Talks to Watch

Tom Lehrer - Poisoning Pigeons In The Park

5.7M views · Oct 1, 2007 · 2:17 · 0 HN recommenders · 3 mentions · discussed 2018–2025

Tom Lehrer performs his satirical song about poisoning pigeons in the park, in a rare 1967 Norwegian broadcast recording.

Why Hacker News points people here: Posted as a humorous reference in threads about pigeons or Lehrer.

What Hacker News said 3

Cites itOrganicMSGApr 2018

“You'd have thought”

Lehrer's song missing from the article

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Was listening to "I got it From Agnes" just the other day - link That aspect of his humour however seems noticeably absent from this article. You'd have thought "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park" would at least get a mention - this video

in “Tom Lehrer at 90: a life of scientific satire” · view on HN
Cites itlb1lfAug 2018

Song lyrics posted in the pigeon thread

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"Poisoning pigeons in the park" by Tom Lehrer Spring is here A-suh-puh-ring is here Life is skittles and life is beer I think the loveliest time Of the year is the spring I do, don't you? 'Course you do But there's one thing That makes spring complete for me And makes every Sunday A treat for me All the world seems in tune On a spring afternoon When we're poisoning pigeons in the park Every Sunday you'll see My sweetheart and me As we poison the pigeons in the park When they see us coming The birdies all try an' hide But they still go for peanuts When coated with cyanide The sun's shining bright Everything seems all right When we're poisoning pigeons in the park We've gained notoriety And caused much anxiety In the Audubon Society With our games They call it impiety And lack of propriety And quite a variety Of unpleasant names But it's not against any religion To want to dispose of a pigeon So if Sunday you're free Why don't you come with me And we'll poison the pigeons in the park And maybe we'll do In a squirrel or two While we're poisoning pigeons in the park We'll murder them all Amid laughter and merriment Except for the few We take home to experiment My pulse will be quickenin' With each drop of strych'nine We feed to a pigeon (It just takes a smidgin!) To poison a pigeon in the park this video

in “The Origins of Hatred for Pigeons (2016)” · view on HN
JokeDonHopkinsMay 2025

“Tom Lehrer would approve!”

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> First you have to murder a pigeon to extract fresh breast muscle cells. Tom Lehrer would approve! "We'll murder them all amid laughter and merriment, except for the few we take home to experiment." this video

in “Mitochondria Are More Than Powerhouses–They're the Motherboard of the Cell” · view on HN