What prayers can
stir the gods of space who dwell beyond the stars?
What mortal
words can help or heal an engine without power?
And will we
drift forever lost between the stars? We strive
To find a single
planet with fuel to feed the drive
Cynthia McQuillin’s “Fuel to Feed the Drive” is a “classic” in a very specific filkish way. That way is I heard multiple songs that referenced it before I managed to find a recording, but it’s finally on YouTube!
It also, typical of classic filk of a certain age, has a parody (by Jordin Kare) that’s perhaps even better known than the original – and it is helpfully included in this recording.
Lyrics to both versions and my best stab at the chords under the cut:
Fuel to Feed the Drive – Cyntia McQuillin
Em Bm Em
A hundred parsecs
out on a ship called Foreman’s Fate
Bm C Am
The engineer
MacQuellan sent the word out to the mate
Bm C Em
The engine’s
growing cold, he said, and soon our ship will die
Em
Bm C Bm Em
If we can’t find a
planet with fuel to feed the drive
Now our ship’s a
noble lady and our captain he is true
Our engineer is no one’s
god, no angels in our crew
If we can’t find an answer soon
nobody will survive
Why can’t we find some blasted rock with
fuel to feed the drive?
What prayers can stir the gods of
space who dwell beyond the stars?
What mortal words can help or
heal an engine without power?
And will we drift forever lost
between the stars? We strive
To find a single planet with fuel
to feed the drive
The screen grows bright: a world we’ve
found of rock and ice and steel
If only we can make it there!
Pray the ions hold the field
But the field will hold; our hope’s
renewed, our engine will survive
It’s a hell of a world but
there’s hydrogen to feed our dying drive
So once again
we fly through space, this void beyond the stars
Who knows what
ruin will take us, what evil fate is ours?
But as long as our
ship is able we will fly the stars and thrive
As long as we are
granted fuel to feed the drive
As long as we are granted fuel
to feed the drive
Fool to Feed the Drive – Jordin Kare
A hundred parsecs
out on a ship quite second rate
The engineer McQuillin sent the
world up to the mate
Our engine’s out of steam he said and
soon our ship will die
If we can’t find a planet with fuel to
feed the drive
Now our ship’s a noble lady and our
captain she is too
But our engineer is none to bright, the
dimwit of our crew
The captain said I thought you filled the
tanks of Vega 5
McQuillin just
looked sheepish; he forgot to feed the drive
Do curses
stir the gods of space who dwell beyond the stars?
If so they
surely woke up then, for we used up most of ours
We thought we’d
drift forever, lost between the stars we’d die
And all because
McQuillin got no fuel to feed the drive
But then the
captain’s eyes grew bright, she said, “It seems to me
“That
a fusion drive burns H2O,” McQuillin turned to flee
“Grab
him boys, and hold him, he’s no good to us alive,
“But two
hundred pounds of water will feed our dying drive!”
So
once again we fly through space, avoiding all the stars
Who
knows what ruin will take us, what evil fate is ours
We didn’t
find a planet, but we’ll all but one survive
As long as we are
granted, some fool to feed the drive!