What if I never get any more chocolate?
This could be the only one
This song seems like it has a silly premise, but it hits a lot of people pretty deep. Eric Distad (of the Faithful Sidekicks) singing “The Easter Bunny Vault,” something about childhood insecurities, feeling powerless, and damaging what you hold too close.
But the center is
here, this coal-fired heart
That wants like a factory wants to make war
I want peace, I want
rest, but I’ll have it no more
Just one last dawn
over September
I finished listening to Friends at the Table: COUNTER/Weight just before #15DaysofFatT started, so naturally I went into a fugue state and wrote a 6 minute song about the final battle of the campaign for Day 15: Dawn
I’m not sure if this will mean anything to anyone who hasn’t listened to this podcast, but just close your eyes and think about off-brand Gundam, that should do it. And then consider yourself spoiled for the end of the season, but in the vaguest possible terms. Lyrics under the cut:
Also re: that space shanties/filk post from last night, if you want recs outside of the songs linked there please do let me know because I…. have a lot 👀👀👀
Ahhhh okay so @injygo here are a few recs (that weren’t on that – very good – list in the original post!)
Note: these are some of my faves, but you can find more in this post, especially those that aren’t up on youtube. Also search the tag #filk on my blog! ….Also, I realise with this list I’ve sort of drifted away from the ballad/shanty genre a little in my enthusiasm. But since that was what the original post was about (and because it’s my own favourite filk sub-genre!) I’ve tried to keep these space-themed in some capacity… that said, there’s a fair amount of other filk/folk I love that’s more fantasy/mythology themed, often by some of the same artists as the above, so if you want more recs please let me know!!!
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 Darkness
The 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 doomed
Númenor
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 forget
Númenor,
But sometimes when
the seabirds are calling
We may look to the
West and with grief in our breasts
Weep for Akallabeth
the Downfallen.
But trust is the color of a dark seed growing.
Trust is the color of a heart’s blood flowing.
Trust is the color of a soul’s last breath.
Trust is the color of death.
“The Color of Trust” by The Chamber Pots, a song for Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series. Lyrics available on Bandcamp.
Though I’ve been laid low
And my lifeblood spilled
Though my body be shattered, undaunted I rise
My will unbroken
“Unbroken,” song for an injured knight, by Michael Kelly. Sort of like “The Mary Ellen Carter,” but with more jousting. Full lyrics and chords are on the his YouTube page!
In the time of rising mountains
In the age when life was new,
The trees were the rulers of life on earth
And the world as a forest grew.
I posted an old recording of this a while ago, and I’m so happy to find one now that’s not a grainy cassette rip – and with some new instruments and harmonies that give this song some truly magical depth. “Caretakers,” written by Bill Sutton, performed by Bill and Brenda Sutton. It’s the kind of song that shifts between realism and fantasy in a beautiful way…and the kind of song that makes me cry.
We dig too deep
Trying to rival the deeds of our fathers
We dig too deep
The children of giants, trying to stand on their shoulders
“Legacy,” by Michael Kelly. He mostly does SCA events and the like, but I (dog mod) met him at a post-apocalyptic event, and he’s not only an amazing singer, but incredibly supportive and encouraging. He got me to sing into a microphone alone for the first time (in the desert, for people wearing only leather and spikes), which took some coaxing, so I feel obligated to plug his Patreon, where he releases new recordings regularly for donors.
This one’s for the dwarves of Middle Earth, hence the beard. But don’t let the beard fool you! It’s a beautiful song. Lyrics and chords under the cut.
Say it once, say it
twice, say it so you won’t forget
Live a life, live it
hard, live each day without regret
“Molly’s Wake Song,” written and performed by Drake Meed (@makingcosplay on Twitter) at the Hour of Honor Critical Role meetup at GenCon 2019. A touching tribute to a fallen friend, and Drake left an equally poignant comment on the video:
“Thank you all, so incredibly much, for listening and allowing me to
share this. And, more importantly, sing this. Share it. Pass it forward
with anyone who will listen, if you feel so compelled. It was written as
a bardic and in the spirit of being carried on.”
In the spirit of that, full lyrics are under the cut, as are the chords Alvaro Alemparte figured out and put in the YouTube comments. The transcription is mine, so take it with some salt.
