A song you might sing around a campfire if the next morning you’re planning to drive your war rig right through the middle of the Immortan’s army to try to take his stronghold.
I filked this for Wasteland campfire singing and then figured I’d record it in case people wanted to learn it beforehand. So here you go. My singing voice isn’t great and kind of shaky, but I’m still pleased with how this turned out
@howtotrainyournana and I singing a space filk of the traditional sea shanty “Roll The Old Chariot Along,” written by Nana.
Lyrics:
Oh we’ll be alright with the sunbeams in our sails Oh we’ll be alright with the sunbeams in our sails Oh we’ll be alright with the sunbeams in our sails And we’ll all hang on inside
CHORUS:
And we’ll roll the old shuttle-ship along We’ll roll the old shuttle-ship along We’ll roll the old shuttle-ship along And we’ll all hang on inside
Oh another loop around wouldn’t do us any harm Oh another loop around wouldn’t do us any harm Oh another loop around wouldn’t do us any harm And we’ll all hang on inside
CHORUS
Oh we’ll be home-bound with the engine set on full Oh we’ll be home-bound with the engine set on full Oh we’ll be home-bound with the engine set on full And we’ll all hang on inside
CHORUS
Oh a night among the stars is a wonder to behold Oh a night among the stars is a wonder to behold Oh a night among the stars is a wonder to behold And we’ll all hang on inside
CHORUS
Oh the captain and the crew try and keep us all from harm Oh the captain and the crew try and keep us all from harm Oh the captain and the crew try and keep us all from harm – And we all respond in kind
CHORUS
Oh we’ll be star-bound in our souls and in our lives Oh we’ll be star-bound in our souls and in our lives Oh we’ll be star-bound in our souls and in our lives ‘Long as stars and souls survive
Written as a companion song to “Seas Of Space,” this is sung to the tune of “Catch The Wind” by Dovovan Leitch (at least the version I learned by ear at my college folk music society; apparently recorded versions are quite different)
Crawl out of the mud, ongoing but slow
For the path that is easy ain’t the one that lets us grow
Climb the ladder rung by rung and never looking back
On this track we walk alone
Composed after Andy Eigel’s “Uplift”, and may be sung against it (as in this recording). Lyrics and chords available here. Words by Ben Newman, to the tune of…you’ll figure it out.
oooh! I was writing songs since I was very small and they were all about fantasy things (exception: the time my fourth-grade class wrote and performed a musical about whales in which I played a marine biologist/detective) because everything in my life was about fantasy things.
But the first actual filk I wrote was a collab with one of my best friends from college. It was written to the tune of “I Ain’t Marching Anymore” and was called “I Ain’t A Martian Anymore.” I should see if I can dig up the words.
I think that she came up with the title, and then I suggested the line “Take a look at what we’ve done with a laser-powered gun,” and then we wrote verses back and forth to each other over the summer and on each other’s whiteboards when we got back to school. It was a very fun process!
(bonus minor collaborators were my dad for insisting I find a way to rhyme “vortex” with “cerebral cortex” and @thebastardofgloucester for knowing board games they play in the Star Wars universe)
… i have a MIGHTY NEED to see these lyrics
Okay, here we are. Turns out I still have the whole thing memorized even though I need to go look up that Star Wars board game every time. I Ain’t A Martian Anymore
You’ve heard of those Ferengi with their acquisition rules
Their plotting and their scheming and their lore
They take all that they need, they have no law but greed
But I ain’t a Martian anymore!
And you’ve doubtless met those green men in their funny little ships
Drawing circles in your fields of corn
Every day is an occasion for an alien invasion
But I ain’t a Martian anymore! For it’s red planet’s children that always go to war
Red planet’s children who fall
Take a look at what we’ve done with a laser-powered gun
And tell me was it worth it all?
I’ve had my share of combat now in every part of life
In games of dejarik as well as war
If a wookie has to win it then why bother to begin it?
And I ain’t a Martian anymore!
And I must have wiped the Daleks out at least a hundred times
But they keep on resurrecting by the score
When they next return I’m slated to be first exterminated
But I ain’t a Martian anymore! For it’s red planet’s children that always go to war
Red planet’s children who fall
Take a look at what we’ve done with a laser-powered gun
And tell me was it worth it all?
I may have been a Martian but I’m sick of all this strife
I’m sick of spilling alien guts and gore
I’ll wind up like a Reaver smashing heads in with a cleaver
If I stay a Martian anymore!
Now the Cybermen are screaming that the universe is theirs
The Vogons threaten poetry galore
Let them toss me in a vortx, mess with my cerebral cortex
But I ain’t a Martian anymore!
No I ain’t a Martian anymore! For it’s red planet’s children that always go to war
Red planet’s children who fall
Take a look at what we’ve done with a laser-powered gun
And tell me was it worth it all?
from the album Sloppy Seconds
To the tune of “Bang Away, Lulu” Lyrics
Bang away, Maidens, bang it sure and true
The fans will come from miles around for a good ol’ Maiden screw
Oh, bang away, Maidens, bang it good and strong
What in the world will the good fans do when the Maidens are all gone?
Our Saber is a Slytherin
She loves silver and green
She’s good at speaking Parseltongue
If you know what I mean
Our Saber’s quite a kinkster
They know her far and wide
She said to Westley,
“As you wish,“
Now she’s the Princess Bride!
Bang away, Maidens, bang it sure and true
The fans will come from miles around for a good ol’ Maiden screw
Oh, bang away, Maidens, bang it good and strong
What in the world will the good fans do when the Maidens are all gone?
Our Rouge, she loves the Dresden
His books she does applaud
And if she ever met him
She’d ride his blasting rod!
Our Rouge once screwed some Trekkies
The answer to their prayers
She likes it rough, and now they know
Why Riker straddles chairs!
Bang away, Maidens, bang it sure and true
The fans will come from miles around for a good ol’ Maiden screw
Oh, bang away, Maidens, bang it good and strong
What in the world will the good fans do when the Maidens are all gone?
Our Lucky loves Tom Hiddleston
He gives her all the feels
She thinks she’d get the best of him, but
In the end she always kneels!
Our Lucky makes cosplayers blush
With her sweet affections
Don’t flirt with her in spandex, boys;
It don’t hide erections! (That’s true!)
Bang away, Maidens, bang it sure and true
The fans will come from miles around for a good ol’ Maiden screw
Oh, bang away, Maidens, bang it good and strong
What in the world will the good fans do when the Maidens are all gone?
Our Flint “bangs” a bit differently
She brought her gun to con
Shot off The Doctor’s stetson
While dressed up as River Song
Our Flint she once met Link, they say,
She made that hero drool
But then she left him in her dust
And went to save Hyrule!
Bang away, Maidens, bang it sure and true
The fans will come from miles around for a good ol’ Maiden screw
Oh, bang away, Maidens, bang it good and strong
What in the world will the good fans do when the Maidens are all gone?
Bang away, Maidens, bang it sure and true
The fans will come from miles around for a good ol’ Maiden screw
Oh, bang away, Maidens, bang it good and strong
What in the world will the good fans do when the Maidens are all gone? Bang Away, Maidens, by Misbehavin’ Maidens
from the album “Sloppy Seconds”
Traditional, rewritten by Caroline Boulden lyrics
If you want to take a picture, get consent
If you want to take a picture, get consent
If you want to take a picture, they’re a person, not a fixture,
If you want to take a picture, get consent
If you want to touch their cosplay, get consent
If you want to touch their cosplay, get consent
If you want to touch their cosplay, and don’t want to cause them dismay,
If you want to touch their cosplay, get consent
If you want a big embrace, get consent
If you want a big embrace, get consent
If you want a big embrace, there’s a way to close the space,
If you want a big embrace, get consent
And if they still say no, back away
If they still say no, that’s ok
If they decline your advance, it’s their body, not your chance
If they still say no, just GO AWAY CONsent, by Misbehavin’ Maidens
(Series: Filksong Genealogy)
Firstly, above: Leslie Fish’s setting of Rudyard Kipling’s poem “Dane-Geld,” about the dubious wisdom of paying tribute to avoid being conquered by a neighboring country with less portable wealth but better armies.
Secondly, as previously seen on this blog, a classic filksong to the tune of “Waltzing Matilda”: Lee Gold’s “You Bash the Balrog,” a cheerful little ditty about an ill-fated set of D&D adventurers. (If you’ve never heard “Waltzing Matilda,” have a listen here and maybe check out the wikipedia page.)
And finally, below: Bob Kanefsky’s synthesis “Bashing the Balrog,” performed by Leslie Fish.
So the next one is “And the Fans Sang ‘You Bash the Balrog,’” right?
(Dr. Jane Mailander, mashing up “You Bash the Balrog” with Eric Bogle’s “And the Band Played ‘Waltzing Matilda.’” Not sure if there’s a recording of it, I just have the lyrics.)
Whoo. Okay, I’ll be honest, I hesitated to reblog the followup with the full lyrics; I’d forgotten that there are ableist slurs (and what I’m pretty sure is an implied prison rape joke) in the fourth verse. I think last time I heard this sung, the filker either sang something different or skipped that verse entirely.
But there’s no point in denying that like every other music genre and every other fannish community, filk has got some deeply flawed and problematic content, both historical and contemporary. And like every other community, we’re still working out how to deal with it.
I’m gonna compromise in this case, and link to the lyrics instead of posting them.
Folks, our ask box is open; if you have any suggestions about how to deal with this kind of thing in future, I don’t promise we’ll abide by them, but I think we’d like to hear them.