thread: all the star trek related songs I know

fandomsfandomstoomanyfandoms:

qhasbpdandthatsokay:

logicallesbiann:

loudfederationscreeching:

fictionalred:

radikaalnormaal:

fictionalred:

spocks-soup:

all the star trek related songs I know

  • star trekkin’ – the firm
  • where’s captain kirk? – spizzenergi
  • mr. spock – nerf herder

y’all know anymore? these songs give me life tbh

These are some I know of!

Some parodies that are fun too

Starship edelweiss

Data & Picard

Those are brilliant YO

heres one that i know of !!!

GNDN – Admiral Radley

Yeoman by Baths– I can’t find anything from the artist to confirm that it’s explicitly star trek related, but it’s about a couple dancing and falling in love on a starship

Klingon Pop Warrior murdered me and I am dead

Okay let’s see… here’s a handful of filk songs about Star Trek that come to mind

  • Banned from Argo by Leslie Fish. This infamous comedy song WILL get stuck in your head and you’ll probably hate me for it. Depending on your taste in humor you’ll either find it really hilarious or hate it. There’s implied NSFW in a few verses. (I should note that no Star Trek character is named, but the song uses their ranks/jobs instead. However it mentions Klingons in the final verse, and anyway you know exactly who each verse refers to)
  • He’s Dead Jim by Julia Ecklar. Another comedy song. Name describes content pretty well.
  • Bones (either by Julia Ecklar or Leslie Fish but I’m not sure which. Some filker who’s better at keeping track about these things please tell me which one it is) – yet another comedy song, this time Bones complaining about all the bullshit he’s faced with every day as the CMO of the Enterprise. This one I like a lot, it gets Bones’ character very well I think.
  • Farewell Mother Russia – I don’t know who wrote this, but it’s sort of Chekov POV “Space Travel is pretty fun”
  • Demon in the Dark – again I don’t know who wrote this originally. I assume everyone can by the name guess what episode this is about?
  • Vow of Vengeance by Julia Ecklar – This song is set somewhere between the TOS episode Space Seed and the movie Wrath of Khan, and it’s about Khan, well, swearing vengeance against Kirk
  • For the Needs of the One by Julia Ecklar – Spock bidding farewell to Kirk in Wrath of Khan. (Warning: this song WILL make you cry)
  • One Final Lesson by Julia Ecklar – Saavik mourning Spock after his death in Wrath of Khan
  • Hero’s Song sort of sounds like it’s about Kirk? I mean it never mentions Kirk anywhere, technically, but it matches him very well, it’s filk song, and appears on several albums that contain a lot of Star Trek related filk, so I’d consider it safe to say that this song is meant to be about Kirk.
  • Homecoming and The Light that Died by Julia Ecklar – these are, according to her, about Kirk returning to Enterprise in The Motion Picture, and her headcanons regarding Chekov post-TOS but before the movies, respectively. However it’s sort of hard to see the connection between those songs and Star Trek unless you know it’s there and know what it is. I think if you google her album “The Traveller” you should be able to find a PDF of a booklet containing her explanation of the creation of both those songs, as well as their lyrics?

 

@filkyeahfilk is there any Star Trek filk that comes to mind to you guys that I forgot to mention? I’m pretty sure I’m forgetting something and anyway, you know these things better than I, so tagging you in case you want to add to the list 🙂

I’m so glad you thought of us!

Check out our Star Trek tag for more! And of course, followers and mutuals, please add more if you’ve got some.

re: is there even a better genre of music than gay space shanty, really

lesbianomens:

is there even a better genre of music than gay space shanty, really

randomacts13:

hey op, you got a playlist?

lesbianomens:

unfortunately i’ve only got the one, so ​if you have more, then PLEASE share

randomacts13:

Thank!! I didn’t have this one. And yeah, I’ve got more, ill pull a list together tomorrow and tag you!

randomacts13:

(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).

  • We’re Not Friends (The Future Has a Place) by Crime and the Forces of Evil.
  • **It Suits You by Kirby Krackle
  • 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)
  • **Archetype Cafe by Talis Kimberly (not space, but hella wlw)
  • 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.

filkyeahfilk:

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…

– the brain mod

A delightful commenter on our WordPress left this addition: Captain Jack and His Crew by Bob Kanefsky. (Not set in space, but very definitely a gay sea shanty).

Re: The Weather – the PDX Broadsides

jonathanlennox:

filkyeahfilk:

There’s a noise coming out of the dog park
And I think it means me harm
There are lights up over the Arby’s
And I wish I’d never left the farm
There’s a glow shining out of the canyon
And I hope it’s gonna get better
From the noise coming out of the dog park
I take you to… the weather 

“The Weather” by the PDX Broadsides, the first Night Vale filk I think I’ve ever encountered.

Lyrics available on Bandcamp.

Another Night Vale filk is Bob Kanefsky’s Downtown Night Vale, written with his usual brilliance.

Reblogging with addition!

Filksong Genealogy: Sealskin

filkyeahfilk:

I never thought that I could hold you forever
Always knew deep down you’d have to go home
I can be grateful for these bright years together
And I know you miss the salt sea foam
If you hurry, you can still catch the tide, my love
If you hurry you can still catch the tide.

“Still Catch the Tide” by Talis Kimberley, performed here by Seanan McGuire with Michelle “Vixy” Dockrey, Tony Fabris, S.J. Tucker, and Amy McNally.  Lyrics are available here.

This is one of my favorite songs to sing along to when I want to be Sad About The Sea (a specific emotion that I experience with alarming regularity.)

If you want a selkie song with a happy ending, check out “The Maiden and the Selkie” by Heather Dale or “Glass Half Full of the Sea” by Benjamin Newman.

She puts on sealskin with a steady hand
Beast at sea, woman on land
She puts on sealskin, the color of foam
She knows what’s next: going home

“Sealskin” by Batya Wittenberg, performed here with the able assistance of Gary Ehrlich (guitar) and Joshua Kronengold (vocals), is the story of “Still Catch the Tide” rearranged to the tune of another Talis Kimberley song about a shapeshifting woman with a human lover: “Velvet” (lyrics and audio here).

… and it owes its existence in no small part to Bob Kanefsky’s “Velvet Tide” (lyrics here), which is a comedic song that takes the story of “Velvet” and rearranges it to the tune of “Still Catch the Tide.”

(Series: Filksong Genealogy)

 

Filksong Genealogy: Shapes in Shadow

(Series: Filksong Genealogy)

Above: “Shades of Shadow,” off the album A Wolfrider’s Reflections, based on the ElfQuest comic.  (The official album songbook is here; lyrics to this song are about halfway through.)  Lyrics by Mercedes Lackey, music by Leslie Fish, sung by Julia Ecklar.  The speaker in this song is Winnowill, a powerful magic-worker and master manipulator.

Below: Bob Kanefsky’s “Shapes in Shadow” is one of those filksongs that can’t really be called a parody of the original song, as there’s nothing comedic or satirical about it.  Like the original, it’s about power.

Programming announcement: Guest of Honor concert

contata-nefilk:

This year, Contata continues its proud tradition (on the principle that anything you do three times in a row is a tradition) of non-vocal guests!
2005: Guest of Honor Carla Ulbrich came down with laryngitis, so the GoH concert featured “Carla-oke” – audience members requested songs for Carla to play on her guitar while they sang.
2008: Toastmaster Tom Smith injured his leg only weeks before the convention, so the Toastmaster concert became a “sing Tom Smith covers” benefit concert to raise money for his medical bills and recovery.
2011: Guest of Honor Judi Miller, sign interpreter extraordinaire, performed with all her usual non-vocal brilliance during everybody else’s concerts – and also sang during her own show.  (No accidents or illness interfered.  We thought we might be onto something.)
2014: Guest of Honor Amy McNally, phenomenal fiddler, also sang some during her concert – but mostly played to beat the devil.  (We made notes.  Definitely a trend worth pursuing.)
Which brings us to …
2017: Guest of Honor Bob Kanefsky, filk’s premiere parodist! … who very seldom sings in public.  So our GoH concert this year will be a Kanefsky Cabaret, or Kabarefsky, in which other filkers will sing Bob’s parodies on stage.
Interested in being a Kabarefsky performer?  Contact merav.hoffman(at)gmail(dot)com, or drop a note in our ask box!

Re: Filksong Genealogy: Bashing the Balrog


sci-fantasy:

filkyeahfilk:

(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.

Filksong Genealogy: Bits

Boots

(Series: Filksong Genealogy)
Above we have Rudyard Kipling’s “Boots”, a poem about the endless slog of a soldiers’ march, set to music by (who else) Leslie Fish.
And below we have Bob Kanefsky’s inevitable parody about a different sort of endless slogging:  “Bits,” performed by Leslie Fish.

Filksong Genealogy: They’re Singing Banned from Argo


(Series: Filksong Genealogy)
 
Above: Leslie Fish’s setting to Rudyard Kipling’s “Danny Deever,” a poem about soldiers having to watch a public hanging, framed as a series of questions from a young inexperienced soldier and answers from an older veteran who has seen all this before.
Below: Bob Kanefsky’s “They’re Singing ‘Banned From Argo’,” a similarly framed series of questions and answers about another dreaded ritual.

If you find yourself confused by the veteran filker’s reaction in Bob’s parody, a look at this Fanlore page may be of some help.  And if you’ve never heard the original “Banned From Argo” before, run while you still can here’s your chance!

Filksong Genealogy: Bashing the Balrog


(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.