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Lobachevsky

Lehrer sings "Lobachevsky"

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"Lobachevsky" is a humorous song by Tom Lehrer, referring to the mathematician Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky.^[1] According to Lehrer, the song is "not intended as a slur on [Lobachevsky's] character" and the name was chosen "solely for prosodic reasons".^[2]^[3]

In the introduction, Lehrer describes the song as an adaptation of a routine that Danny Kaye did to honor the Russian actor Constantin Stanislavski.^[3] (The Danny Kaye routine is sung from the perspective of a famous Russian actor who learns and applies Stanislavski's secret to method acting: "Suffer.") ^[4] Lehrer sings the song from the point of view of an eminent Russian mathematician who learns from Lobachevsky that plagiarism is the secret of success in mathematics ("only be sure always to call it please 'research'"). The narrator later uses this strategy to get a paper published ahead of a rival, then to write a book and earn a fortune selling the movie rights.

Lehrer wrote that he did not know Russian. In the song he quotes two "book reviews" in Russian; the first is a long sentence that he then translates succinctly as "It stinks." The second, a different but equally long sentence, is also translated as "It stinks." The actual text of these sentences bear no relation to academics: the first phrase quotes Mussorgsky's "Song of the Flea": Russian: Жил-был король когда-то, при нём блоха жила, romanized: Zhil-byl korol' kogda-to, pri nom blokha zhila, lit. 'Once there was a king who had a pet flea'. The second references a Russian joke: Russian: Я иду туда, куда сам царь идёт пешком, romanized: Ya idu tuda, kuda sam tsar' idot peshkom, lit. 'Now I must go where even the Tsar goes on foot' [the bathroom].^[5]

The song was first performed as part of The Physical Revue, a 1951–1952 musical revue by Lehrer and a few other professors.^[6] It is track 6 on Songs by Tom Lehrer, which was re-released as part of Songs & More Songs by Tom Lehrer and The Remains of Tom Lehrer. In this early version, Ingrid Bergman is named to star in the role of "the Hypotenuse" in The Eternal Triangle, a film purportedly based on the narrator's book.^[7] It was recorded again for Revisited (Tom Lehrer album), with Brigitte Bardot as the Hypotenuse. A third recording is included in Tom Lehrer Discovers Australia (And Vice Versa), a live album recorded in Australia, featuring Marilyn Monroe as the Hypotenuse. A fourth recording was made in 1966 when Songs by Tom Lehrer was reissued in stereo, with Doris Day playing the Hypotenuse.^[8]^[5]

The song is frequently quoted,^[9]^[10]^[11] especially in works about plagiarism.^[12]^[13]^[14] Writing about it in Billboard, Jim Bessman calls the song "dazzlingly inventive in its shameless promotion of plagiarism", calling out in particular a sequence in which Lehrer strings together rhymes from the names of ten Russian [sic] cities.^[3] Mathematician Jordan Ellenberg has called it "surely the greatest comic musical number of all time about mathematical publishing".^[15]

Cities mentioned

Minsk, Belarus
Pinsk, Belarus
Omsk, Russia
Tomsk, Russia
Akmolinsk, now Astana, Kazakhstan
Alexandrovsk, various minor cities in Russia
Petropavlovsk, two major cities, one in Kazakhstan and one in Russia
Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine
Iliysk, now Qonayev, Kazakhstan
Novorossiysk, Russia
Vladivostok, Russia

References

^ Lobachevsky, The Demented Music Database, retrieved 2 October 2014
^ Liner notes, "The Tom Lehrer Collection", Shout! Factory, 2010
^ ^a ^b ^c Bessman, Jim (March 30, 2002), "Words & Music", Billboard, vol. 114, no. 13, p. 53.
^ The Stanislavski routine performed on the Danny Kaye Radio Show
^ ^a ^b "Lobachevsky" Words and music by Tom Lehrer, PhysicsSongs.org, retrieved October 2, 2014
^ The Physical Revue, by Tom Lehrer, PhysicsSongs.org, retrieved October 2, 2014
^ Nigel Calder (2005), Magic Universe: A Grand Tour of Modern Science, Oxford University Press, p. 639, ISBN 978-0-19-162235-9
^ Tom Lehrer lyric variations, The Demented Music Database, April 2, 1995, retrieved 2 October 2014
^ Ratcliffe, Susan, ed. (2006), Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, Oxford University Press, p. 692, ISBN 9780198614173. See also the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (1999), p. 462, and the Oxford Dictionary of Modern Quotations (2007), p. 195.
^ Curcic, Barbara (January 1976), "Mathematical quotations for all occasions", The Mathematics Teacher, 69 (1): 40–44, doi:10.5951/MT.69.1.0040, JSTOR 27960358.
^ Shapiro, Fred R., ed. (2006), The Yale Book of Quotations, Yale University Press, p. 450, ISBN 9780300107982.
^ Berlin, Leonard (October 2008), "Plagiarism, salami slicing, and Lobachevsky", Skeletal Radiology, 38 (1): 1–4, doi:10.1007/s00256-008-0599-0, PMID 18828008, S2CID 29316983.
^ Laake, Petter; Benestad, Haakon Breien (2015), "2.5.2 Plagiarism", Research in Medical and Biological Sciences: From Planning and Preparation to Grant Application and Publication, Academic Press, p. 55, ISBN 9780128001547.
^ Goldsberry, Steven (2007), "Borrow (and steal) from your favorite writers", The Writer's Book of Wisdom: 101 Rules for Mastering Your Craft, Writer's Digest Books, p. 23, ISBN 9781582974941.
^ Ellenberg, Jordan (2014), How Not to Be Wrong: The Power of Mathematical Thinking, Penguin, p. 396, ISBN 9780698163843.

External links

Lyrics

[1] Lobachevsky, The Demented Music Database, retrieved 2 October 2014

[2] Liner notes, "The Tom Lehrer Collection", Shout! Factory, 2010

[bessman-3] Bessman, Jim (March 30, 2002), "Words & Music", Billboard, vol. 114, no. 13, p. 53.

[4] The Stanislavski routine performed on the Danny Kaye Radio Show

[lobachevsky.htm-5] "Lobachevsky" Words and music by Tom Lehrer, PhysicsSongs.org, retrieved October 2, 2014

[6] The Physical Revue, by Tom Lehrer, PhysicsSongs.org, retrieved October 2, 2014

[Calder2005-7] Nigel Calder (2005), Magic Universe: A Grand Tour of Modern Science, Oxford University Press, p. 639, ISBN 978-0-19-162235-9

[8] Tom Lehrer lyric variations, The Demented Music Database, April 2, 1995, retrieved 2 October 2014

[9] Ratcliffe, Susan, ed. (2006), Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, Oxford University Press, p. 692, ISBN 9780198614173. See also the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (1999), p. 462, and the Oxford Dictionary of Modern Quotations (2007), p. 195.

[10] Curcic, Barbara (January 1976), "Mathematical quotations for all occasions", The Mathematics Teacher, 69 (1): 40–44, doi:10.5951/MT.69.1.0040, JSTOR 27960358.

[11] Shapiro, Fred R., ed. (2006), The Yale Book of Quotations, Yale University Press, p. 450, ISBN 9780300107982.

[12] Berlin, Leonard (October 2008), "Plagiarism, salami slicing, and Lobachevsky", Skeletal Radiology, 38 (1): 1–4, doi:10.1007/s00256-008-0599-0, PMID 18828008, S2CID 29316983.

[13] Laake, Petter; Benestad, Haakon Breien (2015), "2.5.2 Plagiarism", Research in Medical and Biological Sciences: From Planning and Preparation to Grant Application and Publication, Academic Press, p. 55, ISBN 9780128001547.

[14] Goldsberry, Steven (2007), "Borrow (and steal) from your favorite writers", The Writer's Book of Wisdom: 101 Rules for Mastering Your Craft, Writer's Digest Books, p. 23, ISBN 9781582974941.

[15] Ellenberg, Jordan (2014), How Not to Be Wrong: The Power of Mathematical Thinking, Penguin, p. 396, ISBN 9780698163843.

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@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{Short description|1951 song by Tom Lehrer}}
-"'''Lobachevsky'''" is a humorous song by [[Tom Lehrer]], referring to the mathematician [[Nikolai Lobachevsky]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://dmdb.org/lyrics/lehrer.revisited.html#6 |title=Lobachevsky |publisher=The Demented Music Database |accessdate=2 October 2014}}</ref>
+{{Listen|type=music|filename=1-06 Lobachevsky.mp3|title=Lobachevsky|description=Lehrer sings "Lobachevsky"}}
+"'''Lobachevsky'''" is a humorous song by [[Tom Lehrer]], referring to the mathematician [[Nikolai Lobachevsky|Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky]].<ref>{{citation |url=http://dmdb.org/lyrics/lehrer.revisited.html#6 |title=Lobachevsky |publisher=The Demented Music Database |accessdate=2 October 2014}}</ref>
 According to Lehrer, the song is "not intended as a slur on [Lobachevsky's] character" and the name was chosen "solely for [[prosodic]] reasons".<ref>Liner notes, "The Tom Lehrer Collection", ''Shout!'' Factory, 2010</ref><ref name="bessman"/>
-In the introduction, Lehrer describes the song as an adaptation of a routine that [[Danny Kaye]] did to honor the Russian actor [[Constantin Stanislavski]].<ref name="bessman"/> (The Danny Kaye routine is sung from the perspective of a famous Russian actor who learns and applies Stanislavski's secret to method acting: "Suffer.") <ref> [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXI2djKeerQ The Stanislavski routine] performed on the Danny Kaye Radio Show </ref> Lehrer sings the song from the point of a view of a preeminent Russian mathematician who learns, from Lobachevsky, that [[plagiarism]] is the secret of success in mathematics (though adding "only be sure always to call it please '[[research]]'"). The narrator later uses this strategy to get a paper published ahead of a rival, then to write a book and earn a fortune selling the movie rights.
+In the introduction, Lehrer describes the song as an adaptation of a routine that [[Danny Kaye]] did to honor the Russian actor [[Constantin Stanislavski]].<ref name="bessman"/> (The Danny Kaye routine is sung from the perspective of a famous Russian actor who learns and applies Stanislavski's secret to method acting: "Suffer.") <ref> [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXI2djKeerQ The Stanislavski routine] performed on the Danny Kaye Radio Show </ref> Lehrer sings the song from the point of view of an eminent Russian mathematician who learns from Lobachevsky that [[plagiarism]] is the secret of success in mathematics ("only be sure always to call it please '[[research]]{{'"}}). The narrator later uses this strategy to get a paper published ahead of a rival, then to write a book and earn a fortune selling the movie rights.
-Lehrer wrote that he did not know [[Russian language|Russian]]. In the song he quotes two book reviews in Russian; the first is a long sentence that he then translates succinctly as "It stinks". The second, a different but equally long sentence, is also translated as "It stinks." The actual text of these sentences bear no relation to academics: the first phrase quotes [[Modest Mussorgsky|Mussorgsky]]'s ''Song of the Flea'': "Once there was a king who had a pet flea." The second references a Russian joke: "Now I must go where even the Tsar goes on foot" [the bathroom].<ref name="lobachevsky.htm">{{cite web |title="Lobachevsky" Words and music by Tom Lehrer |url=http://www.haverford.edu/physics/songs/lehrer/lobachevsky.htm |publisher=PhysicsSongs.org |accessdate=October 2, 2014}}</ref>
+Lehrer wrote that he did not know [[Russian language|Russian]]. In the song he quotes two "book reviews" in Russian; the first is a long sentence that he then translates succinctly as "It stinks." The second, a different but equally long sentence, is also translated as "It stinks." The actual text of these sentences bear no relation to academics: the first phrase quotes [[Modest Mussorgsky|Mussorgsky]]'s "[[The Song of the Flea|Song of the Flea]]": {{langx|ru|Жил-был король когда-то, при нём блоха жила|Zhil-byl korol' kogda-to, pri nom blokha zhila|Once there was a king who had a pet flea}}. The second references a Russian joke: {{langx|ru|Я иду туда, куда сам царь идёт пешком|Ya idu tuda, kuda sam tsar' idot peshkom|Now I must go where even the Tsar goes on foot}} [the bathroom].<ref name="lobachevsky.htm">{{citation |title="Lobachevsky" Words and music by Tom Lehrer |url=http://www.haverford.edu/physics/songs/lehrer/lobachevsky.htm |publisher=PhysicsSongs.org |accessdate=October 2, 2014}}</ref>
-The song was first performed as part of ''The Physical Revue,'' a 1951–1952 musical [[revue]] by Lehrer and a few other professors.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Physical Revue, by Tom Lehrer |url=http://www.haverford.edu/astronomy/songs/lehrer/physrev.htm |publisher=PhysicsSongs.org |accessdate=October 2, 2014}}</ref> It is track 6 on ''[[Songs by Tom Lehrer]]'', which was re-released as part of ''[[Songs & More Songs by Tom Lehrer]]'' and ''[[The Remains of Tom Lehrer]]''. In this early version, [[Ingrid Bergman]] is named to star in the role of "[[Hypotenuse]]" in ''The Eternal Triangle'', a film purportedly based on the narrator's book.<ref name="Calder2005">{{cite book|author=Nigel Calder|title=Magic Universe: A Grand Tour of Modern Science|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E4NfZ9FDcc8C&pg=PT639 |year=2005 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-162235-9|page=639}}</ref> It was recorded again for ''[[Revisited (Tom Lehrer album)]]'', with [[Brigitte Bardot]] as Hypotenuse. A third recording is included in ''[[Tom Lehrer Discovers Australia (And Vice Versa)]]'', a live album recorded in Australia, featuring [[Marilyn Monroe]] as Hypotenuse. A fourth recording was made in 1966 when ''Songs by Tom Lehrer'' was reissued in stereo, with [[Doris Day]] playing Hypotenuse.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://dmdb.org/lyrics/lehrer.diff.html |title=Tom Lehrer lyric variations |date=April 2, 1995 |publisher=The Demented Music Database |accessdate=2 October 2014}}</ref><ref name="lobachevsky.htm"/>
+The song was first performed as part of ''The Physical Revue,'' a 1951–1952 musical [[revue]] by Lehrer and a few other professors.<ref>{{citation |title=The Physical Revue, by Tom Lehrer |url=http://www.haverford.edu/astronomy/songs/lehrer/physrev.htm |publisher=PhysicsSongs.org |accessdate=October 2, 2014}}</ref> It is track 6 on ''[[Songs by Tom Lehrer]]'', which was re-released as part of ''[[Songs & More Songs by Tom Lehrer]]'' and ''[[The Remains of Tom Lehrer]]''. In this early version, [[Ingrid Bergman]] is named to star in the role of "the [[Hypotenuse]]" in ''The Eternal Triangle'', a film purportedly based on the narrator's book.<ref name="Calder2005">{{citation|author=Nigel Calder|title=Magic Universe: A Grand Tour of Modern Science|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E4NfZ9FDcc8C&pg=PT639 |year=2005 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-162235-9|page=639}}</ref> It was recorded again for ''[[Revisited (Tom Lehrer album)]]'', with [[Brigitte Bardot]] as the Hypotenuse. A third recording is included in ''[[Tom Lehrer Discovers Australia (And Vice Versa)]]'', a live album recorded in Australia, featuring [[Marilyn Monroe]] as the Hypotenuse. A fourth recording was made in 1966 when ''Songs by Tom Lehrer'' was reissued in stereo, with [[Doris Day]] playing the Hypotenuse.<ref>{{citation |url=http://dmdb.org/lyrics/lehrer.diff.html |title=Tom Lehrer lyric variations |date=April 2, 1995 |publisher=The Demented Music Database |accessdate=2 October 2014}}</ref><ref name="lobachevsky.htm"/>
-The song is frequently quoted,<ref>{{citation|title=Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotations|editor-first=Susan|editor-last=Ratcliffe|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2006|isbn=9780198614173|page=692|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zLDEH2TAvwUC&pg=PT692}}. See also the ''Oxford Dictionary of Quotations'' (1999), [https://books.google.com/books?id=o6rFno1ffQoC&pg=PA462 p.&nbsp;462], and the ''Oxford Dictionary of Modern Quotations'' (2007), [https://books.google.com/books?id=rjLTsncFKCgC&pg=PA195 p.&nbsp;195].</ref><ref>{{citation|title=Mathematical quotations for all occasions|first=Barbara|last=Curcic|journal=The Mathematics Teacher|volume=69|issue=1|date=January 1976|pages=40–44|jstor=27960358}}.</ref><ref>{{citation|title=The Yale Book of Quotations|editor-first=Fred R.|editor-last=Shapiro|publisher=Yale University Press|year=2006|isbn=9780300107982|page=450|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ck6bXqt5shkC&pg=PA450}}.</ref> especially in works about plagiarism.<ref>{{citation | last = Berlin | first = Leonard | date = October 2008 | doi = 10.1007/s00256-008-0599-0 | issue = 1 | journal = Skeletal Radiology | pages = 1–4 | title = Plagiarism, salami slicing, and Lobachevsky | volume = 38}}.</ref><ref>{{citation|title=Research in Medical and Biological Sciences: From Planning and Preparation to Grant Application and Publication|first1=Petter|last1=Laake|first2=Haakon Breien|last2=Benestad|publisher=Academic Press|year=2015|isbn=9780128001547|page=55|contribution-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p9icBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA55|contribution=2.5.2 Plagiarism}}.</ref><ref>{{citation|title=The Writer's Book of Wisdom: 101 Rules for Mastering Your Craft|first=Steven|last=Goldsberry|publisher=Writer's Digest Books|year=2007|isbn=9781582974941|page=23|contribution-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GBkVnrzMc4gC&pg=PA23|contribution=Borrow (and steal) from your favorite writers}}.</ref> Writing about it in ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'', Jim Bessman calls the song "dazzlingly inventive in its shameless promotion of plagiarism", calling out in particular a sequence in which Lehrer strings together rhymes from the names of ten Russian cities.<ref name="bessman">{{citation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jRAEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA53 |title=Words & Music|first=Jim|last=Bessman|magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|date=March 30, 2002|page=53}}.</ref>
+The song is frequently quoted,<ref>{{citation|title=Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotations|editor-first=Susan|editor-last=Ratcliffe|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2006|isbn=9780198614173|page=692|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zLDEH2TAvwUC&pg=PT692}}. See also the ''Oxford Dictionary of Quotations'' (1999), [https://books.google.com/books?id=o6rFno1ffQoC&pg=PA462 p.&nbsp;462], and the ''Oxford Dictionary of Modern Quotations'' (2007), [https://books.google.com/books?id=rjLTsncFKCgC&pg=PA195 p.&nbsp;195].</ref><ref>{{citation|title=Mathematical quotations for all occasions|first=Barbara|last=Curcic|journal=The Mathematics Teacher|volume=69|issue=1|date=January 1976|pages=40–44|doi=10.5951/MT.69.1.0040|jstor=27960358}}.</ref><ref>{{citation|title=The Yale Book of Quotations|editor-first=Fred R.|editor-last=Shapiro|publisher=Yale University Press|year=2006|isbn=9780300107982|page=450|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ck6bXqt5shkC&pg=PA450}}.</ref> especially in works about plagiarism.<ref>{{citation | last = Berlin | first = Leonard | date = October 2008 | doi = 10.1007/s00256-008-0599-0 | issue = 1 | journal = Skeletal Radiology | pages = 1–4 | title = Plagiarism, salami slicing, and Lobachevsky | volume = 38| pmid = 18828008 | s2cid = 29316983 | doi-access = free }}.</ref><ref>{{citation|title=Research in Medical and Biological Sciences: From Planning and Preparation to Grant Application and Publication|first1=Petter|last1=Laake|first2=Haakon Breien|last2=Benestad|publisher=Academic Press|year=2015|isbn=9780128001547|page=55|contribution-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p9icBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA55|contribution=2.5.2 Plagiarism}}.</ref><ref>{{citation|title=The Writer's Book of Wisdom: 101 Rules for Mastering Your Craft|first=Steven|last=Goldsberry|publisher=Writer's Digest Books|year=2007|isbn=9781582974941|page=23|contribution-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GBkVnrzMc4gC&pg=PA23|contribution=Borrow (and steal) from your favorite writers}}.</ref> Writing about it in ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'', [[Jim Bessman]] calls the song "dazzlingly inventive in its shameless promotion of plagiarism", calling out in particular a sequence in which Lehrer strings together rhymes from the names of ten {{sic|Russian|expected=formerly all were USSR cities but now are in multiple nations}} cities.<ref name="bessman">{{citation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jRAEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA53 |title=Words & Music|first=Jim|last=Bessman|magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|date=March 30, 2002|page=53|volume=114|issue=13}}.</ref>
 Mathematician [[Jordan Ellenberg]] has called it "surely the greatest comic musical number of all time about mathematical publishing".<ref>{{citation|title=How Not to Be Wrong: The Power of Mathematical Thinking|first=Jordan|last=Ellenberg|authorlink=Jordan Ellenberg|publisher=Penguin|year=2014|isbn=9780698163843|page=396|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2k9KAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA396}}.</ref>
-==See also==
+==Cities mentioned==
+* [[Minsk]], [[Belarus]]
+* [[Pinsk]], Belarus
+* [[Omsk]], [[Russia]]
+* [[Tomsk]], Russia
+* Akmolinsk, now [[Astana]], [[Kazakhstan]]
+* [[Alexandrovsk (disambiguation)|Alexandrovsk]], various minor cities in Russia
+* [[Petropavlovsk (disambiguation)|Petropavlovsk]], two major cities, one in Kazakhstan and one in Russia
+* [[Dnepropetrovsk]], [[Ukraine]]
+* Iliysk, now [[Qonayev]], Kazakhstan
+* [[Novorossiysk]], Russia
+* [[Vladivostok]], Russia
+==References==
-* ''[[New Math (song)]]''
+{{Reflist}}
-==Notes==
+==External links==
+* [https://tomlehrersongs.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/lobachevsky.pdf Lyrics]
-{{Reflist|30em}}
 {{Tom Lehrer}}
@@ Line 23: / Line 38: @@
 [[Category:Songs about science]]
 [[Category:Songs about scientists]]
+[[Category:Cultural depictions of mathematicians]]
 [[Category:Patter songs]]
 [[Category:Mathematics and culture]]

v t e Tom Lehrer
Songs	"The Elements" "Fight Fiercely, Harvard" "Lobachevsky" "New Math" "The Old Dope Peddler" "The Vatican Rag"
Albums	Songs by Tom Lehrer (1953) More of Tom Lehrer (1959)
Live albums	An Evening Wasted with Tom Lehrer (1959) Revisited (1960) That Was the Year That Was (1965)
Compilations	Songs & More Songs by Tom Lehrer (1997) The Remains of Tom Lehrer (2000)
Theater	Tomfoolery Letters from Lehrer