Oedipus Rex (Tom Lehrer)
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(Posted 2026-02-14) CPDL #88339:
- Editor: Richard Shakeshaft (submitted 2026-02-14). Score information: A4, 8 pages, 4.27 MB Copyright: Personal
- Edition notes: This is a new edition based on the publicly available copies provided by Tom Lehrer. A preview is available, but name and email are required to download complete free licensed copies.
General Information
Title: Oedipus Rex
Composer: Tom Lehrer
Lyricist: Tom Lehrer
Number of voices: (missing) Voicing: Unknown
Genre: Unknown, Unknown
Language: Unknown
Instruments: Unknown
First published:
Description:
External websites:
Original text and translations
English text
From the Bible to the popular song,
There’s one theme that we find right along,
of all ideals they hail as good,
the most sublime is motherhood.
There was a man, though, who, it seems,
once carried thii ideal to extremes:
he loved his mother and she loved him,
and yet his story is rather grim.
There once lived a man named Oedipus Rex,
you may have heard about his odd complex,
his name appears in in Freud’s index
'cause he loved his mother.
His rivals used to say quite a bit,
that as a monarch he was most most unfit,
but still and all they had to admit
that he loved his mother.
Yes, he loved his mother
like no other,
his daughter was his sister
and his son was his brother,
one thing on which you
can depend is:
he sure knew who
a boy’s best friend is.
When he found wha he had done,
he tore his eyes out one by one,
a tragic end for a loyal son
who loved his mother.
So be sweet and kind to mother,
now and then have a chat,
buy her candy or some flowers
or a brand new hat,
but may be you had better
let it go at that
or you may find yourself
with a quite complex complex,
and you may end like Oedipus,
I’d rather marry a duckbilled platypus,
than end up like old Oedipus Rex!