It's weird, when you think about it. The silent e in English, from what I understand, results from the Great Vowel Shift, or rather the incomplete nature of the shift. The only other languages I know of with a silent e are French and Portuguese, where it almost exclusively changes the consonant sound. In fact in French there usually pretty much is no final consonant sound unless the consonant is followed by an e.
As for Tom Lehrer, his career as a satirical songwriter was legendary but very short. The couple of songs he wrote for The Electric Company were an odd but welcome coda.
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The first thing I thought of when it comes to silent consonents in French are those famous words: Liberté, égalité, fraternité, The Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen drafted by the Marquis de Lafayette and his friend Thomas Jefferson. I only mention this because both France and the USA would be well served by being reminded. I don't know much Portuguese.
I did have some fun this afternoon reading the wiki write-up about Tom Lehrer. I already knew he gave up performing because it bored him but it's cool to know he's still with us and it was interesting to read some of his remarks:
In 2012 rapper 2 Chainz sampled Lehrer's song "The Old Dope Peddler", on his 2012 debut album. In 2013, Lehrer said he was "very proud" to have his song sampled "literally sixty years after I recorded it". Lehrer went on to describe his official response to the request to use his song: "As sole copyright owner of 'The Old Dope Peddler', I grant you motherfuckers permission to do this. Please give my regards to Mr. Chainz, or may I call him 2?"
Besides Mr. Chainz and the Electric Company there were a number of others who used or modified his songs. I especially liked The Drugs Song by the Amateur Transplants in 2004.
It seems to be easy to forget those three principles, especially when you're incentivized to do so. The governments are so-incentivized. I'm definitely not fluent in Portuguese, but since there are still a number of people in Rhode Island who speak it as a first or second language, I've come to recognize the sounds.
The whole way that Lehrer started in music is a neat story. He basically just recorded a few songs on an album for some friends at a studio that anyone could use if they paid to rent it. And from there his reputation grew. But it wasn't really something he'd sought out, so it's not too surprising that he walked away from it after a while. Always seems to be open and gracious, though.
I knew about 2 Chainz sampling "The Old Dope Peddler." I don't think I knew about Lehrer's note to him. It's a hilarious story, and speaks volumes about him. (Not sure if that phrase is usually used for good stuff, but in this case it is.)
That Amateur Transplants song is neat and funny. Of course you have to give some credit to Arthur Sullivan as well.
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