Uploaded August 2022 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
Tapeworm I track 5. Thanks to rocketman0739 for providing high-quality versions of these songs.
Download the album here: archive.org/details/filk_tapeworm_1
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Lyrics:
Past where patterned pathways lie,
Magic works, and there work I.
Scaffold boards left far behind,
I mold forms inside my mind.
Forms that kill, and forms that cure.
Forms to teach, or to obscure.
Forms in which the mind's eye delves.
Forms for forming forms themselves.
Chorus:
You build worlds with steel and stone.
I build worlds with words alone.
Skilled tradespeople, long years taught:
You shape matter. I shape thought.
Soft, where your works rigid stand,
My works change as times demand.
Yours take years to redesign;
One night’s thought can alter mine.
For you must stop to forge new tools.
I need only change my rules.
You discard old stock in stores;
I discard old metaphors.
(Chorus)
Some would say my work exists
In the mindless maze’s twists.
They confuse their beer and gin
With the glass they buy them in.
The second’s made to hold the first,
And, empty, cannot quench your thirst.
Like the poet’s scroll and ink:
Less important than you think.
(Chorus)
Softly through the fertile night,
My work sheds its own clear light.
You still let your lives be run
By the dictates of the sun.
Fearful caveman that you are,
Scurry to your home or bar!
Long before your brain need tire,
Huddle ’round your neon fire.
(Chorus)
Tapeworm I track 5. Thanks to rocketman0739 for providing high-quality versions of these songs.
Download the album here: archive.org/details/filk_tapeworm_1
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Lyrics:
Past where patterned pathways lie,
Magic works, and there work I.
Scaffold boards left far behind,
I mold forms inside my mind.
Forms that kill, and forms that cure.
Forms to teach, or to obscure.
Forms in which the mind's eye delves.
Forms for forming forms themselves.
Chorus:
You build worlds with steel and stone.
I build worlds with words alone.
Skilled tradespeople, long years taught:
You shape matter. I shape thought.
Soft, where your works rigid stand,
My works change as times demand.
Yours take years to redesign;
One night’s thought can alter mine.
For you must stop to forge new tools.
I need only change my rules.
You discard old stock in stores;
I discard old metaphors.
(Chorus)
Some would say my work exists
In the mindless maze’s twists.
They confuse their beer and gin
With the glass they buy them in.
The second’s made to hold the first,
And, empty, cannot quench your thirst.
Like the poet’s scroll and ink:
Less important than you think.
(Chorus)
Softly through the fertile night,
My work sheds its own clear light.
You still let your lives be run
By the dictates of the sun.
Fearful caveman that you are,
Scurry to your home or bar!
Long before your brain need tire,
Huddle ’round your neon fire.
(Chorus)
![Jordin Kare - Fool to Feed the Drive [HQ]
Parody Violation track 15. Thanks to rocketman0739 for providing high-quality versions of these songs.
Download the album here: https://archive.org/details/filk_parody_violation
Lyrics (TTTO Fuel to Feed the Drive, Cynthia McQuillin):
A hundred parsecs out, on a ship quite second-rate,
The engineer McQuillin sent the word up to the mate
Our engine’s out of steam, he said, and soon our ship will die
If we can’t find a planet with fuel to feed the drive.
Now our ship’s a noble lady, and our captain she is too
But our engineer is none too bright, the dimwit of our crew
The captain said, I thought you filled the tanks on Vega 5!
McQuillin just looked sheepish; he forgot to feed the drive
Can curses stir the gods of space who dwell beyond the stars?
If so, they surely woke up then, for we used up most of ours
We thought we’d drift forever, lost between the stars we’d die
And all because McQuillin bought no fuel to feed the drive
But then the captain’s eyes grew bright; she said, It seems to me
That a fusion drive burns H2O... McQuillin turned to flee!
Grab him, boys, and hold him—he’s no good to us alive,
But two hundred pounds of water will feed our dying drive!
So once again we fly through space, avoiding all the stars
Who knows what ruin may take us, what evil fate is ours
We never found our planet, but we’ll all but one survive
As long as we are granted some fool to feed the drive! Jordin Kare - Fool to Feed the Drive [HQ]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Rrb_sMoBdaQ/mqdefault.jpg)
![Bill Sutton - Midnight at the Well [HQ]
Past Due track 14. Thanks to rocketman0739 for providing high-quality versions of these songs.
Download the album here: https://archive.org/details/filk_past_due
[book: Well of Souls series, Jack L. Chalker]
Lyrics:
I stand and watch the universe, so strong and full of light
I watch the children grow and dreamers fight
And yet you ask me now to throw them all away
To steal from them their right to have their day
Chorus:
For all the deeds weve done
And all the things that weve begun
All the people, every heaven, every hell
All the places that weve been
And all the wonders that weve seen
Will vanish when its Midnight at the Well
Ive seen a thousand races die, but thousands more still thrive
Those living races have a right to survive
Art and joy and music, all will disappear,
And no one will ever know that they were here
(Chorus)
But I will not take all the blame for the things you ask
Mine not the only guilt, the only task
For I must be the one to pull the trigger, it is true
But the one who gives the order shall be you!
(Chorus)
Must vanish, for its Midnight at the Well
Give the order—its Midnight at the Well! Bill Sutton - Midnight at the Well [HQ]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/SNmnAtOfGe0/mqdefault.jpg)
![Julia Ecklar - The Female of the Species [HQ]
Horse-Tamers Daughter track 01. 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:
When the Himalayan peasant meets the he-bear in his pride,
He shouts to scare the monster, who will often turn aside.
But the she-bear thus accosted rends the peasant tooth and nail,
For the female of the species is more deadly than the male.
When Nag the basking cobra hears the careless foot of man,
He will sometimes wriggle sideways and avoid it if he can.
But his mate makes no such motion where she camps beside the trail,
For the female of the species is more deadly than the male.
When the early Jesuit fathers preached to Hurons and Choctaws,
They prayed to be delivered from the vengeance of the squaws.
Twas the women, not the warriors, turned those stark enthusiasts pale,
For the female of the species is more deadly than the male.
Mans timid heart is bursting with the things he must not say,
For the Woman that God gave him isnt his to give away;
But when hunter meets with husband, each confirms the others tale—
That the female of the species is more deadly than the male.
She who faces Death by torture for each life beneath her breast
May not deal in doubt or pity—must not swerve for fact or jest.
These are purely male diversions—not in these her honour dwells—
She, the Other Law we live by, is that Law and nothing else.
Unprovoked and awful charges—even so the she-bear fights,
Speech that drips, corrodes, and poisons—even so the cobra bites,
Scientific vivisection of one nerve till it is raw
And the victim writhes in anguish—like the Jesuit with the squaw!
So it comes that Man, the coward, when he gathers to confer
With his fellow-braves in council, dare not leave a place for her
Where, at war with Life and Conscience, he uplifts his erring hands
To some God of Abstract Justice that no woman understands.
And Man knows it! Knows, moreover, that the Woman that God gave him
Must command but may not govern—shall enthral but not enslave him.
And She knows, because She warns him, and Her instincts never fail,
That the Female of Her Species is more deadly than the Male. Julia Ecklar - The Female of the Species [HQ]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/SR7-1m-QgeE/mqdefault.jpg)

![UnReal Estate 06 - Creatures of Habit [HQ]
Sung by Cecilia Eng. Thanks to rocketman0739 for providing high-quality versions of these songs.
Download the album here: https://archive.org/details/filk_unreal_estate
Lyrics:
Chorus:
Were creatures of habit, afraid of the unknown,
Afraid of being different, afraid to be alone.
The tried way is the best way, or so it always seeems,
But were creatures of habit who arent afraid to dream.
They say that we had paradise when ignorance was bliss,
They say that human knowledge was what sent things amiss.
Well, one mans paradise is oft another persons hell,
And if we have had another dream, perhaps its just as well.
(Chorus)
They said that the Earth was square and flat, that it had corners four,
They said that youd fall off it if you sailed away from shore.
It goes to prove you cant believe just anything they say;
Some dreamers going to try to do what cant be done one day.
(Chorus)
They said it was a waste of time to build flying machines;
If man was really meant to fly, God would have made him wings.
So when youre sipping cocktails on a mid-Atlantic flight,
Drink a toast to all the dreamers who brought you to that height!
(Chorus)
They said that building rockets was another waste of cash,
That man was never meant for space, the craze would never last.
Well, weve been to the Moon and back and left our footprints there;
Our shuttle flights are monthly now, with cargo space to spare.
(Chorus)
They say the stars are out of reach, too far away to roam,
They say the speed of lights a wall thatll keep mankind at home,
That interstellar travels an escapist sci-fi dream—
Well, that may be, but I, for one, am not afraid to dream!
(Chorus) UnReal Estate 06 - Creatures of Habit [HQ]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Sc5xpYF2AHs/mqdefault.jpg)

![Leslie Fish & the Dehorn Crew - Were Still Here [HQ]
Its Sister Jennys Turn to Throw the Bomb track 08. 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:
Chorus:
Were still here
Were still here
Eighty-two hard years and more and were still here
Attorney General Palmers gone
Were still here
Edgar Hoover, too, passed on
Were still here
(Chorus)
Not so big as we used to be, but
Were still here
Still out to get the poor folks free
Were still here
(Chorus)
We have skills the poor can use
Were still here
We will teach them where we choose
Were still here
(Chorus)
War and peace have come and gone
Were still here
We still keep on keeping on
Were still here
(Chorus)
Were the IWW
Were still here
And to this day we trouble you
Were still here
(Chorus)
Time has made us hard to kill
Were still here
Through all winds surviving still
Were still here
(Chorus) Leslie Fish & the Dehorn Crew - Were Still Here [HQ]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/TgstQD0ngW0/mqdefault.jpg)
![Bob Kanefsky/Leslie Fish - A Warning for Unknown Voters [HQ]
Tapeworm I track 10. Thanks to rocketman0739 for providing high-quality versions of these songs.
Download the album here: https://archive.org/details/filk_tapeworm_1
Lyrics:
A man is setting off a bomb to destroy the human race
On the bright blue world he stands upon that floats in empty space.
The whole world sees the villain there, and the other side as well,
But no one knows the ones who chose to let him sound the knell.
Chorus:
Steppe by steppe the shortest war can be won, can be won.
Many stones can kill the whore, singly none, singly none.
And together, what we will we’re perpetrating still.
Many germs can make one ill, singly none, singly none.
Place the blame on the Kremlin masterminds, and the White House over here,
And the people who pay taxes on their hatred, greed, and fear,
And all who stand to profit by the war machine supply.
Place the blame on the unknown voters, too, who never bat an eye.
(Chorus)
Place the blame on the Bomb’s designers, and the makers of each part,
And all who man the radar scan to watch the nightmare start,
And all the unknown voters, from shore to crowded shore,
Who gave one fool the power to set off the final war.
(Chorus) Bob Kanefsky/Leslie Fish - A Warning for Unknown Voters [HQ]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/TriOsdtOmQI/mqdefault.jpg)
![Aislinn (Anne Prather) - Fire Falcon [HQ]
High Wings track 5. Thanks to rocketman0739 for providing high-quality versions of these songs.
Download the album here: https://archive.org/details/filk_high_wings
Lyrics:
Firefalcon rising higher,
Flies with thunder enfolding,
Mounting heaven with desire,
Climbs above oceans rolling.
Firefalcon, golden raptor,
Afterburners whitely burning.
Up and out the open door,
Fire pinions heaven yearning.
Day turning twilight curving
Rising to orbit speed.
Now silent thrusters serving
Acceleration friction freed.
Sing metal stir with motion
Newer engines made of music.
Firefalcon to creation,
Starbound on the first harmonic.
Firefalcon singing joyous,
Freer flies, heaven to capture.
Freer flies the stellar chorus
Falcon soars into rapture. Aislinn (Anne Prather) - Fire Falcon [HQ]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/U6SCdmcvGHo/mqdefault.jpg)
![Free Fall & Other Delights 20 - S.T.L. (Reprise) [HQ]
Sung by Cynthia McQuillin and Vic Tyler. Thanks to rocketman0739 for providing high-quality versions of these songs.
Download the album here: https://archive.org/details/filk_free_fall_and_other_delights
Lyrics:
Farewell, farewell, the ports are sealed
And the drive room thunders with the engines song
Mark our trace on the star-flung field
For space is wide and the future long
Space is wide and the futures long Free Fall & Other Delights 20 - S.T.L. (Reprise) [HQ]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/V-yIWzLrM6g/mqdefault.jpg)
