The Old Dope Peddler

Album: Songs by Tom Lehrer (1953)
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Songfacts®:

  • This is a very short song, running to less than 2 minutes, including when performed live with a few words of introduction. It remains to be seen if there is or indeed was ever any truth in the drug pusher myth, namely that such men handed out free samples to children hoping that today's young innocents will become tomorrow's clientele, but at least one member of the British Parliament thought so, and on April 19, 1991, Mr. Robert Maclennan (later Baron Maclennan of Rogart) alluded to this song in a debate on the sale of unpackaged cigarettes.

    This was neither the first nor the last time Tom Lehrer's work has been referenced in Hansard, the first being November 10, 1965. >>
    Suggestion credit:
    Alexander Baron - London, England

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