An Evening Wasted With Tom Lehrer
04 / 11
Public-domain lyrics

The Elements

Tom Lehrer

A rapid catalogue of chemical elements ends with a deliberately provisional rhyme.

An Evening Wasted With Tom Lehrer Track 4 1959
Public domainScienceChemistryWordplayPlayfulBrisk
Complete public-domain lyrics

Chemical names supply the rhythm of this historical list song. The sheet credits Arthur Sullivan's Major General tune, but only Lehrer's words are reproduced here. This is the complete main lyric, not a current periodic table: the separate Aristotle joke in the footer and later supplements are not merged into it.

Verse 1

There's antimony, arsenic, aluminum, selenium,

And hydrogen and oxygen and nitrogen and rhenium,

And nickel, neodymium, neptunium, germanium,

And iron, americium, ruthenium, uranium,

Verse 2

Europium, zirconium, lutetium, vanadium,

And lanthanum and osmium and astatine and radium,

And gold and protactinium and indium and gallium,

And iodine and thorium and thulium and thallium.

Verse 3

There's yttrium, ytterbium, actinium, rubidium,

And boron, gadolinium, niobium, iridium,

And strontium and silicon and silver and samarium,

And bismuth, bromine, lithium, beryllium, and barium.

Verse 4

There's holmium and helium and hafnium and erbium,

And phosphorus and francium and fluorine and terbium,

And manganese and mercury, molybdenum, magnesium,

Dysprosium and scandium and cerium and cesium.

Verse 5

And lead, praseodymium and platinum, plutonium,

Palladium, promethium, potassium, polonium,

And tantalum, technetium, titanium, tellurium,

And cadmium and calcium and chromium and curium.

Verse 6

There's sulfur, californium and fermium, berkelium,

And also mendelevium, einsteinium, nobelium,

And argon, krypton, neon, radon, xenon, zinc and rhodium,

And chlorine, carbon, cobalt, copper, tungsten, tin and sodium.

Verse 7

These are the only ones of which the news has come to Ha'vard,

And there may be many others but they haven't been discavard.

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: An Evening Wasted With Tom Lehrer · Live · 1959-11 · GB

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

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