That Was the Year That Was
05 / 14
Public-domain lyrics

Smut

Tom Lehrer

An exaggerated appetite for scandal becomes an argument about censorship and interpretation.

That Was the Year That Was Track 5 1965
Public domainSatireCensorshipLiteratureWordplayWry
Complete public-domain lyrics

The narrator finds innuendo everywhere, from respectable literature to ordinary objects, while making a comic defense of freedom of the press. This is adult literary satire rather than explicit description. All ten printed blocks are present, with split-word rhymes and spoken asides intact. The separately labeled Tomfoolery replacement in the footer belongs to another version.

Verse 1

Smut!

Give me smut and nothing but!

A dirty novel I can't shut

If it's uncut

And unsubt-le.

Verse 2

I've never quibbled

If it was ribald.

I would devour

Where others merely nibbled.

As the judge remarked the day that he

acquitted my Aunt Hortense,

"To be smut

It must be ut-

Terly without redeeming social importense."

Verse 3

Por-

Nographic pictures I adore.

Indecent magazines galore,

I like them more

If they're hardcore.

Verse 4

Bring on the obscene movies, murals,

postcards, neckties, samplers, stained

glass windows, tattoos, anything!

More, more, I'm still not satisfied!

Verse 5

Stories of tortures

Used by debauchers

Lurid, licentious and vile,

Make me smile.

Novels that pander

To my taste for candor

Give me a pleasure sublime.

Let's face it, I love slime!

Verse 6

All books can be indecent books,

Though recent books are bolder.

For filth, I'm glad to say,

Is in the mind of the beholder.

Verse 7

When correctly viewed,

Everything is lewd.

I could tell you things about Peter Pan,

And the Wizard of Oz ---

There's a dirty old man!

Verse 8

I thrill

To any book like Fanny Hill,

And I suppose I always will,

If it is swill

And really fil-thy.

Verse 9

Who needs a hobby like tennis or philately?

I've got a hobby: rereading Lady Chatterley.

But now they're trying to take it all away

from us unless

We take a stand, and hand in hand

We fight for freedom of the press.

Verse 10

In other words:

Smut! (I love it.)

The adventures of a slut.

Oh, I'm a market they can't glut.

I don't know what

Compares with smut.

Hip, hip, hooray!

Let's hear it for the Supreme Court!

Don't let them take it away!

Credits

Written by Tom Lehrer

Words by Tom Lehrer, released into the public domain by the author. This is the author-published text edition, not a transcription of a particular performance.

Source & text edition

Author-published lyric sheet · original English words

Tom Lehrer's November 26, 2022 declaration relinquishes copyright in lyrics he wrote. It does not grant rights to third-party music, photographs or album artwork. This edition uses only his words.

Read the author’s lyric sheet (PDF)

View copyright evidence · Author’s public-domain declaration

Retrieved 2026-09-08. Line spacing and section labels are adapted for reading. The displayed text follows the linked edition. Editorial notes and abstract artwork are by 52lyrics.

Source edition: That Was the Year That Was · Live · 1965 · US

Release data: MusicBrainz · CC0-1.0 · Retrieved 2026-09-07.

Keep tracing

More from That Was the Year That Was.

01National Brotherhood WeekPublic-domain lyrics02MLF LullabyPublic-domain lyrics03George MurphyPublic-domain lyrics04The Folk Song ArmyPublic-domain lyrics