![Bill Sutton - Bask, Ye Samplers [HQ] @SongsfromtheStars](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/74PcwNKNSEg/maxresdefault.jpg)
Uploaded September 2021 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
Past Due track 12. Thanks to rocketman0739 for providing high-quality versions of these songs.
Download the album here: archive.org/details/filk_past_due
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Lyrics:
Chorus:
Bask, ye samplers, bask in the light
Space is dark, but the star is bright
Bask in the heat of the distant sun
It's gonna get hotter before we're done
So bask in the heat of the sun, boys
Bask in the heat of the sun!
We mine the neutron matter from the heart of a living star
Remotes can't pass magnetic fields, machines can't go that far
So we must ply our samplers to the edge of the stellar core
And there release the drone ships to collect our neutron ore
(Chorus)
A starship's drive is a neutron drive, and it pushes the speed of light
The starships fly to the distant stars, we fly to the star in sight
From cool and green to heat obscene we cross in the work we do
We do it well and we brave this hell for the sake of the starship crew
(Chorus)
A million miles to the core and back, in the heat of the fusion glow
All mankind thrives on the lives we lead, but only the samplers go
If not for the neutrons we return, the starships could not run
And so we mine like our fathers mined, and bask in the heat of the sun
(Chorus)
Past Due track 12. Thanks to rocketman0739 for providing high-quality versions of these songs.
Download the album here: archive.org/details/filk_past_due
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lyrics:
Chorus:
Bask, ye samplers, bask in the light
Space is dark, but the star is bright
Bask in the heat of the distant sun
It's gonna get hotter before we're done
So bask in the heat of the sun, boys
Bask in the heat of the sun!
We mine the neutron matter from the heart of a living star
Remotes can't pass magnetic fields, machines can't go that far
So we must ply our samplers to the edge of the stellar core
And there release the drone ships to collect our neutron ore
(Chorus)
A starship's drive is a neutron drive, and it pushes the speed of light
The starships fly to the distant stars, we fly to the star in sight
From cool and green to heat obscene we cross in the work we do
We do it well and we brave this hell for the sake of the starship crew
(Chorus)
A million miles to the core and back, in the heat of the fusion glow
All mankind thrives on the lives we lead, but only the samplers go
If not for the neutrons we return, the starships could not run
And so we mine like our fathers mined, and bask in the heat of the sun
(Chorus)
![Bill Sutton - Bask, Ye Samplers [HQ]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/74PcwNKNSEg/mqdefault.jpg "Bill Sutton - Bask, Ye Samplers [HQ]
Past Due track 12. Thanks to rocketman0739 for providing high-quality versions of these songs.
Download the album here: https://archive.org/details/filk_past_due
Lyrics:
Chorus:
Bask, ye samplers, bask in the light
Space is dark, but the star is bright
Bask in the heat of the distant sun
Its gonna get hotter before were done
So bask in the heat of the sun, boys
Bask in the heat of the sun!
We mine the neutron matter from the heart of a living star
Remotes cant pass magnetic fields, machines cant go that far
So we must ply our samplers to the edge of the stellar core
And there release the drone ships to collect our neutron ore
(Chorus)
A starships drive is a neutron drive, and it pushes the speed of light
The starships fly to the distant stars, we fly to the star in sight
From cool and green to heat obscene we cross in the work we do
We do it well and we brave this hell for the sake of the starship crew
(Chorus)
A million miles to the core and back, in the heat of the fusion glow
All mankind thrives on the lives we lead, but only the samplers go
If not for the neutrons we return, the starships could not run
And so we mine like our fathers mined, and bask in the heat of the sun
(Chorus)")
![Frank Hayes - Lola the Engineer [HQ]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/7CRyZdZgeE4/mqdefault.jpg "Frank Hayes - Lola the Engineer [HQ]
Dont Ask track 16. Thanks to rocketman0739 for providing high-quality versions of these songs.
Download the album here: https://archive.org/details/filk_dont_ask/
Lyrics:
I met her in a barroom on a world called Callan C
More drunk she was than anyone would ever want to be
I tickled her and patted her and lifted up her skirt
She jumped up on my lap and then she threw up on my shirt
And I said, “This looks like the start of a beautiful friendship!”
And Ill drink a toast now to Lola, the engineer
On board the “Sultans Pleasure,” with a load of ore to haul
Well, a freighter all but runs itself between the ports of call
And outside of drink and making love, there isnt much to do
So thats what we did each chance we could, and a few we couldnt too
And those were very few
And Ill drink a toast now to Lola, the engineer
One day in an unused engine, just to pass the while
Drinking gin and making love in a complicated style
Our bodies shook together from our kneecaps to our necks
“Its love!” I cried. “Like hell,” she said, “its pirates! Hit the deck!”
She listened at the intercom then turned to me and said
“Inside an hour theyll find us, in an hour well be dead.
And theres no way to outrun em...” then a look came to her eye
“By God, it may not work,” she said, “but well know the reason why.”
So Ill drink a toast now to Lola, the engineer
It seems the pirates made their move while we were making love
And a pulsar blast had fried the brains of every hand above
But we were recreating down in engine number two
Where twenty feet of shielding kept the hell from coming through
So we jury-rigged the panel board to start the engine cold
With a power surge and a blast we knew the shielding couldnt hold
And Lola took a can of paint and signed her work in red
“Ill see you bloody bastards down in hell!” was what it said
And Ill drink a toast now to Lola, the engineer
Then we sprinted for a shuttlecraft and ran to save our skins
And Lola passed the bottle for one final slug of gin
“Theres a million ways to live,” she said, “but theres just one way to die.”
Then the surge came through and the “Pleasure” blew and the pirates lit the sky
And when the “Sultans Pleasure” went, the sky was filled with light
And time stood still an endless moment in the endless night...
And then the shockwave hit us, picked us up, and threw us clear
Theres fortune for a greenhorn and a spaceborn engineer
And Ill drink a toast now to Lola, the engineer
It ended back on Callans where we drained the taverns dry
We drank and smashed our glasses and we never said goodbye
And the last time I saw Lola she was looking for a beer
Shes a drunkard, and a cynic, and a first-class engineer—
And Ill drink a toast now to Lola, the engineer")
![Frank Hayes - Lincoln Park Pirates [HQ]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/7HE5W3-d5xM/mqdefault.jpg "Frank Hayes - Lincoln Park Pirates [HQ]
Dont Ask track 10. Thanks to rocketman0739 for providing high-quality versions of these songs.
Download the album here: https://archive.org/details/filk_dont_ask/
Lyrics:
The streetlamps are on in Chicago tonight
And the lovers are gazing at stars
Stores are all closing and Harolds been chosen
And the fat mans counting the cars
“And theres more cars than places to put em,” he says,
“But Ive got room for them all!
So round em up boys, cause I want some more toys;
Hit the lot by the grocery store.”
Chorus:
To me way, hey, tow them away
The Lincoln Park Pirates are we
From Wilmette to Gary, theres none thats so hairy
And we always collect our fee!
To me way, hey, tow them away
We plunder the streets of your town
Be it Edsel or Chevy, theres no car too heavy,
And no one can make us shut down.
“We break into cars when we gotta
With pickaxe and hammer and saw
And they said this garage has no license—
Ha! Little care I for the law!
All my drivers are friendly and courteous
Their good manners you always will get
Cause they all are recent graduates
Of the ‘charm school’ in Joliet.”
(Chorus)
“And when all the cars are collected
And all of their fenders are ruined
Then well tow every boat in Belmont Harbor
To the Lincoln Park Lagoon
And when weve collected the ransom
And sunk all the ones that wont yield
Then well tow all the planes that are blocking the runways
At Midway, OHare, and Meigs Field.”
To me way, hey, tow them away
The Lincoln Park Pirates are we
From Wilmette to Gary, theres none thats so hairy
And we always collect our fee!
To me way, hey, tow them away—
Now, citizens, gather around
And I think its enough
And lets call his bluff
Lets tow the bum out of town!")
![Julia Ecklar - The Oath [HQ]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/7J6s6Z9O2bI/mqdefault.jpg "Julia Ecklar - The Oath [HQ]
Horse-Tamers Daughter track 13. Thanks to rocketman0739 for providing high-quality versions of these songs.
Download the album here: https://archive.org/details/filk_horse-tamers_daughter
Find more of Julia Ecklars excellent music at: https://www.prometheus-music.com/
Lyrics:
As I was out a-riding, one evening last July,
I heard a maiden singing, and bitter she did cry.
I quietly dismounted, to get a closer view
And see if there was aught a man of honor could pursue.
She stood all in the clearing, and no one else was there.
Her eyes with salt tears shone within the shadows of her hair
Her dance was wrought in anger, and her voice was tight with pain
As she sang her song of undying love, for some far wandering man.
“Oh, you deny the magic, and you deny the love,
But I swear an oath by all thats bright in the darkening sky above
That we have shared a magic, and the love flowed strong and true.
You can stop your ears to my hearts song, and still it sings for you.
“So you want to be my friend, and use a friendly voice to me.
Oh, I swear an oath by all that lives on land, in air and sea
That I do not leave the friendship when my hearts led by romance.
You can close your eyes on the swirl and sway, but you cannot stop the dance.
“So you say you fear to hurt me, or to cause me some new pain.
I swear an oath by mist and fog, by sleet and snow and rain,
That the finest treasures worthless if its beauty is not seen,
And you pierced my heart like cold, hard steel by denying what had been.
“Well, I pity all your ladies, for your memory so short,
And your eyes bespeak a romance when youre only wanting sport.
Oh, I swear an oath by all I hold in this world to be true,
That as deep a grief as I feel now, tis a greater loss for you.”
She swore that final oath, and then she danced it to the ground.
The birds and beasts, the mist and rain, all heard that final sound.
And Im the only witness as can tell the tale to you
Of the sorrow learned by those who find that love can be half true.")
![Leslie Fish - Blue Bread Mold [HQ]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/7mMgrR0kRn8/mqdefault.jpg "Leslie Fish - Blue Bread Mold [HQ]
Firestorm track 16. Thanks to rocketman0739 for providing high-quality versions of these songs.
Download the album here: https://archive.org/details/filk_firestorm
Find more of Leslie Fishs music at: https://lesliefish.bandcamp.com/
Lyrics:
Line up, you survivors, the doctors come to town:
Tell me all your symptoms, please, and haul your trousers down
Half your troubles these days dont need to be told
But I can cure the other half with blue bread mold
Chorus:
Blue bread mold, the story must be told
Nothing keeps you living like the blue bread mold
Blue bread mold, the story must be told
Nothing keeps you living like the blue bread mold
I notice that youre bleeding, and it isnt monthly flow—
How you got yourself cut up, I dont need to know
But wash your wounds with alcohol before theyre dry and cold
And finish it with a dusting of the blue bread mold
(Chorus)
Now you, youve left this cut too long. Its stinking, and its blue,
But dont consider suicide, Ive just the thing for you
Come here, you guys, and hold him down, if you would be so bold
Well clean this out with bleach and then with blue bread mold
(Chorus)
And you, youve got a nasty cough, a fever, and the shakes
So swallow this stuff twice a day, a spoonfuls all it takes
Thatll cure it proper, if it aint the common cold—
For ten days gargle garlic juice with blue bread mold
(Chorus)
Now you look strong and healthy. So whats the problem, please?
You say theres just no flavor in your local sheep-milk cheese?
Well, dust this powder on the curds, stir and roll and fold,
You can change your cheese to Roquefort with the blue bread mold
(Chorus)
So listen to your traveling doc before I have to go
To keep your wounds and water clean, you already know
But listen, you survivors, if you plan on growing old
Then keep a generous breeding stock of blue bread mold
Blue bread mold, the story must be told
Nothing keeps you living like the blue bread mold
Blue bread mold, a treasure more than gold
You can call it penicillin, but its blue bread mold!")
![Frank Hayes - Cockroaches on Parade [HQ]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/8N9G02y_w9o/mqdefault.jpg "Frank Hayes - Cockroaches on Parade [HQ]
Dont Ask track 07. Thanks to rocketman0739 for providing high-quality versions of these songs.
Download the album here: https://archive.org/details/filk_dont_ask
Lyrics:
Now that its cold with winds outside
They need a warm new place to hide
Inside your walls, under the floor,
The cabinet, behind the door
They get a drink inside your sink
They have a laugh around the bath
And when you go and turn your back
They like to sneak a little snack
Black Flag, Decon, indoor sprays, fumigators by the score
Swat them, stamp them, hammer them with Raid—they come back for more
But in the darkest hour, just before the dawn
You can hear them singing some old love song
They wipe their feet on your lunch meat
They put their hands into your cans
They take your scraps into their laps
And then they dine upon your wine
Earlier tonight you hurried up to go on your big date
And in your haste you left a lot of dirty forks and knives and plates
And as you sit here listening to this stupid song
On your kitchen table theres a party going on!
And when you get home late tonight
Open the door, turn on the light
And you will see wallpaper change
Those are cockroaches on parade!
Earlier tonight you hurried up to go on your big date
And in your haste you left a lot of dirty forks and knives and plates
And as you sit here listening to this stupid song
On your kitchen table theres a party going on!
And when you get home late tonight
Open the door, turn on the light
And you will see wallpaper change
Those are cockroaches on parade!")
![Jordin Kare - Waverider [HQ]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/8koivK1P77I/mqdefault.jpg "Jordin Kare - Waverider [HQ]
Fire in the Sky track 14. Thanks to rocketman0739 for providing high-quality versions of these songs.
Download the album here: https://archive.org/details/filk_fire_in_the_sky
Lyrics:
Out where the oceans are empty and wild
And the satellites watch from the sky
Theres a few who remember her name and her run
When the wind-driven waves run high
Chorus:
Waverider was her name
Waverider was her name
She was the fastest ever to sail the seas
Waverider was her name
She was a forty-foot trimaran, a knife-edge keen
Built for one purpose alone
To dance on the face of the mightiest waves
And to steal their speed for her own
For the fastest clipper ships that ever did sail
Could pull twenty-eight knots they say
But the great, long, wind-driven, deep-sea waves
Roll a thousand miles in a day
Joe Spanos built her hull, her mast, and her sails
That would dance on the lightest breeze
Beth Spanos built her sensors, her voice, and her brain
That she could learn and speak at the seas
And at sixty-two knots on a hundred-foot wave
She made her run neath a clear blue sky
Till a gust took her mast down to touch the sea
She cartwheeled and tried to fly
She cartwheeled and Beth Spanos died
(Chorus)
Joe Spanos lived. He built her anew
It took a year, but he made her whole
With titanium and glass in her hull and her mast
And Beth in her voice and her soul
When they put her overside, Joe boarded alone
They took the heading that the satellites gave
And he sat at the tiller with her voice in his ear
And said, “Baby, now pick us a wave.”
Well, the first wave rose like a steel-gray wall
The second wave stood high
But the third wave rose to block the sun
Waverider, she said, “Aye.”
And for twenty-one hours they rode that wave
The grandfather of them all
Two hundred feet from crest to trough
And a thousand miles to fall
Until “Captain,” she said, “the words come down,
The satellites see it plain.
Grandpas feeling the bottom and hell break too soon,
Weve got to come back and try it again.
They say well come back and try it again.”
Joe said, “Baby, how much time have we got?”
She said, “Joe, we could finish the run,
But wed never get clear.” He said, “Hell with that!
Were going to finish what weve begun.
By God, well finish what weve begun.”
And the hours and the miles, they rode and they fell
While the world clamored faint and far
And grandpa grew tired, and old, and mean
And Joe steered by a westering star
And as he fought with the tiller to keep her afloat
In a hell of white water and spray
She said, “Captain, our twenty-four hours are done—
Sixty-eight knots for the day.
Sixty-eight knots mean speed for the day.
“But the breaks rollin down on us at 50 knots,
The crests too steep and too high.”
Joe said, “Grandpas been patient now long enough.
Oh, baby, its a good day to die.
Oh, Beth, its a good day to die.”
(Chorus)
Waverider they found with her hull stripped bare
Her mast and her fittings clean gone
And they put her on display and they patched her scars
And they sold her and said shed sail on
But the Waverider never was a rich mans toy
She broke her moorings in a nights black storm
Cut her hulls on a reef and a mile deep fell
And the waves forever keep her from harm
And the waves forever keep her from harm
But out where the oceans are empty and wild
And the satellites watch from the sky
Theres a few who remember her name and her run
When the wind-driven waves run high
When the wind-driven waves run high")
![Jordin Kare - Unified Field Theory [HQ]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/94b0l-uqQ2M/mqdefault.jpg "Jordin Kare - Unified Field Theory [HQ]
Fire in the Sky track 10. Thanks to rocketman0739 for providing high-quality versions of these songs.
Download the album here: https://archive.org/details/filk_fire_in_the_sky
Lyrics:
A long time ago, back when physicists were green
There were more kinds of theories than youve ever seen
But there wasnt any one of them that always applied
So the loveliest of theories would be unified
We had quantum mechanics, we had QED,
Some special and some general relativity
Statistical mechanics we could point to with pride
But the loveliest of theories would be unified
Now Einstein was a genius, of that theres no doubt
There never was much physics that he couldnt figure out
But there was just one problem that always taxed his brain
And as the years went by, he was heard to complain:
“I got my quantum mechanics, got my QED,
My special and my general relativity
I got a cat but thats irrelevant, Ive tried and Ive tried,
But my field theories just arent unified.”
Now old Einstein passed on and he came before the Lord
And the Lord said, “Albert, you deserve a reward.
Make any one request and Ill be glad to yield.”
He said, “O Lord, Id like the theory of the unified field.
“I got my quantum mechanics, got my QED,
My special and my general relativity
But I worked upon that problem till the day that I died
And my field theories just werent unified.”
Well, the Lord said, “Albert, youre a very great man,
But not even you could fathom My vast eternal plan.”
He pulled a sheaf of papers out of plain thin air
And he handed them to Albert and He said, “Its all there.
“You got your quantum mechanics, got your QED,
Your special and your general relativity
Mass and time and energy and gravity tied
Together in a theory that is unified.”
Well, Einstein took those pages with a trembling hand
He studied them in ecstasy, the theories were so grand
Then he peered at one equation, flipped back to page ten,
Sadly shook his head and sighed, “Wrong again.
“I got my quantum mechanics, got my QED,
My special and my general relativity,
But as for field theories, in peace Ill abide
For the Lord himself cant make one unified!
“So study quantum mechanics, study QED,
Some special and some general relativity
But you might as well go hunting, just as sure as youre born,
For a unified field theory or a unicorn.”")
![Leslie Fish & the Dehorn Crew - We Have Fed You All For a Thousand Years [HQ]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/9EAzVYkfL94/mqdefault.jpg "Leslie Fish & the Dehorn Crew - We Have Fed You All For a Thousand Years [HQ]
Its Sister Jennys Turn to Throw the Bomb track 03. Thanks to rocketman0739 for providing high-quality versions of these songs.
Download the album here: https://archive.org/details/filk_its_sister_jennys_turn_to_throw_the_bomb
Find more of Leslie Fishs music at: https://lesliefish.bandcamp.com/
Lyrics:
We have fed you all for a thousand years, and you hail us still unfed,
Though theres never a dollar of all your wealth but marks the workers dead.
We have yielded our best to give you rest, and you lie on your crimson wool.
Well, if blood be the price of all your wealth, good God! we have paid in full!
There is never a mine blown skyward now, but were buried alive for you.
There is never a wreck drifts shoreward now, but we are its ghastly crew.
Go reckon our dead by the forges red or the factories where we spin.
Well, if blood be the price of your cursed wealth, good God! we have paid it in!
We have fed you all for a thousand years—for that was our doom, you know,
From the days when you chained us in your fields to the strike of a week ago.
You have taken our lives, our husbands and our wives, and were told its your legal share.
Well, if blood be the price of your lawful wealth, good God! we have bought it fair!
Good God! we have bought it fair!")
![Frank Hayes - Moscow Nights / Afghanistan [HQ]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/9KD4U-VPcew/mqdefault.jpg "Frank Hayes - Moscow Nights / Afghanistan [HQ]
Dont Ask track 06. Thanks to rocketman0739 for providing high-quality versions of these songs.
Download the album here: https://archive.org/details/filk_dont_ask
Lyrics:
Moscow nights are cold, though theyre crisp and clear
Lets go south for winter this year
To Afghanistan!
Its such a lovely land
And its warmer by far than Muscovy.
In Afghanistan!
Its down by Pakistan
With its warm-water port upon the sea.
Exciting things are happening there every day
And every night a fireworks display
In Afghanistan!
Its such a lovely land
And the people are Russian as can be.
Or try Pakistan!
Or maybe old Iran
Where the oil fields are wonderful to see.")
![Leslie Fish & the Dehorn Crew - Jefferson and Liberty [HQ]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/9zeQDU2ojeI/mqdefault.jpg "Leslie Fish & the Dehorn Crew - Jefferson and Liberty [HQ]
Its Sister Jennys Turn to Throw the Bomb track 09. Thanks to rocketman0739 for providing high-quality versions of these songs.
Download the album here: https://archive.org/details/filk_its_sister_jennys_turn_to_throw_the_bomb
Find more of Leslie Fishs music at: https://lesliefish.bandcamp.com/
Lyrics:
The night of fire is yet to come:
The tyrant shadow down the years
Demands we kneel or take the gun
And go shed blood instead of our tears.
Chorus:
So rejoice, Columbias sons, rejoice!
To tyrants never bend the knee,
But pledge your heart and hand and voice
To Jefferson and Liberty.
Every twenty years, he said.
The time is ten times overpast
To raise rebellions fiery head
And cast off tyrannys shell at last!
(Chorus)
No man is good nor wise enough
To rule another, or disown
The rights of every woman and man
To live and let live and be left alone.
(Chorus)
The starry banner that did fly
Oer freedoms bloody barricade
Now flaps and fades in foreign skies
Or palaces that Empire made.
Alt. chorus:
So arise, Columbias sons, arise!
Arise that you might yet be free,
Cast off the forces that made lies
Of Jefferson and Liberty.
The world that once in hope did watch
A struggle for democracy
Cries: “Have Columbias sons forgot
Jefferson and Liberty?”
(Alt. chorus)
But we, the heirs of Jefferson,
Like ancient Sons of Liberty,
Will bear in need the rebels gun
And never bow to tyranny.
(Alt. chorus)")
![Bob Kanefsky/Leslie Fish - The Cat Maidens Regrets [HQ]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/A7ZfWlx_T8o/mqdefault.jpg "Bob Kanefsky/Leslie Fish - The Cat Maidens Regrets [HQ]
Tapeworm I track 3. Thanks to rocketman0739 for providing high-quality versions of these songs.
Download the album here: https://archive.org/details/filk_tapeworm_1
Lyrics:
Here I sit bored on the fireside mat,
Taken for granted by those around.
No one has any respect for a cat;
Some old hag’s magic has made me just that.
In a cat skin I am bound.
Why can’t I be a woman again?
Why must I be a cat?
Out through the window or in through the door,
They toss me or carry me where they please.
Claiming my place on the cushion or floor,
They sit where they like, and it’s making me sore.
I hope they get some of my fleas!
Why can’t I be a woman again?
Why must I be a cat?
Once I was human, an ungrateful maid.
Now I’ve been changed to a mangy cat,
Plaything of others and ill repaid:
They took me downtown and they just got me spayed.
Now I just mope and grow fat.
Why can’t I be a woman again?
Why must I be a cat?
Curse that old biddy who taught me the knack
Of magically shifting my shape at will.
Now that the voice of a human I lack
I can’t say the words that will change myself back.
...Nor pay that old wisewoman’s bill!
Why can’t I be a woman again?
Why must I be a cat?
Why can’t I be a woman again?
Why am I stuck as a cat?")
