Liadan is ten, and her mother is laughing. It’s a loud laugh, even with Da’s shoulder in the way as he spins her around, big hands on her back, big voice filling their kitchen.
Bethany squirms in Liadan’s grasp, kicking at her ankles and glaring when her big sister does not move. Her grip is practiced and one-armed, the other slung more gently about Carver’s sleepier, sturdier shoulders.
Liadan knows what Bethy wants to do. She wants to run to their parents, join in the silly dance. A part of Liadan does, too, but Ma doesn’t laugh well with a big audience, and she worries that if they step too close the tune will stop, and they’ll start worrying again about the new mage lights Bethany makes when she sleeps, and how much flour they have, and whether it’ll last. So Liadan holds her siblings back, and hums along at a distance.
Her father has a hand cupping Leandra’s cheek, his thumb brushing just under her eye, and he’s singing the song he made up—the long one, the silly one with words that don’t quite sit—and Ma joins in with small, breathless snatches. shaking her head as Da sings about how lovely they were, in a place Liadan has never seen.
A damsel possessed of great beauty,
As she stood at her own father’s gate
Oh, the mages there did their duty;
To view them this maiden did wait.
Their gifts were far grander than dancing,
Their enchantments shone like a star.
And as they worked did come advancing,
A fate for the fair LeandraWith their sashes hung o’er their shoulders,
How careless they seemed for to ride.
And warlike appeared this young mage boy
With his glittering staff by his side.
To the Gallows next morning so early
This damsel she went so far
Because she loved him sincerely
Young Malcom fit fair Leandra.Oh, as she conversed with the mages,
These words she was heard for to say,
“Oh I’ve a heart no one bolder,
To follow my laddie away.”
“Well come, come,” says Malcom, ”be steady
And think of the dangers of war.
An apostate’s life is not the kind one,
Wed me not, fair Leandra.”“Your parents, you’re bound for to mind them
Or else you are for ever undone.
They will leave you no portion behind them,
So I pray you my company shun.”
Says she, “If you will be true-hearted
I have gold at brother’s in store.
And from now we no more will be parted,
I will be your fair Leandra.”As he gazed on her beautiful features
Oh, the tears they did fall from each eye.
“I will wed with this beautiful creature
And shun cruel wars,” he did cry.
So now they’re united together,
And think of them where they’re afar,
Maker bless now and for ever,
Young Malcom and fair Leandra.
filk
Banned From Arkham
so some of you know that I often rant about how there are TOO MANY SILLY LOVECRAFT ADAPTATIONS and NOT ENOUGH SERIOUS ONES and then I REFUSE TO INTERACT with the silly ones on PRINCIPLE
…but today I found a parody of the Most (in)Famous Filk Song Ever about getting kicked out of Arkham for causing a small apocalypse
it’s by a filker from Singapore called Terence Chua
and he’s adorable
I love him
just listen
Bittersweet – Rosie Lord
My second most popular song so far! Not a great recording, but I’m getting a real microphone in a bit so there’s that. I might re-record it in a bit, we’ll see.
My tribute to the fabulous River Song of “Doctor Who” fame. Hope y’all like it!
LYRICS
You met me for the first time on the day I died
you didn’t really know me and still you cried
Didn’t see that I was bigger on the inside
Not the best of empathy and yet I’ll let it slide.
People know you as the man who saves them everytime
but I know that you’re the one who’ll never not be mine.
I’m as eloquent as ever yet you’ll never rhyme
I’m as punctual as always and you’re never quite on time.
I was born in your own danger and the shadow that you cast
You treat me like a dagger ‘cause we can’t forget the past
I’m a knife you’ll never use, I’m the train that passed
But I’d turn around for you because I know you’d never last.
Don’t patronize me, madman, and don’t fly away
Don’t try to hide the kiss in every word you say
And don’t pretend that this is just a game you play
and don’t tell me you’re leaving when I know you’re gonna stay.
So tell me, did I really go wrong
if the Melody has died before the Song?
Don’t act like you don’t want me, you don’t love me, you don’t need me
I see the way you run to “Hello, Sweetie.”
It’s bittersweet.
I spend my days in waiting for your distant call
but don’t think that I’m desperate, for I’m not at all.
I bide my time with writing down what’s not yet been
Trips you never went on, sights you haven’t seen.
I’m twisted in your timeline like a harmony
dissonant, but never a cacophony.
Why insist on running? You’re already free.
You’ll just run in circles, they all start with me.
You saw me born and born again before too long.
A broken Melody became a River’s Song.
Don’t tell me that I’m perfect, that perfect’s close or even near me
If it was, you wouldn’t run to “Hello, Sweetie.”
It’s bittersweet.
I started in your home and it is there I’ll die
You taught me how to land but I taught you to fly.
Born for death and lived for life, and died to try
And I’m sorry, my love, this is the last goodbye.
Benzene – Batya the Toon
As promised (threatened?): my cover of “Benzene” by the Superconducting Supercolliders, from my filk concert at Balticon 2014. Lyrics by cleanwhiteroom, music by allyspock.
(I did mention “cleanwhiteroom.com” in a fuller introduction to the Supercos prior to the song, as per CWR’s request, but the video didn’t cut in until after that.)
(Source: https://www.youtube.com/)
Hey Nosferatu – crystalandrock
After months of promising dogofulthar that I’d make him a filk song called “Hey Nosferatu”, I finally got around to it. So here you go, a brand new filk about Nosferatu by someone who knew nothing about Nosferatu (and then went on the wiki page for last minute research).
I used chris clark’s karaoke version of Hey There Delilah for this. Thanks to them for having a slightly higher version than usual, eek!
Also I apologize for my voice and my lack of breath control. I blame Nosferatu for draining my life essence just before recording.
LYRICS:
Hey Nosferatu, what’s it like in Transylvania?
You’re four-hundred years old now and spreading plague throughout Germania
Thousands die,
But only two people know why,
What can they try?Hey Nosferatu, don’t you worry about the distance,
Though the ship’s journey is long you’ve got the crew for your subsistence
Still their breath,
Show them why you’re the “Bird of Death”
Till no one’s left.Oh, it’s how you’re draining me,
Oh, it’s how you’re draining me.
Oh, it’s how you’re draining me,
Oh, it’s how you’re draining me,
How you’re draining me.Hey Nosferatu, I know times are getting mean
With all the rats that you’ve released the town’s declared a quarantine –
It’s done no good
And Ellen wonders if she should
Become your food.Hey Nosferatu, when she let you have your way
I guess that you forgot to check the clock for at the break of day
You fell apart,
For Ellen she was pure of heart
And awfully smart.Oh, it’s how you’re draining me,
Oh, it’s how you’re draining me.
Oh, it’s how you’re draining me,
Oh, it’s how you’re draining me.A thousand rats seemed pretty grim
But they were beat by her and him
And mankind somehow ended your dark plan
At least you got their countrymen
And Ellen will never laugh again
You know she’s looking rather pale and wan.
Count Orlok, I can promise you
That even though your reign is through
The world will never ever be the same,
And you’re to blame.Hey Nosferatu, you were evil, now you’re history
But you’re still alive on film and in the heart of classic mystery
It’s surreal
Both our blood and hearts you’d steal
So though you see me as a meal,
Hey Nosferatu, I really feel
That you’re ideal.Oh, it’s how you’re draining me,
Oh, it’s how you’re draining me.
Oh, it’s how you’re draining me,
Oh, it’s how you’re draining me,
How you’re draining me.
Free – Hannah M.
So…I wrote some more Dragon Age Filk. I’m not a huge fan of this recording but I’ll probably never re-record it as for now I’m moved on to other fandoms. So I might as well post it, especially seeing as I never post any original content lately.
Fenris/Hawke schmoop. Fenris POV.
~~~
Free © Hannah M./PhemieC/Hamsters etc…
LYRICS
~~~
Heaven’s for a slave, you obey and behave
but I am a free man, now
and I act for no hand, follow no command but one.Hell’s for a slaver, a cruel dominator
but I couldn’t care anyhow
Where he is going it’s only worth knowing he’s goneand I’m lost in a heart that is breaking open slowly like an egg, newborn and ready to feed
begging through a crying mouth, and an aching jawWhen you asked me to stay
was a slave what you saw?I thought I could have it all
I thought for a second I could have it allIn a house that’s not mine you will find me
standing alone
All this time in this place, all the years I have chased, how I triedIn a room that is yours, you of course would
welcome me into your home
But why would you want to let someone like me inside?and I’m found in a city that feels, isn’t that strange? Haven’t I pushed myself close
enough to the edge with my fears, my regrets and my rage, chasing ghosts?Did you think I’d give in
to my skin, the pathways that call?Someday I will give you my all
I promise you, someday, I will give you it all.And I swear by the maker, by the hand of fate if fate exists
You were waiting just for me, in the clearing of that alienage
I will follow you downward, through death if it’s required
and through worse if that’s required too
I’m free, but I belong to youIn the back of a bar, I saw a part
of a life that I wanted to know
But nothing is free from the stain on my heart and my soul.Behind wine covered walls you answered my call
Sometimes I’m not sure why you bother’d at all.
I apologized for all of my lies and my faults.And I’m cut from the cord of destruction and given to love, illiterate, angry and pained
Who knew I’d acquire a taste for the life lived unchained?When you asked me to stay,
When you touched me that way, I thought I saw…
I think we can have it all.
Hunters – Alice Marie
Hunters (Supernatural Cover of Royals by Lorde)
I’ve never seen a demon in the flesh,
I cut my teeth on latin texts on the TV.
And I’m not proud, oh, I obsess,
it doesn’t bring me down, come watch it with me.And every episode is sharp teeth, salt rings, murder in the bathroom,
Blood stains, ghost towns, trashin’ the motel room,
We don’t care, we’re driving the Impala in our dreams.
But everybody’s like Angels, Crossroad Demons, when you’re done, Peace
Iron chains, knives and Destiel, dear God please.
We don’t care, we want to be caught up in that love affair.And we’ll never be Hunters (Hunters).
It don’t run in our blood,
That kinda life just ain’t for us.
We crave a different kind of buzz.
Let me be in your Fandom (Fandom),
You can call me ‘Family’,
And baby I’ll live, I’ll live, I’ll live, I’ll live.
Let me live that fantasy.My friends and I—we’ve cracked the code.
We count our dollars on the way to buy the box set.
And everyone who knows us knows that we’re fine with this,
We don’t watch for friendship.Every episode is black eyes, more blood, front seat feelings.
Monsters, tablets, burning on the ceiling,
We don’t care, we’re driving the Impala in our dreams.
But everybody’s like Death, the apocalypse, Hell and Purgatory.
Suits and lies, another new fake ID.
We don’t care, just announce when the next season airs.Ooh ooh oh, It’s bigger than we ever dreamed,
Love ‘Supernatural Family’.
Ooh ooh oh, Life is great with more updates;
It’s just the spoilers that we hate.
Bold Marauder – Richard Fariña & Mimi Baez
A historical song, about the Crusades – “Bold Marauder,” by Richard Fariña and Mimi Baez
Good dulcimer on this one. The world needs more dulcimer.
Also, good melodrama. The world probably doesn’t need more melodrama, but I like it anyway.At a con a while back I got to hear Bill Roper sing his hilarious parody of this song. And knowing the original meant that I could sing harmony, at least when I wasn’t cracking up.
this is good because one, parody, and two, the parody has chords and I couldn’t find chords
(Source: https://www.youtube.com/)
Space is Dark – Bill Roper
“Space Is Dark,” by Bill Roper, dealing with a concept I’ve rarely seen addressed outside of filk songs and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Lyrics and chords available here
(Source: https://www.youtube.com/)
Follow Me Down by Seanan McGuire on Stars Fall Home
Come to me softly oh come to me sweetly
oh come to me now as the year turns around. I’ll give in to you as I once did, completely, If you’ll follow me, follow me, follow me down,
come and follow me, follow me down.
By crystalandrock’s suggestion, a song for New Year’s – “Follow Me Down,” by Seanan McGuire
For the new year, everyone should resolve to write songs and record them and send them to me.