer's "The Elements"}},
author = {Evan M. O'Dorney},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.07951},
eprint = {2609.07951},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.07951},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Updating Tom Lehrer's "The Elements"
AU - Evan M. O'Dorney
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/07
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.07951
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.07951
AB - We analyze the poetico-comedic criteria by which Tom Lehrer arranged the chemical elements in his 1959 hit "The Elements," a parody to the tune of Gilbert and Sullivan's "The Modern Major-General" (1879). We compose a new version to the same tune incorporating all 118 currently known elements and fulfilling, so far as possible, the same artistic aims.
ER -