Lobachevsky (song)

[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.

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.

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.