![Bob Kanefsky/Leslie Fish - The Cat Maidens Regrets [HQ] @SongsfromtheStars](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/A7ZfWlx_T8o/maxresdefault.jpg)
Uploaded August 2022 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
Tapeworm I track 3. 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:
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?
Tapeworm I track 3. 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:
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?
![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?")
![Julia Ecklar - Miracle Worker [HQ]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/AEq5-99fb1U/mqdefault.jpg "Julia Ecklar - Miracle Worker [HQ]
Horse-Tamers Daughter track 11. 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:
How can I reach you through your silence and dark?
Im afraid I wont find you; I dont know where to start.
Youre lost in a world much more vast than my own,
And theyve brought me to find you, to lead Helen home.
When I touch you, do you know that its love that I feel?
Does this gesture mean something? Is this outside world real?
How can I reach what I cant understand?
Is there sense in the patterns I make with your hands?
(Chorus)
Am I trying to do the impossible?
Can you comprehend what you cant see?
Will God deign to grant you a miracle,
With no miracle worker but me?
What is it like, so completely alone?
Do you know that our worlds not so dark as your own?
Does your spirit cry out with the need to be free?
Or is it hiding in silence, waiting for me?
Oh, how can I reach you? Tell me what I should say.
Let me draw your mind outward, dont push me away.
Im afraid of the dark, but let me inside.
Well let language fill silence. From darkness well fly.
(Chorus)")
![Free Fall & Other Delights 17 - Golden Dream [HQ]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Bk2OxDSZCuU/mqdefault.jpg "Free Fall & Other Delights 17 - Golden Dream [HQ]
Sung by Cynthia McQuillin and Dominic Bridwell. 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:
We just got in from Alans World—Lord, what a long dry haul!
I hit dirt looking for company and Terran alcohol
So I strolled into the spaceport bar, where the crowd was going strong
Then I saw him there, so quiet and still, at a table all alone
I wandered over and politely asked, could I sit in the empty chair?
He nodded as he set his glass down among the empties there
He didnt say a word as the party grew till it reached a dozen or more
He just sat there, staring out into space, as if looking through a door
Then, to my surprise, he began to speak, as if talking to a freind
I could hear the pain in his quiet voice; I longed to make it end
I forgot about my drink, my plans, everybody at the bar
As he told me of the love hed lost beneath the Golden Star
We put into a world so sweet, it had no port at all
It was wild and clean and beautiful, while it held us in its thrall
And there I met sweet Janicelle, like no one Id ever known
She had grace and trust and honesty, and I was so alone.
She was everything that a man could want, all golden hair and skin
More than maid and lover, my heart and soul, but most of all my friend.
From the very first day and hour we met, our hearts and minds were one
Our paradise lasted one brief year, beneath the Golden Sun.
Then a pirate raider found our home and she fell to a laser knife
I killed the one who struck her down, though it nearly cost my life
Then I left that world, trying to forget, but no matter how hard I try,
Ill hear her voice and feel her touch until the day I die.
I wondered about that distant world, but he didnt hear me ask
His eyes were dark and shuttered as he held his empty glass
And I knew he was back there again, when that world was bright and new,
Remembering what life was like when love was sweet and true.")
![Leslie Fish - Eyes of Eagles [HQ]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/CDSpgFKkuos/mqdefault.jpg "Leslie Fish - Eyes of Eagles [HQ]
Firestorm track 15. 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:
Chorus:
Grind, children, grind! From the world we left behind
We have won gems enough to be free
Grind, children, grind! Though the work was never kind,
Through the Eyes of the Eagles we shall see
Lowly sand, snowy sand,
From the beaches of the land
Melt it down in the potterers fire
Flux and blow, make it glow,
Till like water it shall flow,
Let it flow to the form we desire
(Chorus)
Pour it bold in the mold
Let it slowly take the cold
Till a clear coin of crystal it lies
Now by feel, strong as steel,
Grind it on the sanded wheel
Till its shape mirrors clear Eagles Eyes
(Chorus)
Edges thin as a pin
And the center thick within
Domed as smooth as a raindrop can be
Without haste, without waste,
Polish clear with pumice paste
Till the wonders of Earth you can see
(Chorus)
See how clear, see how near
See how great small things appear
Let your sight grasp the sea or the skies
Stack them true, two by two,
And whats far shall come to you
Call them lenses, or glass Eagles Eyes!
(Chorus)")
![Julia Ecklar - Laughter from the Loch [HQ]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Cg2v07C0flY/mqdefault.jpg "Julia Ecklar - Laughter from the Loch [HQ]
Horse-Tamers Daughter track 06. 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:
Too wide for your wits, and too long, lies my lake;
And its waters are cold. They are deep and opaque;
And the bottom is fractured with fissures
And ragged with rock, rock, rock,
Where youll never catch me.
Ha ha ha ha.
Ha, ha, ha, ha ha ha ha!
So if you should spy me, twill be by mistake,
But mostly youll glimpse just the ghost of my wake,
Or the flash of a fin that means naught,
But serves only to mock, mock, mock,
That youll never catch me.
Ha ha ha ha.
Ha, ha, ha, ha ha ha ha!
So dont pester poor folk with those pictures you take,
For theyll say Im a log, or a bird, or a snake.
So get yourself gone now, go tie up
Your boat at the dock, dock, dock,
For youll never catch me.
Ha ha ha ha.
Ha, ha, ha, ha ha ha ha!
Tell yourself Im a tale, or some fools flimsy fake.
Im a myth born of mists; Im the monster you make
Out of sounds in the night, when you sit
Round the fire and talk, talk, talk.
Talk will never catch me.
Ha ha ha ha.
Ha, ha, ha, ha ha ha ha!")
![Jordin Kare - Kantrowitz 1972 (HEL Crews Song) [HQ]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/CrZZxy0KcAE/mqdefault.jpg "Jordin Kare - Kantrowitz 1972 (HEL Crews Song) [HQ]
Fire in the Sky track 03. Thanks to rocketman0739 for providing high-quality versions of these songs.
Download the album here: https://archive.org/details/filk_fire_in_the_sky
[see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_propulsion ]
Lyrics:
Chorus:
The launch cannon thunders, the pilot beam burns,
Command says shes tracking, the big mirror turns.
The main beam roars out and the plume reaches high,
And our lasers are sending out life to the sky.
Theres a shell standing ready. We load her up fast
With five tons of ice for the lasers to blast.
A clear ton of payload, she lifts at ten gees,
And in five minutes flat shell be orbiting free.
(Chorus)
Now the spacers get the glory, the spacers get the pay,
But their steel and their air comes from us every day.
They may look down their noses at us on the ground,
But theyre all unemployed if our lasers shut down.
(Chorus)
Now the shuttle men boast of the fires they ride,
Of their great clumsy candles with people inside.
Let them fly limousines! Weve no time for that here.
We lift more in three days than theyll carry all year.
(Chorus)
From the beam crews on down to the loaders below,
We work like the devil till the launch boss shouts “Go!”
Then the deep-throated roar of a billion-watt beam
Shakes deep in our bones and takes root in our dreams.
(Chorus)
Then the last shell lifts out and the plume drifts away,
We greet the next shift and go home for the day.
But the big lasers building to lift out a man,
And well ride our own beams just as soon as we can!
(Chorus)
Yes, our lasers are sending out life to the sky!")
![Leslie Fish - Freedom of the Snow [HQ]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/D9ld1vW7bco/mqdefault.jpg "Leslie Fish - Freedom of the Snow [HQ]
Firestorm track 05. 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:
We were twenty pampered maidens under dormitory glass,
Gossiping about boyfriends, dates and clothes.
We glanced through the tasteful windows at the growing storm outside
And never once took measure of the snows.
Long past the time of night, we found no morning light.
Blizzard covered all the world wed known.
Beyond all reach of law, we looked around and saw
The ice age come to find us all alone.
Chorus:
Cancel my salvation, give me leave to go
Back to the freedom of the snow, of the snow,
Back to the freedom of the snow.
As darkness, cold, and blizzard closed around our cringing cave,
We wore our furs for better things than show.
We melted snow for water when the pipes and the fuel lines froze
And thanked the gods for the stores of food below.
The furnace coughed and died; we lit the fire and cried;
We didnt have the wood to last a day.
So we played a hand or three, and the high card fell on me,
So I took an axe and went to find a way.
(Chorus)
I found the tree blown over where the driveway used to be,
And the axe moved swift and easy as a flame.
I wasnt cold or weary, it was strange to be so free,
Then out of the dark that junkie came.
He didnt seem to know I was a changeling of the snow,
Not the easy, peacetime girl he thought hed found.
The axe swung clean and high, and it caught him through the eye,
And I took my wood and left him on the ground.
(Chorus)
We dreamed about this story as we camped beside the fire,
We sang it while we hunted through the day,
Until the hour our sentries saw the snowplow clear the road,
And our families came to chase the spell away.
So go back to your shopping, all, go find yourself a man,
Go forget that you were ever strong or free.
But in dreams I see them still, the blizzard on the hill,
The fireplace and the fireaxe and the tree.
(Chorus)")
![Bill Sutton - Ecology [HQ]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/DeAk5gF079w/mqdefault.jpg "Bill Sutton - Ecology [HQ]
Past Due track 16. Thanks to rocketman0739 for providing high-quality versions of these songs.
Download the album here: https://archive.org/details/filk_past_due
Lyrics:
“Save a tree and eat a beaver,” that was what the bumper sticker said
So I went out looking for a beaver to eat
I met a forest ranger who said they were endangered
And the worst of it is, I dont even like meat!
Ecology, echo-ology, whatever will become of me?
(If you love something, let it go.
If it comes back to you, it is yours forever.
If it doesnt, then track the sucker down and blow it away!)
La la la...
“Split wood and not the atom,” that was what another sticker said
I decided, with sadness, that logic had ceased!
Since the beavers are endangered, I guess its not so strange that
Nobody gives a damn anymore for the trees
Ecology, echo-ology, whatever will become of me?
(Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
For I am the meanest son of a bitch in the valley!)
La la la...
“Nuke the whales and not the Commies,” and other crazy things like that
I guess is what the next bumper stickers will be
My sanitys endangered, I guess its not so strange that
Nobody gives a damn anymore for poor me
Ecology, echo-ology, whatever will become of me?
(All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful
Hang stuffed upon my wall!)
La la la...
I found it, then I lost it, now Im afraid its found me too
If I feed it, can I keep it or give it away?
I honked when I found Jesus, I nuked em till the suckers glowed
I dont give a damn about this song anymore!
Ecology, echo-ology, whatever will become of me?
(Judge not, lest you be judged
And have to post bail!)
La la la...
(I brake...under pressure!)
La la la...
(America: love it or leave it!)
La la la...
(Support your right to arm bears!)
La la la...
(A hundred and eighty-six thousand miles per second
Its not just a good idea, its the law!)
La la la...
(Right side, suicide!)
La la la...
(If you can read this, youre too close!)
La la la...
(I ❤️ New York)
La la la...
(I ♠️ My Dog)
La la la...")
![Leslie Fish & the Dehorn Crew - Sisters Dancing Together [HQ]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/E9CKuuTgnCM/mqdefault.jpg "Leslie Fish & the Dehorn Crew - Sisters Dancing Together [HQ]
Its Sister Jennys Turn to Throw the Bomb track 06. 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:
Will you come with me? Will you come and sing?
(Heed not wind nor weather)
Come and join the dancing ring
(Sisters dancing together)
When the leaves turn brown and the wind blows cold
(Heed not wind nor weather)
Round a roaring fire a dance well hold
(Sisters dancing together)
When the nights grow long and the snow does fly
(Heed not wind nor weather)
Well dance the old sun back into the sky
(Sisters dancing together)
When the birds return and the earth turns green
(Heed not wind nor weather)
Down by the brookside well be seen
(Sisters dancing together)
And when the summers back again
(Heed not wind nor weather)
Well dance barefoot in the rain
(Sisters dancing together)
When the harvests in and the meal is ground
(Heed not wind nor weather)
Well dance as we are homeward bound
(Sisters dancing together)
When the bread is baked and the board is laid
(Heed not wind nor weather)
Well dance the dance our mothers made
(Sisters dancing together)
When the full moon shines on all below
(Heed not wind nor weather)
Well dance the dances men dont know
(Sisters dancing together)
Well dance our joy, well dance our pain
(Heed not wind nor weather)
Well dance our hope reborn again
(Sisters dancing together)
Will you come with me? Will you come and sing?
(Heed not wind nor weather)
Come and join the dancing ring
(Sisters dancing together)")
![Jordin Kare - Sail for Amber [HQ]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/FIXdxackJaM/mqdefault.jpg "Jordin Kare - Sail for Amber [HQ]
Fire in the Sky track 06. Thanks to rocketman0739 for providing high-quality versions of these songs.
Download the album here: https://archive.org/details/filk_fire_in_the_sky
[book: Chronicles of Amber series, Roger Zelazny]
Lyrics:
Chorus:
We sail for Amber on the seas beyond the world
Set sail for Amber on a ship through Shadow hurled
Kolvir behind us, Cabra passing a-lee
Shadow before us to the ends of the endless sea
We are the men who sail for Amber, let our wives and lovers tell
For when the call goes out that we leave at the dawning, they are bid but a brief farewell
Then we lift our anchor and slip from the harbor on our journey now begun
And the unicorn flag flies from our masthead, proud in the morning sun
(Chorus)
All hands climb high as we spread our wings, white sail oer violet seas
And our helmsman steers by the blood of princes as we drift on a shadows breeze
But its watch on watch, when the storm clouds gather and the thunder fills the sky
Before the gales that roar from realitys rim, down the world-shifting winds we fly
(Chorus)
Till at last we spy on the shifting horizon some strange and foreign land
And the wreck of a war or a virgin forest or the towers of a city grand
Then its gold for grain, red wine for rubies—barter, buy, and sell
Till our hold stands full and the salt sea calls us with a cry that we know full well
So from port to port we wander Shadow, steered by our captains will
And a hundred legends behind us gather of a ghost ship wandering still
(Chorus)
Though tomorrows voyages call to our souls and well not be long denied
Yet tonight our sails seek home and haven and our hulls a familiar tide
So we steer for the center of the universe, laden with the wealth of a thousand lands
To the hurricanes call, where, calm in chaos, Amber forever stands
(Chorus)
And at last, when Kolvir clears the horizon, comes our lookouts joyful cry
And the gulls of the harbor rise in greeting, gray wings in an evening sky
And we pledge our lives as we moor neath the mountain, here at the heart of all:
While weve water and wind, sail and sea room, Amber shall never fall!
(Chorus)
Kolvir before us, Cabra to windward be
Shadow behind us, always behind us, waiting behind us
To the ends of the endless sea")
![Leslie Fish - Better Than Who? [HQ]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/FaKuruIPhYU/mqdefault.jpg "Leslie Fish - Better Than Who? [HQ]
Firestorm track 01. 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:
Chorus:
Better than who? (Better than who?)
The scores arent in (The scores arent in)
Let the gods of evolution say wholl win.
Better at what? (Better at what?)
In what way? (In what way?)
Let the gods of evolution have their say.
Im better than you at shooting,
Youre better than me with a knife.
Whos to say which tool works better when the thugs come for your life?
Youre better than me at karate,
Im better than you with a stick.
Do you really want to walk through the slums tonight, let the old gods take their pick?
(Chorus)
Im better at breathing pollution,
Youre better at avoiding colds.
Which of us will last the longer in the threats the future holds?
Youre better at surviving bug bites,
Im better at eating junk.
If civilization sinks tomorrow, which of us would be sunk?
(Chorus)
Im better at training horses,
Youre better at fixing cars.
Which will be in more demand at the next turn of the stars?
Youre better at hunting rabbits,
Im better at making fire.
Which of those skills can better fulfill what tomorrow might require?
(Chorus)
Im better at growing gardens,
Youre better at counting cash.
Which will serve us best tomorrow, the money or the stash?
Youre better at working computers,
Im better at making a song.
Which will put more food on the table if the world goes right or wrong?
(Chorus)
Youre better at playing dominance,
Im better at making friends.
What works better, whether or not civilization ends?
Nobody knows the future,
Or what skill betters the odds.
So its best to say were all born equal and leave the rest to the gods.
(Chorus)")
