So ages ago I promised to work on adding more gay space shanties to the world…
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.
To the tune of Spanish Ladies (or, depending on your regional preferences, to the tune of Rant and Roar or Yankee Whalermen or Brisbane Ladies…)
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
axonsandsynapses
Seven Shine the Shiners-O – Nat Elster
TIME FOR SOME ABHORSEN FILK
Since the world is in dire need of filk for Garth Nix’s Old Kingdom books.
To be sung to the tune of Green Grow the Rushes-O (the weird Christian singalong song, not to be confused with the pretty Robert Burns song of the same name)
Seven Shine the Shiners-O
I’ll sing you one-o,
Seven shine the Shiners-o!
Who is your one-o?
One the folk who wear the crown,
And evermore shall be so.I’ll sing you two-o,
Seven shine the Shiners-o!
Who is your two-o?
Two, two, the Abhorsen,
Who keep the dead down-o,
One the folk who wear the crown,
And evermore shall be so.I’ll sing you three-o,
Seven shine the Shiners-o!
Who is your three-o?
Three, three, in stone,
Two, two, the Abhorsen,
Who keep the dead down-o,
One the folk who wear the crown,
And evermore shall be so.I’ll sing you four-o,
Seven shine the Shiners-o!
Who is your four-o?
Four for the Clayr seers,
Three, three, in stone,
Two, two, the Abhorsen,
Who keep the dead down-o,
One the folk who wear the crown,
And evermore shall be so.I’ll sing you five-o,
Seven shine the Shiners-o!
Who is your five-o?
Five for the Charters, mortar strong,
Four for the Clayr seers,
Three, three, in stone,
Two, two, the Abhorsen,
Who keep the dead down-o,
One the folk who wear the crown,
And evermore shall be so.I’ll sing you six-o,
Seven shine the Shiners-o,
Who is your six-o?
Six for the bell that binds the dead,
Five for the Charters, mortar strong,
Four for the Clayr seers,
Three, three, in stone,
Two, two, the Abhorsen,
Who keep the dead down-o,
One the folk who wear the crown,
And evermore shall be so.I’ll sing you seven-o,
Seven shine the Shiners-o!
Who is your seven-o?
Seven Bright, who made the bells,
Six for the bell that binds the dead,
Five for the Charters, mortar strong,
Four for the Clayr seers,
Three, three, in stone,
Two, two, the Abhorsen,
Who keep the dead down-o,
One the folk who wear the crown,
And evermore shall be so.I’ll sing you eight-o,
Seven shine the Shiners-o!
Who is your eight-o?
Eight is Yrael who hid away,
Seven Bright, who made the bells,
Six for the bell that binds the dead,
Five for the Charters, mortar strong,
Four for the Clayr seers,
Three, three, in stone,
Two, two, the Abhorsen,
Who keep the dead down-o,
One the folk who wear the crown,
And evermore shall be so.I’ll sing you nine-o,
Seven shine the Shiners-o!
Who is your nine-o?
Nine is the dark Orannis,
Eight is Yrael who hid away,
Seven Bright, who made the bells,
Six for the bell that binds the dead,
Five for the Charters, mortar strong,
Four for the Clayr seers,
Three, three, in stone,
Two, two, the Abhorsen,
Who keep the dead down-o,
One the folk who wear the crown,
And evermore shall be so.
The Force On Our Side – Nat Elster
I started writing this a month or so after The Force Awakens came out and didn’t finish it until now. Whoops. At least I got it done before Episode VII hits theaters?
As always, if anyone with actual musical talent wants to record this, I’d be very, very grateful.
To be sung to the tune of “With God on Our Side” by Bob Dylan.
Oh I once was a princess
But my lands are long gone
The planet I came from
Was called Alderaan
I was taught and was raised there
To rule it with pride
With justice and kindness,
The Force on our sideThe Empire was unjust
And so I rebelled
But the Empire caught me
Had me tortured and held
Still I told them nothing
And as Alderaan cried
I clung to the knowledge
Of the Force on my sideI learned it much later,
My torturer then
He’d once been my father
Once been a good man
A Jedi of power
Who they’d prophesized
Would bring cosmic balance
The Force on his sideI have a twin brother,
They split us at birth
And hid him away on
A dry barren earth
But his destiny found him
And his childhood died
To his fate he departed
The Force on his sideWe took on the empire
And against them we won
I took on a husband
And we had a son
I held him close to me
And as he opened his eyes
I saw a bright future
The Force on our sideBut my son he grew older
And grew angry, afraid
The darkness seduced him,
The light he betrayed
Like my father before him
He kills and he tries
To smother all goodness
Bend the Force to his sideI’ve felt my love slaughtered
Struck down by our son
I’ve felt so many dying
A whole system gone
My brother has left me
He stares at the tides
In search of some answer
From the Force on his sideBut me, I’m still standing
I’m here fighting still
Though I stand alone now;
Fear I always will
I’ve seen planets crumble
I’ve watched empires fall
And I have to wonder
If there’s a light side at all
Past the Edge of the Sky – Nat Elster
(or: The Literal Sky Boat Song)
Initially I wrote this intending it to be a sweet song about going home to space, but the original song is about the aftermath of a failed and bloody uprising, and it didn’t lend itself too well to happy. I wrote the current version thinking of the Alderaanian (and Jedhan and Hosnian…) refugees in Star Wars, but it could be applied to any number of science fiction universes, really.
To be sung to the tune of the Skye Boat Song.
[chorus:]
Speed bonny ship like a bird on the wing,
Upward the rockets fly;
Take us away to where the stars sing,
On past the edge of the sky.The atmosphere howls, the thrusters all roar,
The boosters light and flare.
‘Gainst gravity’s grasp, higher we soar,
We’ll soon escape the air.[chorus]
In space dark and wide, past systems we leap,
On countless worlds we’ll roam.
But here we remain, out in the deep;
They’ll never be our home.[chorus]
Burned is our world, exile and death;
Her children refugees.
Yet while our lungs still have their breath,
We’ll fight and never cease.[chorus]
Jason Todd – Avo
I apologize to @axonsandsynapses for doing their work absolutely nothing anywhere near justice, but this is my attempt at covering their brilliant adaptation of Sam Hall about everyone’s favourite ex-dead ex-Robin.
check out the lyrics on their blog!
all sounds in this recording were made using a ukulele and/or my mouth, and all (highly amateur) sound editing was done using GarageBand. hope you enjoy!
The Boy in the Ice – axonsandsynapses
I have long maintained that Paul Simon’s The Boy in the Bubble is a great song for Steve Rogers (MCU version) in the months following waking up in the 21st century. It’s not much of a leap at all to rewrite it to be explicitly about Cap. So, yeah, this adaptation kind of just happened…
The Boy in the Ice
(to be sung to Paul Simon’s “Boy in the Bubble”)It was a slow day
And the sun was beating
On a city both familiar and new
There was a bright light
A shattering of car windows
The rumble of the spaceships
The screams and shock as shrapnel flewThese are the days of miracle and wonder
The other side of the fall
The way the cameras follow you in slow-mo
The way they look at us all
The way we look to the distant constellations
That’re shining through a hole torn in the sky
These are the days of miracle and wonder
And don’t cry, Soldier, don’t cry
Don’t cryIt was a cold wind
And it swept across the river
As the carriers rose from the earth
And a dead friend
Fallen from a high train
Now a killer not remembering
Who he was and what he’s worthThese are the days of miracle and wonder
The other side of the fall
The way the cameras follow you in slow-mo
The way they look at us all
The way we look to the distant constellations
That’re shining through a hole torn in the sky
These are the days of miracle and wonder
And don’t cry, Hero, don’t cry
Don’t cryIt’s an unexpected gut punch
It’s possibly a new start
It’s every generation that throws their heroes to the sharks
Medicine is magic and magic dang’rous art
Thinking of a mighty metal arm
And the man with a reactor in his heartAnd I believe
These are the days of laser-sighted rifles
And sights on the people everywhere
Staccato signals of constant information
A loose affiliation of corporations
And furtive nations, and Soldier-These are the days of miracle and wonder
The other side of the fall
The way the cameras follow you in slow-mo
The way they look at us all, oh yeah
The way we look to the distant constellations
That’re shining through a hole torn in the sky
These are the days of miracle and wonder
And don’t cry, Captain, don’t cry
Don’t cry, don’t cry