Oedipus Rex

Oedipus Rex (Live) - Tom Lehrer

It seems that most of the songs that you hear these days

On the radio played by the disk jockeys

Apart from rock and roll and other children's records

Tend tend to be motion

Picture title songs

Apparently producers feel that we

Will not attend their movies unless we have the titles

Well drilled into our heads in advance

Of course we don't go anyway

But at least this way they make back on

The song some of what they've lost on the picture

But with the rise of the motion picture title song we have

Such hits of the past few years as

The Ten Commandments Mambo

Brothers Karamazov Cha-Cha

Incredible Shrinking Man I Love You

I'm sure you're all familiar with these

But a few years ago

A motion picture version appeared

Of Sophocles immortal tragedy Oedipus Rex

This picture

Played only in the so-called art theaters

And it was not a financial success

And I maintain that the reason it was

Not a financial success

You're way ahead of me was

That it did not have a title tune

Which the people could Hum

And which would make them actually eager to attend

This particular flick

So I've attempted to supply this

And here then is the prospective title song

From Oedipus Rex

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 this 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 Freud's index

'Cause he loved his mother

His rivals used to say quite a bit

That as a monarch he was most unfit

But still in 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 what he had done

He tore his eyes out one by one

A tragic end to 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 maybe you had better let it go at that

Or you may find yourself with a quite complex complex

And you may end up like Oedipus

I'd rather marry a duck-billed platypus

Than end up like old Oedipus Rex