For space is wide and good friends are too few.
As someone whos starting their masters degree in cosmonautical engineering of course i fell in love with filk not long ago (especially the space shanty kind). Im kinda hoping i can find someone who shares my love for space and filk here, maybe a penpal 🙂
I hope you can! Hey followers, sing out if you’d like to meet Anony here!
Could you or maybe your lovely followers help with a recommendation?
I’m looking for some filk music that follows the same cadence as “Back home in Derry” but with more of a sci-fi twist. So far I’ve found The Ballad of Apollo XIII but the lyrics are too specific for what I’m working on. Would appreciate the help, thanks!
Hey! I wasn’t familiar with “Back Home in Derry” but youtube proved helpful there, and it seems to be the same tune as “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” (which I should have guessed from your reference to “The Ballad of Apollo XIII”).
I can’t think of any less specific sci-fi-themed songs to that particular tune or meter, so I’m gonna throw this question open to our lovely followers. Sing out if you’ve got any suggestions!
I’ve been informed by one of the fine folks at the filkhaven discord server that one Wolf von Witting has written a song with exactly that theme! Lyrics to “Wish I Was Back Home On Terra” may be found in this collection here along with many others, and have been copied below the cut for those who don’t feel like digging through the rest.
Wish I Was Back Home on Terra
Trad.Music: ”I Wish Was Back Home in Derry.”
Written in Moscow, June 1998. revised 1998-Oct-11
(Wolf von Witting)
Do you know where I can find the classic live recording of Steve MacDonald doing “When I was a boy”, either free or for purchase?
I do! It’s on his album Reap the Wind, which has recently become available here on his Bandcamp for free streaming or purchase.
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
You can find them…here!  The only place I’ve found them online was on Google Books, since the song was published with a novel.  Suzette Haden Elgin’s songs are really hard to find copies and recording of, and it’s a shame.
(I’ll throw in the chords too, because…I happen to have them.  It’s supposedly to a traditional tune, but I’ve never been able to find a recording of “The Welcome” for some reason.)
C Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â F Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â C
“Sing me a song,” said the child in the garden.
                     F          C     G7
“Grandmother, sing! I’ll sit here by your side.
C        Am       F            C
Sing me a song of the world they call Terra,
    C7          F             C         F     C
The world that you came from when you were a bride.”
“Child, I have journeyed all over the starfields,
Out to the rim of the worlds that we know – –
Child, I can’t sing you a song about Terra!
For Terra was too many planets ago!”
“Sing me a song,” said the child in the garden.
“Grandmother, sing to me! Tell me no lies.
Sing me a song of the world they call Terra;
I know you remember, by the tears in your eyes.”
“Child, I have journeyed all over the starfields,
Child, I have left all my memories behind.
Child, I can’t sing you a song about Terra,
For I have put Terra clear out of my mind.”
“Grandmother, sing!” said the child in the garden.
“I have learned all about stubborn from you.
Sing me a song of the world they call Terra,
Where the grasses grow green and the oceans are blue.”
“Child, how you weary me, asking of Terra!
You are no babe! You should understand why.
We who left Terra for ever and ever
Were those who could tell her forever goodbye!”
“Child, I have journeyed all over the starfields,
Out to the rim of the worlds that we know – –
Child, I can’t sing you a song about Terra!
For Terra was too many planets ago!”