This one required a LOT of squinting at Wookiepedia articles and [gasp] doing actual calculations to figure out Star Wars distances. Please appreciate the fact that this is the first filk I’ve had to pull out a calculator for.
As always, I’m giving blanket permission to anyone with a better voice than I have who wants to record this. Just make sure to tag me so I can go listen to it!
Corellian Spacers
Farewell and adieu to you Twi’lek ladies
Farewell and adieu you Rylothean maids
For we have been recalled all back to Corellia
And in our return we must not be delayed
[CHORUS]:
So we’ll rant and we’ll roar like Corellian spacers
We’ll rant and we’ll roar in the hyperspace glow
Until we make docking at Centerpoint Station
From Ryloth we’ve one-twenty parsecs to go
[CHORUS]
I’m the daughter of smugglers and true merchant traders
The stars call my blood and among them I roam
But I was born by the old Coronet spaceport
And now the Five Brothers are calling me home
[CHORUS]
We’ll head to the core and nudge the ship spinward
Head onward past Christophsis’ crystal green mines
We’ll keep our course coreward and true to the Run lanes
And soon we’ll be passing the Middle Rim line
[CHORUS]
Past Radnor and New Cov and Allanteen’s shipyards
Onwards past Denon’s great city so wide
Through to the Colonies and on to the Core worlds
‘Til betwixt the Twin Worlds our good ship will glide
[CHORUS]
Now let us drink up ‘til our mugs are all empty
Drink up that good whiskey, I’ll spot you a glass
Here’s to the health of all of us spacers
And here’s to the health of my true hearted lass
please listen to this folk song warning you about how a gay space rebel is going to appear out of nowhere and wreck your shit, and also he fought a bear
“Rocket Rider’s Prayer” by
Steve Savitzky, performed by Cecilia Eng, Kristoph Klover, and Ernie Mansfield. Lyrics and chords available here.
As Steve notes on his website:
You have to admire the people who fly the shuttle. There you are, sitting on top of two oversized roman candles and enough hydrogen to make the Hindenberg look like a wienie roast, secure in the knowledge that the whole thing is controlled by a million lines of computer software, and that every component of this complex and dangerous system was made by the lowest bidder.
“Space Hero” by Leslie Fish, a cheerfully grim look at military recruitment in outer space. Sung here by Vic Tyler & Mike Pondsmith with Leslie Fish on guitar. Lyrics available here.
(I realized I’m dumb and can just add them here, I’ll still tag though, jic @lesbianomens)
A disclaimer: As far as I know, the one you have above is the only explicitly gay filk song with recordings available online. I am 100% sure others exist!! But, I’ve not found them (if anyone has links to more, PLEASE send them my way!) SO, the songs here are ones I’ve got tagged as queer/gay/lgbt in my library, sometimes for textual reasons (Archetype Cafe, It Suits You), sometimes for thematic (noted below), and sometimes just because the #vibes are undeniable.
If there’s an ** next to a song, it’s filk more broadly, not necessarily a space shanty, but the pickins are slim and they’re all good songs. This fall mostly into the sea/space songs sub-genre of shanty (in that they would be sung when the crew is at leisure, not while they’re doing work. hence the lack of a pulling/pushing rhythm for most).
Signy Mallory by Heather Alexander/Leslie Fish (written by Mercedes Lackey; not explicitly gay, but oh man the Vibes)
Somebody Will by Sassafrass (Look, LOOK, this song changed my life. I’m not kidding. It’s all about fighting for a future you may never see, but knowing that someone out there will live that future, again, not explicitly gay, but thematically)
Long Distance Transmission by @astriiformes (No pronouns, a song of longing and wanting someone who’s far away, hopeful and sad all at once)
In Flight by @idiopathicsmile (written by @soemily, inspired by star wars (Poe Dameron I think specifically?))
**I’m Your Moon by Jonothan Colton (technically about a literal moon, spiritually though? about saying fuck societies expectations and being who you are and with who you love)
The Seas of Space by Mark Heiman (again, no pronouns, a song about traveling out into the wonders of the vast expanse with your beloved at your side, also about helping each other through the loss of your old home, ultimately hopeful I think)
In the true sea shanty genre there are some obvious gay™ choices that could be easily rerecorded as space shanties (The Handsome Cabin Boy (warning for possible gender dysphoria issues, not sure how to tag/warn past that?), Leave Her Johnny Leave Her (technically the ‘her’ is a ship, but uh, I’ve never heard this sung as if that were the case), and Don’t Forget Your Old Shipmate, to name a few). So, if anyone out there is less tone deaf than me, do us a favor huh? There are even more if we step outside f shanties into traditional folk (which was sung on ships as well) but this post is already long enough.
A minor correction: while that recording of Seas of Space is sung by Mark Heiman, it was originally written by Suzette Haden Elgin.
The only other Gay Space Shanty I can think of is Make it So by Annwn. While the lyrics aren’t *explicitly* set in space, it’s not so subtle Picard/Riker slash.
But yeah, thank you for pointing out that there are tragically few songs in this genre, I now have a document open titled “the gay space shanty project” and am brainstorming trad shanties I can adapt to fix that…
“Hope Eyrie” by Leslie Fish, performed by Julia Ecklar. Originally about the moon landing, but I think it suits current events as well. It is a GOOD DAY to be HAPPY about SPACE.
Lyrics, chords, and a 4-part choral arrangement can be found here
Happy 50th anniversary of the moon landing, everyone!
Note: unfortunately the link above no longer works 🙁 Lyrics (without music) can now be found here.