For space is wide and good friends are too few.
Hey everyone, sorry for the big lull in posting – things got hectic for both me and the Dog Mod with finals and the holidays, and then winter exhaustion sort of set in. I’ve queued up a few posts, and will be working through our inbox over the next few days, so we should be getting back to our regularly scheduled filk shenanigans.
Love,
The Brain Mod
You know what I want?
Space mythology.
Saints of the starship and angels that take their true form as nebulae, great and fiery amorphous beings that speak the will of the Universe
Nymphs of asteroid fields and planetary rings, sylphs that fly in the tails of comets and solar wind, the gods of the galactic core
Demons that dwell in black holes and eat the hearts of dying stars, spirits of galactic battles that cause engines and shields to fail when you get too close to their graves
Ghost ships, long MIA, drifting in dark space, an inaccessible monument to those lost
Demigods, Herculean beings forged in solar fire surviving alone and unshielded in the vacuum, on an icy rock so far from a star as to never see its light
Heroes and saints ascending to their gods by dissolving into starlight and void
Just…Space mythology.
YES YES YES
@filkyeahfilk there’s people out there haven’t heard Dawson’s Christian or The Phoenix or [many many more song titles go here] and I’m on mobile and can’t fuss with embed code, help?
Ooo, yes, if you want space mythology, there’s lots of filk for you, my friend.
As @welcomedmachine mentioned, Dawson’s Christian by Duane Elms is a great space ghost story:
The Phoenix by Julia Ecklar is about the soul of a spacefarer reincarnated as the soul of a starship:
As far as other good space mythology songs, the only additional ones I can think of right now are Ghost Ship and Starbound Spirit by Cynthia McQuillin. I know there’s loads more, so people should definitely chime in with suggestions!
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.
There are stories of the Dutchman, the Celeste and Barnham’s Pride
There are stories of the Horseman and the Lady at his side
But the tale that makes my blood run cold, the more because it’s true
Is the tale of Jayme Dawson and his crew
Yes, the tale of Dawson’s Christian and her crewA newer recording of one of my favorite classic filk songs, “Dawson’s Christian,” a space opera ghost story, originally Duane Elms.
Reblogging one of my favorite ghost stories in honor of Halloween 🙂
The only thing certain in each life is death
As sure as each heartbeat and every last breath
The cry of the Banshee each soul must heed
But who in this world calls for me?
Yes, who in this world calls for me?
“Banshee” by Cheshire Moon. I didn’t realize until I listened to this how much I needed Love Songs About Death Omens in my life.
Lyrics and chords available here.
I like comics and spaceships and cats-es
and I’m barely holding the panic in
I’m afraid of eye contact and taxes
bartender, please extra gin
“Extra Gin” by the Doubleclicks, or the most personally relatable drinking song the brain mod has ever encountered.
[image text: Is it maybe worth a shoutout to Heather Dale? She’s starting to post captioned ASL videos of some of her songs to her YouTube, and I just… sort of want to call attention to it somehow.]
Oh cool! I haven’t checked out her YouTube channel recently, so thanks for bringing it up!
So here’s a giant shoutout to Heather Dale, for helping to make filk more inclusive and accessible, and for bringing attention to some wonderful Deaf artists. Here’s her YouTube playlist with all her ASL videos, and it will be updating with more videos weekly.
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.
“Wind in the Pipes” by Meg Davis.
Davis comments in the liner notes of her Captain Jack and the Mermaid album:
My summer haunt is a beautiful, old (circ.1940’s) house on a lovely, cool lake (well away from the humidity of a Cincinnati summer). The folks who tend the house, and get it ready each year, have no idea how they have inspired me over the years. They get into their hip-waders each frosty May to put the dock in and, depending upon the placement of the metal poles, I end up with a very haunting sound all season that comes from the wind blowing across the holes in the posts. Some summers it’s a brighter tune, sometimes a rather spooky chord, but whenever it happens I tell myself, it’s only the wind in the pipes.
It’s hard to find the lyrics to this one, but I was able to transcribe them – they’re not very long, and they repeat a few times. I’ve included them after the cut.
Welcome to a moon-filled night
Of strange and wondrous tales,
Of ancient kings and mystic rings
And ships with painted sails;
Of how I came to be here
And where I wish to go,
And all my deepest secrets
Which you will come to know.
Settle back and dream awhile
And come along with me,
We will walk the ancient forests
And sail the deepest seas;
O let your heart go rambling,
There’s much we have to see,
From what we are this moment
To what we hope to be.
“Horsetamer’s Daughter” is set in Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Darkover universe, and is really a fanfic in its own right. It was originally written by Leslie Fish, and is infamous for going on… and on… and on… and…
(Probably apocryphal) legend has it that when presented with the song, Marion Zimmer Bradley told Leslie Fish something along the lines of “That’s nice, dear, but isn’t it a bit long?”
Lyrics are available here.