For space is wide and good friends are too few.
Since the only other place currently to find my music is a few filk convention and Worldcon compilations, and I have no idea when I’ll get around to finishing a studio album, I’ve done the next best thing and created a Bandcamp page! Currently up are a couple of selections from my recent FilKONtari-NO and NEWhere performances.
Check out Gary’s music, folks!
I gotta admit that I’m just using you to pass the message on to the rest of the filk community on tumblr. I noticed that due to the covid-19 situation, there was a virtual filk con earlier this summer. I’d like to suggest that there would be more virtual filk events (cons or even just small filk circle type things) in the future, too, even after the covid-situation has passed. As a broke younger generation nerd from a country where filk has never been a thing, getting into the filk community 1/3
2/3 and getting to know filkers, has been very hard to me, and I feel like if there were more virtual filk events, it would be easier to me at least to meet more filkers (even if I can’t even write good poetry in English or any other language, let alone make music, I can’t play any instrument, and my singing voice is about as good as a crow’s,
3/3 so I know I don’t really bring anything into the filk community to be honest), and I’d really like that! And I’m guessing I can’t be the only one with this problem? Please tell me I’m not?
Hey Nony! I know filkers are already talking about the prospect of continuing to do online filk events after the pandemic has passed, precisely because of the wider participation they allow. Even those of us who regularly go to filk conventions have been enjoying the chance to see and hear people from farther off than we usually get to travel – and for those who almost never get the chance at all, virtual events are that much more important. Personally I’m hoping that the virtual events do outlast the pandemic, and I suspect they will.
For now, there are definitely more events planned while the pandemic is still ongoing! Here’s some ways to find them:
Also, to address your parenthetical, for you and for anybody else reading this who’s wondering the same thing: please don’t feel like you need to “bring something” to the filk community in order to join it! The community exists for the people in it, not the other way around; if you want to be part of it, it doesn’t matter if (or how well) you sing or play or compose, you’re still welcome.
Hope to see you at some of the upcoming events!
all the star trek related songs I know
- star trekkin’ – the firm
- where’s captain kirk? – spizzenergi
- mr. spock – nerf herder
y’all know anymore? these songs give me life tbh
These are some I know of!
- Warp 11 is a Star Trek only rock band
- Ode to Spot by The Doubleclicks
- Klingon Pop Warrior has amazing songs covered in Klingon
- Leonard Nimoy’s Star Trek Theme
- S.P.O.C.K is a synthpop band with some Star Trek songs
- DarkMateria made The Worf Song and The Picard Song
- The Captain Archer Song (in the same vein but by a different unknown artist)(I can’t find it on youtube so I uploaded it myself)
- Voltaire has some Trekkie songs
Some parodies that are fun too
Those are brilliant YO
heres one that i know of !!!
GNDN – Admiral Radley
Yeoman by Baths– I can’t find anything from the artist to confirm that it’s explicitly star trek related, but it’s about a couple dancing and falling in love on a starship
Klingon Pop Warrior murdered me and I am dead
Okay let’s see… here’s a handful of filk songs about Star Trek that come to mind
- Banned from Argo by Leslie Fish. This infamous comedy song WILL get stuck in your head and you’ll probably hate me for it. Depending on your taste in humor you’ll either find it really hilarious or hate it. There’s implied NSFW in a few verses. (I should note that no Star Trek character is named, but the song uses their ranks/jobs instead. However it mentions Klingons in the final verse, and anyway you know exactly who each verse refers to)
- He’s Dead Jim by Julia Ecklar. Another comedy song. Name describes content pretty well.
- Bones (either by Julia Ecklar or Leslie Fish but I’m not sure which. Some filker who’s better at keeping track about these things please tell me which one it is) – yet another comedy song, this time Bones complaining about all the bullshit he’s faced with every day as the CMO of the Enterprise. This one I like a lot, it gets Bones’ character very well I think.
- Farewell Mother Russia – I don’t know who wrote this, but it’s sort of Chekov POV “Space Travel is pretty fun”
- Demon in the Dark – again I don’t know who wrote this originally. I assume everyone can by the name guess what episode this is about?
- Vow of Vengeance by Julia Ecklar – This song is set somewhere between the TOS episode Space Seed and the movie Wrath of Khan, and it’s about Khan, well, swearing vengeance against Kirk
- For the Needs of the One by Julia Ecklar – Spock bidding farewell to Kirk in Wrath of Khan. (Warning: this song WILL make you cry)
- One Final Lesson by Julia Ecklar – Saavik mourning Spock after his death in Wrath of Khan
- Hero’s Song sort of sounds like it’s about Kirk? I mean it never mentions Kirk anywhere, technically, but it matches him very well, it’s filk song, and appears on several albums that contain a lot of Star Trek related filk, so I’d consider it safe to say that this song is meant to be about Kirk.
- Homecoming and The Light that Died by Julia Ecklar – these are, according to her, about Kirk returning to Enterprise in The Motion Picture, and her headcanons regarding Chekov post-TOS but before the movies, respectively. However it’s sort of hard to see the connection between those songs and Star Trek unless you know it’s there and know what it is. I think if you google her album “The Traveller” you should be able to find a PDF of a booklet containing her explanation of the creation of both those songs, as well as their lyrics?
@filkyeahfilk is there any Star Trek filk that comes to mind to you guys that I forgot to mention? I’m pretty sure I’m forgetting something and anyway, you know these things better than I, so tagging you in case you want to add to the list 🙂
I’m so glad you thought of us!
Check out our Star Trek tag for more! And of course, followers and mutuals, please add more if you’ve got some.
Carmen Miranda’s Ghost – 1989
The album’s title track. Funny but also slightly unnerving. Its something I can genuinely imagine space station crews gathering around an playing.
Apparently there’s a related collection of short stories called
Carmen Miranda’s Ghost is Haunting Space Station Three. Although I’m not sure whether the book is based on the song or the song is based on the book.
The book is based on the song! The song, if I recall correctly, is based on a thing that happened at a house party Leslie attended, involving someone attempting to navigate their way through a crowded room with a bowl of fruit balanced on their head. (If anyone knows the full story and can retell it better, please do.)
(Also hello there, fellow filk-dedicated blog!)
Hey, you know what’s a great resource for obscure music? Shared playlists, especially the kind that multiple people can add to. There’s a hell of a lot of filk and closely filk-adjacent music on this playlist, and it’s growing all the time.
Obligatory disclaimer: this playlist isn’t and can’t be comprehensive, since there’s also a hell of a lot of filk that isn’t on Spotify. Still, here’s almost six hours’ worth of music by an amazing variety of artists, and even if you’re familiar with filk there’s likely to be some you haven’t heard. Enjoy!
if you didn’t know: weyrdmusicman on youtube posts a lot of filk that they’ve digitized from old tapes. it’s a lot of really good music that i think fits this blog’s vibe!
Oh yes! Followers, if you want to check this out for yourself, here’s a link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXHN3ybRbfSj8ssXB3BO9zA
Toss a Coin to Your Archive!
the Organization for Transformative Works is an incredibly groundbreaking repository for creators, and the constant scrutiny it undergoes because ignorant children don’t understand that things cost money to maintain, and that their opinions do not represent everyone’s, is infuriating. so infuriating, in fact, that i decided to rage-create. so there.
this was fun as shit to sing, ngl.
special thanks to Green Noize for providing the excellent instrumental track, and the only one i found that was actually fully faithful to Jaskier’s original. also thanks to alias for the inspiration to write these lyrics, and to my dear friend FilkAeris for instilling in me a fierce appreciation for filks in the first place.
parody lyrics by me. “Toss a Coin to Your Witcher”
composed by Sonya Belousova and Giona Ostinelli, and sung by Joey Batey for the Netflix series The Witcher. which is awesome and you should definitely watch it if you like gritty medieval fantasy. and boobs. and swearing. and hot guys wearing leather. and bards. definitely bards.
and since we know bard is a combat class, this is my stand, and the hill i am prepared to die on.
👊 LONG LIVE THE ARCHIVE 👊 NO CENSORSHIP 👊
SUPPORT THE ARCHIVE OF OUR OWN! MAKING PRISSY IDIOTS ANGRY IS JUST A HAPPY BYPRODUCT!
hahaha this is so amazing <3
Sometimes your friend makes a joke about throwing a Silmaril into Lake Superior and then things escalate and you have to write a tragic ballad filk about the downfall of Númenor set to the tune of The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, as you do.
Some lyrics will probably be tweaked but you can hear our first play-through of this version here on the recording of last night’s filk stream! (time stamp 29:00)
On these hither shores we forget
Númenor
Land of Star, Land
of Gift that was granted.
Now lost Westernesse
is called Akallabeth
In the tongue of the
Elves Atalante.
It was once bright
and fair, and the men who dwelt there
Knew arts that are
now lost and hidden
But they chafed at
the Ban and the Doom laid on man
That the Undying
Lands were forbidden.King Al-Pharazôn
was both prideful and strong
And he thought there
was none could defeat him.
His force was so
great that he need only wait
Until Sauron came
humbly to meet him.
And indeed Sauron
came, acting subtle and tame
And condemning the
Ban for its harshness
And he fed wicked
things to the mind of the king
Till he worshipped
the Lord of the DarknessThe sky filled with
clouds and the thunder boomed loud
And the Eagles of
Manwe came flying
But the King took no
heed in his pride and his greed
And his fear that
too soon he’d be dying
As the great fleet
departed he hardened his heart
From his ship decked
with sable and golden
And they sailed to
the West to make war upon death
And the Ban of the
Valar was broken.They came in a while
to the first Lonely Isle
Where their fleet
made the setting sun darken
And they reached the
fair strands the Undying Lands
Where even the king
paused and hearkened.
He wavered at last
and he nearly turned back
From the land and
the brink of disaster
But he strode on the
shore and so doomedNúmenor
For in the end pride
was his master.The ocean was split
with a cavernous rift
And the whole world
of Arda was shaken
As the sky wheeled
and raged o’er devouring waves
They knew that their
land was forsaken.
Its gardens and
halls and its riches and tombs
Are drowned far
beneath the deep waters
With its music and
mirth and its wisdom and lore
And its wives and
its sons and its daughters.Elendil alone with
his sons’ ships was blown
Far away from the
wrack and the ruin
He was faithful
through all and ignored the king’s call
So escaped
Pharazôn’s swift
undoing.
They were tossed on
the strand of the still-risen land
With masts snapped
and hearts full of mourning
Though their
kingdoms grew strong they would never move on
From their grief for
the land they were born in.The world has been
rent and all roads are now bent
And the Undying
Lands have been hidden
So that never again
may the folly of Men
Let them seek after
Aman unbidden.
And on these hither
shores we forgetNúmenor,
But sometimes when
the seabirds are calling
We may look to the
West and with grief in our breasts
Weep for Akallabeth
the Downfallen.
Thought I’d get around to putting up the lyrics for the filk I wrote that we debuted on the stream last night, both for folks who joined us and wanted to see them written down and for people who couldn’t make it.
The video from last night should actually stay up on Twitch for a bit, too, so if you want to see our rough performance of it the timestap around 1:08 should take you right to it
Set to the obvious tune. I’m delighted people enjoyed this one.
Just a quiet night
Heard a noise and grabbed a light
Out in the midnight woods, there was something thereJust an empty sky
When suddenly, a flash on high
Sped like a bullet train, there was something thereA searcher in a skeptic’s land
Someday I’ll make them understand
Until then I will document each
Phenomeno-meno-menonLoch Ness Monster
Jackelopes and chupacabras
Find them, searching in the nightBunyips, krakens
Wolpertingers, Ogopogo
Hidin’ somewhere in the nightI will travel far and wide
’Til the truth can’t be denied
Get my footage and I’ll prove to you I was right this timeSomeday soon now we’ll expose
The paranormal and UFOs
You can join me in the search to find each
Phenomeno-meno-menonOzark howlers,
Yetis, and the Jersey Devil
Find them, searching in the nightBigfoot, Mothman,
Snallygasters, Loveland Frogman
Hidin’ somewhere in the nightDon’t stop believin’
Hold on to that feeling
Cryptid seekersDon’t stop believin’
Hold on to that feeling
Cryptid seekersDon’t stop believin’
Hold on to that feeling
Cryptid seekers[Repeat as wished]
The FBI will occasionally try to infiltrate the Society for Creative Anachronism because it gets typo’d as the Society for Creative Anarchism
“They have rattan, sir.”
“Sir, it appears that they have a large number of people dedicated to weaving. What? No, as in cloth, sir.”
It’s one of the largest organizations of people who could genuinely go completely off the grid if shit hit the fan. None of this doomsday prepper wannabe bullshit. The world goes pear-shaped, all the networks go down and SCA people will go “huh, that’ll make it slightly less convenient to organize the next event, might have to get Doug to teach me about his carrier pigeons,” and go back to doing the things they were doing anyway.
There’s a song about that!
There is, of course, also a song about the FBI mistaking the spelling of Anachronism;