The verses of the original asserted that He made the night a little brighter Wherever he would go The old lamplighter Of long, long ago It goes on to say that if there were sweethearts in the dark, "he'd pass the light and leave it dark", and concludes by explaining that now, the old lamplighter turns the stars on at night and turns them off at dawn.
Lehrer's parody switches the song's protagonist to "the Old Dope Peddler" selling "powdered happiness".
It has lines like this: He gives the kids free samples because he knows full well that today's young, innocent faces will be tomorrow's clientele The song was banned from broadcast by the BBC.
His response to the request to use the song was "As sole copyright owner of 'The Old Dope Peddler', I grant you motherfuckers permission to do this.
[2] "The Old Dope Peddler" was also sampled on UK electronica duo Akasha's track "Interzone (Tapping a Guitar with Beef on a Lonely Summer Day in Menlo Park)",[citation needed] remixed by Menlo Park on the 1999 album Cinematique – The Remixes.