![Julia Ecklar - Laughter from the Loch [HQ] @SongsfromtheStars](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Cg2v07C0flY/maxresdefault.jpg)
Uploaded July 2021 | Updated September 2026, 32 minutes ago
Horse-Tamer's Daughter track 06. Thanks to rocketman0739 for providing high-quality versions of these songs.
Download the album here: archive.org/details/filk_horse-tamers_daughter
Find more of Julia Ecklar's excellent music at: prometheus-music.com
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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 you'll 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 you'll glimpse just the ghost of my wake,
Or the flash of a fin that means naught,
But serves only to mock, mock, mock,
That you'll never catch me.
Ha ha ha ha.
Ha, ha, ha, ha ha ha ha!
So don't pester poor folk with those pictures you take,
For they'll say I'm a log, or a bird, or a snake.
So get yourself gone now, go tie up
Your boat at the dock, dock, dock,
For you'll never catch me.
Ha ha ha ha.
Ha, ha, ha, ha ha ha ha!
Tell yourself I'm a tale, or some fool's flimsy fake.
I'm a myth born of mists; I'm 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!
Horse-Tamer's Daughter track 06. Thanks to rocketman0739 for providing high-quality versions of these songs.
Download the album here: archive.org/details/filk_horse-tamers_daughter
Find more of Julia Ecklar's excellent music at: 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 you'll 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 you'll glimpse just the ghost of my wake,
Or the flash of a fin that means naught,
But serves only to mock, mock, mock,
That you'll never catch me.
Ha ha ha ha.
Ha, ha, ha, ha ha ha ha!
So don't pester poor folk with those pictures you take,
For they'll say I'm a log, or a bird, or a snake.
So get yourself gone now, go tie up
Your boat at the dock, dock, dock,
For you'll never catch me.
Ha ha ha ha.
Ha, ha, ha, ha ha ha ha!
Tell yourself I'm a tale, or some fool's flimsy fake.
I'm a myth born of mists; I'm 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!
![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)")
![Frank Hayes - Grandfather Clock [HQ]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/G3l0job0ebI/mqdefault.jpg "Frank Hayes - Grandfather Clock [HQ]
Dont Ask track 02. Thanks to rocketman0739 for providing high-quality versions of these songs.
Download the album here: https://archive.org/details/filk_dont_ask
Lyrics:
My grandfathers clock was too large for the shelf,
So it stood ninety years on the floor.
It was taller by half than the old man himself
Though it weighed not a pennyweight more.
And though years would congeal Grandpas brain to Malt-O-Meal,
Hed one wish that would not be denied:
For his will said to bury him in the clock
When the old man died.
Now Grandfathers grandfather built him the clock
And he built it like no clock before.
But the old so-and-so built it so high and wide
That we cant fit it out through the door.
So when Grandmad been calmed and Grandpa had been embalmed,
We discovered the clock was too wide
But the goddamned cadaver had gotten jammed—
He was stuck inside.
Now old Grandpapas standing there in the hallway
At 917 Cherry Lane.
And he stands, the old cuss, making faces at us
Which we try to ignore just the same.
But we still think of him as we, haggard, pale, and grim,
Stagger into the cold mornings light,
Cause at odd times, hes ringing the blasted chimes
Every goddamned night.
So at 3:22 A.M. (ding-dong, ding-dong)
“My god, there goes Gramps again!” (ding-dong, ding-dong)
At odd times, hes ringing the blasted chimes
Every goddamned night.")
![Jordin Kare - Bloody Bastards [HQ]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/GWdjOBMucvg/mqdefault.jpg "Jordin Kare - Bloody Bastards [HQ]
Fire in the Sky track 05. 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:
Chorus:
Heres to Conestoga, Pegasus, and Liberty,
And all the rest wholl join them in the race.
For were proud of NASAs heroes, but wed rather raise our glass
To the hard-nosed bloody bastards who will get us into space.
They dont have fancy buildings. That money goes for tools—
They build their birds with auto parts and tire-rubber fuel.
Theyre the private space craft companies. With luck theyre goin far,
And for cold cash on the barrel-head, cold cash on the barrel-head, cold cash on the barrel-head theyll take us to the stars!
(Chorus)
They are businessmen and lawyers, theyre con-men, knaves, and fools,
And damn fine engineers that got fed up with NASAs rules,
And theyre talking to the bankers, using every trick they know,
For theyre selling dreams and promises, sellin dreams and promises, sellin dreams and promises, ten million bucks a throw!
(Chorus)
Its a high-stakes game theyre playing, but by God, theyre having fun,
For they know that out in orbit there are fortunes to be won,
And theyll bend the rules to win em. Hell, theyll steal and cheat and lie,
For its devil take the hindmost, devil take the hindmost, yeah, its devil take the hindmost, the winner takes the sky!
(Chorus)
For its not enough to walk the moon, send robots off to Mars,
Nor send a lucky handful out to catch a glimpse of stars.
Were gonna live and work and space. Were gonna go to stay,
And the ones wholl make it happen, the ones wholl make it happen, yes, the ones wholl make it happen are the ones wholl make it pay!
(Chorus)
Theyre hard-nosed bloody bastards, star-struck bloody bastards,
Our kind of bloody bastards, if theyll get us into space!")
![Technical Difficulties - Reluctant Freedom [HQ]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Gv4twNqeXxo/mqdefault.jpg "Technical Difficulties - Reluctant Freedom [HQ]
Please Stand By track 02. Thanks to rocketman0739 for providing high-quality versions of these songs.
Download the album here: https://archive.org/details/filk_please_stand_by/
Lyrics:
(Give me an A.
Aaayyyy!
No, give me the note.)
If someone should ask why my leaving was sudden,
Say (that I just cant stay) that I told you Im tired of caring
I’ve got so many things to see and do
And loving just leads to despair, my dear.
I’m going to the stars where I can be me
Since the first time I saw the sky, it’s been my only dream
And I know (that you cannot come too) you’re the one who made the dream come true
But love for me now, dear, is far too soon.
There’s got to be something better than this pain
And it may be weak but I just cant stay
And I doubt I will ever pass this way again
But memories of here and you I will retain.
I guess that I’ll just say my last goodbye
Cause the freedom you gave (me is coming now) is upon me now
You won’t come with me yet I have to go
Goodbye, my love, the only love I’ll know.")
![Technical Difficulties - One Final Lesson [HQ]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/HTsgM4ih-Is/mqdefault.jpg "Technical Difficulties - One Final Lesson [HQ]
Please Stand By track 08. Thanks to rocketman0739 for providing high-quality versions of these songs.
Download the album here: https://archive.org/details/filk_please_stand_by/
Lyrics:
Could you please explain?
Why do I feel pain?
Why do I care what these humans do?
And how could they mean so damn much to you?
Take me by the hand
And please make me understand
Why Im suffering now; does death hurt this bad?
Oh, impart upon me the wisdom you had
It infuriates me that they suffer for thee
Why didnt they do something then?
Dont speak of the logic, because, dammit, its not fair
Someone else could go,
Someone I dont know
Someone I dont see,
Someone I dont need
Mentor, please forgive
What advice now would you give?
I am young and alone, and I foul all I do
Who will show me the way, if it not be you?
Can I not call you back, just once more, to my side?
Oh, forgive my weak flesh, but when you left I cried
Like the humans, I cried")
![Bob Kanefsky/Leslie Fish - Filksingers, Filksingers [HQ]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/IHvhnpSgaEk/mqdefault.jpg "Bob Kanefsky/Leslie Fish - Filksingers, Filksingers [HQ]
Tapeworm I track 8. Thanks to rocketman0739 for providing high-quality versions of these songs.
Download the album here: https://archive.org/details/filk_tapeworm_1
Lyrics:
A harsh noise echoed throughout the hotel
Till the chandeliers shook in distress.
A noise shrill and piercing as harpies in heat,
With much less restraint and finesse.
So loud was the filksing, so raucous and wild,
The microphones started to burn.
A fool could have told it was no night to be
Too timid in claiming one’s turn.
Chorus:
Filksingers, filksingers, won’t you be kind?
I’ve been here since yesterday morning, you see.
Filksingers, filksingers, let me go next!
And I’ll try not to sing out of key.
He sat there alone at the back of the room.
He was pale, and he shook with fatigue.
His hands were clenched whitely upon his guitar.
It was plain he was out of his league.
“It won’t be your turn for an hour,” they said,
“An hour until it comes ’round.
Be sure that you get our attention next time;
We missed you there, slumped on the ground.”
(Chorus)
The filksing wore on; it lasted all night,
With the songs getting more and more gross.
Grimly one filksinger clung to the spotlight
And sang twenty minutes of ose.
The boy in the corner sat slumped in defeat:
The filkers had missed him once more.
They’d seemed not to notice his feeble attempts
To rise from his spot on the floor.
(Chorus)
“I hear that the ghost reappeared here last night,”
The janitor said with a yawn.
“It certainly did,” said the bellboy who brought
The pitchers of water at dawn.
“They say the convention that killed the poor kid
Was held here the same time last year,
And now any night that they sing in this room,
That spirit is like to appear.”
(Chorus)
“A ghost? At the filksing?” the filksingers asked,
And some of them paled with fright.
“Oh yes, folks, and that’s why we can’t hire a bellboy
Who’ll dare bring you water at night.
The poor fellow died of no food and no sleep,
And no way to keep himself warm.
His soul must be bound by some unfulfilled wish,
Some last act he has to perform.”
(Chorus)")
