Uploaded March 2022 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
This recording was never put on an album, since it goes to the (copyrighted) tune of “Ghost Riders in the Sky.” The lyrics were written by Fred Capp.
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Lyrics:
It started out quite harmlessly up on Space Station Two
Two SCAdians met in a bar across a stein of brew
And bitched of how they missed the fun of tourneys back on Earth
And then they got a bright idea for chivalry's rebirth
They found a site inside a gym the station gave them free
Then, plugging in their modems, they called all the chivalry
“We're gonna hold a demo—full gear and all of that.
So bring rattan and padded suite, likewise your metal hat.”
Chorus: Whaddaya say? Whaddaya see?
Knight fights in zero-G!
The day had come, and Station Two put on a bit of weight
A hundred eager stick jocks came like lovers to a date
A king was ferried up there from Trimaris for the show
And in his full regalia down the corridor did flow
The countless lords and ladies all stood ready for the treat
They gave a lusty Huzzah! as His Majesty took seat
But as the first two fighters were preparing to lay on
Some silly tech decided he would have a bit of fun
(Chorus)
Just as the first blow swung was when the gravity cut out
The punch and block against rattan swung both those knights about
They both got busy flying off in very different ways
And everyone in armor there then dove into the fray
This started off a melee of a new and different sort
The watchers being behind the glass, just one herald got hurt
He was trying hard to rescue a floating globe of beer
When a flying squire ricocheted off his unprotected ear
(“Insufficient protection, milord!”)
(Chorus)
The gravity came on again, but slowly, thank His Grace
The duke strolled to the console at a calm, collected pace
He bopped the tech upside the head with the herald's empty stein
His Majesty declared this was a tournament most fine
They got it all on videotape, and what a sight to see
Big metal-plated bodies flung about haphazardly!
To get some mental picture of that freefall-crazy place
Just try to imagine berserkers lost in space!
Whaddaya think? Whaddaya hear?
Let's do it again next year!
This recording was never put on an album, since it goes to the (copyrighted) tune of “Ghost Riders in the Sky.” The lyrics were written by Fred Capp.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lyrics:
It started out quite harmlessly up on Space Station Two
Two SCAdians met in a bar across a stein of brew
And bitched of how they missed the fun of tourneys back on Earth
And then they got a bright idea for chivalry's rebirth
They found a site inside a gym the station gave them free
Then, plugging in their modems, they called all the chivalry
“We're gonna hold a demo—full gear and all of that.
So bring rattan and padded suite, likewise your metal hat.”
Chorus: Whaddaya say? Whaddaya see?
Knight fights in zero-G!
The day had come, and Station Two put on a bit of weight
A hundred eager stick jocks came like lovers to a date
A king was ferried up there from Trimaris for the show
And in his full regalia down the corridor did flow
The countless lords and ladies all stood ready for the treat
They gave a lusty Huzzah! as His Majesty took seat
But as the first two fighters were preparing to lay on
Some silly tech decided he would have a bit of fun
(Chorus)
Just as the first blow swung was when the gravity cut out
The punch and block against rattan swung both those knights about
They both got busy flying off in very different ways
And everyone in armor there then dove into the fray
This started off a melee of a new and different sort
The watchers being behind the glass, just one herald got hurt
He was trying hard to rescue a floating globe of beer
When a flying squire ricocheted off his unprotected ear
(“Insufficient protection, milord!”)
(Chorus)
The gravity came on again, but slowly, thank His Grace
The duke strolled to the console at a calm, collected pace
He bopped the tech upside the head with the herald's empty stein
His Majesty declared this was a tournament most fine
They got it all on videotape, and what a sight to see
Big metal-plated bodies flung about haphazardly!
To get some mental picture of that freefall-crazy place
Just try to imagine berserkers lost in space!
Whaddaya think? Whaddaya hear?
Let's do it again next year!
![Kathy Mar - Childhoods End [HQ]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/nGgMBfB_UV4/mqdefault.jpg "Kathy Mar - Childhoods End [HQ]
Thanks to rocketman0739 for providing high-quality versions of these songs.
Download the album here: https://archive.org/details/filk_songbird
Lyrics:
Chorus: Ill look upon the face of God, and through a billion eyes
And take the planet of my birth beyond the endless skies
And sing the universal song above the reach of right and wrong
And find the Devil is my friend, when I have come to childhoods end
They touched our world and changed our bloody history
They gave us peace and always dwelt in mystery
They eased the hunger of the endless realms of men
And taught us how to love each other once again
They promised they would walk among us on the day
When all their ministrations had prepared the way
And when the work was done and fifty years had passed
They left their ships to show themselves to us at last
(Chorus)
The horns and wings and tails no longer brought us fear
Our minds were now unclouded, and our eyes were clear
No longer would we judge things for the way they seem
And on that day, the children would begin to dream
The dreamers were the promise of a new mankind
They soon would touch the universal overmind
And as they pondered what that touch would someday bring
In all our thoughts their hopes would brightly dance and sing
(Chorus)
The devils were the guardians of our infant earth
They supervised the circumstances of our birth
In loneliness they cross the seas of stars alone
And never share the song that calls us all back home
(Chorus)")
![Bill Sutton - The Pilots Eyes [HQ]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/nXSOmEURz-Q/mqdefault.jpg "Bill Sutton - The Pilots Eyes [HQ]
Past Due track 06. Thanks to rocketman0739 for providing high-quality versions of these songs.
Download the album here: https://archive.org/details/filk_past_due
Lyrics:
He couldnt see the moons or suns, he couldnt see the stars
He couldnt see the docking lights, so he hangs around the bars
Though in the life he left behind he lived beyond the sky
Hes grounded, useless, hopeless, for a blind man cannot fly
Now the man who flies a starship drive is a god to other men
No flaws has he that they perceive, no faults that they may ken
But should his body fail him or his senses let him down
They all ignore his time at war; alone he stalks the town
So the blind man sits and dreams of ships in the foam of another beer
A pilot sneers; the blind man hears, and he sheds a ductless tear
For once he was a soldier in the war to save his race
Till laser knives wiped out his eyes and left him half a face
Well, the star fleets free with liberty, except in times of war
So comes the day the blind mans bay rings loud with space no more
The fleet is called, the ships lift out, the battle cry is blown
Left behind to drink his wine, the blind man sits alone
Well, then suddenly close fire breaks free among the spaceport bars
Enemy signs behind the lines, destroying home fleet stars
The blind man leaps to safety as the laser heat burns through
He alone may save his home; he knows what he must do
Through the sounds of war that blast him oer, his memory is true
He finds a ship, a shuttle slip abandoned by its crew
He waits until the scanners sound—the battle is above
And with a prayer to gods of air he gives the jets a shove
They said it was a stroke of luck that shuttles engines blew
They said it was the hand of God that aimed it straight and true
They said it was the fates of war that saved their world that day
That downed the rebel leader and so chased his force away
Well they never found the blind man in the rubble of the bar
They made a cave, an empty grave for a soldier of the stars
They then forgot the blind man, but I wont forget that night
I was a child, alone, who saw my fathers final flight
Well, he couldnt see the moons or suns, he couldnt see the stars
He couldnt see the docking lights, so he hangs around the bars
Though in the life he left behind he lived beyond the sky
Hes grounded, useless, hopeless, for a blind man cannot fly
No, a blind man cannot fly")
![Leslie Fish & the Dehorn Crew - Bella Ciao [HQ]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/nw5dJyVwGJs/mqdefault.jpg "Leslie Fish & the Dehorn Crew - Bella Ciao [HQ]
Its Sister Jennys Turn to Throw the Bomb track 05. 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:
Late this morning I heard the rifles
Bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao, ciao
Late this morning I heard the rifles
And it is time for me to go
The fairest flower in all the mountains
Bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao, ciao
The fairest flower in all the mountains
Is the black rose that sets us free
We will join her and fight together
Bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao, ciao
We will join her and fight together
Or we will surely die alone
The winters coming, the snows are on us
Bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao, ciao
The winters coming, the snows are on us
Now we must build fires of our own
The hungry servants have stopped complaining
Bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao, ciao
The hungry servants have stopped complaining
And all the masters wonder why
Inside his castle the king is sleeping
Bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao, ciao
Inside his castle the king is sleeping
Let us be sure he sleeps too long
A tattered banner as black as midnight
Bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao, ciao
A tattered banner as black as midnight
Can tell you where my love has gone
Late this morning I heard the rifles
Bella ciao, bella ciao, bella ciao, ciao, ciao
Late this morning I heard the rifles
And it is time for me to go")
![Technical Difficulties - Innocence Lost [HQ]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/oZUA32DV3NQ/mqdefault.jpg "Technical Difficulties - Innocence Lost [HQ]
Please Stand By track 05. Thanks to rocketman0739 for providing high-quality versions of these songs.
Download the album here: https://archive.org/details/filk_please_stand_by/
Lyrics:
Innocence lost, like the first winds of summer.
Manhood outrunning me soon.
Daydreams all dead and night truths to replace them;
I chase them and hear their dark tunes.
Theres nowhere to run and no youth to use running,
Nothing but fear spurs me on.
My past is behind and somehow I cant see it,
Like the words of a forgotten song.
A song, in the midst of the summer
With birds singing love everywhere.
A boy, with his heart overflowing,
In his innocence having no care.
But the music fades fast; faster still when Im trying,
Though memories leave echoes behind.
Like the chords of that song, now lost in confusion,
My innocence lost back in time.
I cant find the peace that should come with the learning,
I cant find the meanings at all.
And the time wont come back, it just taunts from a distance,
I still hear old innocence call.
I hear, but cant answer the call.")
![Jordin Kare - Darkness [HQ]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/oeNepoxUbgs/mqdefault.jpg "Jordin Kare - Darkness [HQ]
Fire in the Sky track 09. 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:
Theres a darkness out between the stars that any eye can see
Theres a deeper dark within me where no light will ever be
Theres an empty place beside me where my lover ought to stand
Theres a burning sun before me and the throttles in my hand
Two days ago I lost her on a world without a name
As we touched the land to claim it, for the thousandth time the same
Then I left her but a moment and I did not see her fall
I know only that I failed her, never heard her final call
I dug her grave in alien ground in the shade of an alien wood
And I touched her there one final time, and I said what words I could
Let that cold world hold her gently, for she came so far to die
Then I took the ship that was our home and blasted for the sky
But deep space holds no comfort for a broken man alone
And our ship held only memories of the joys that we once had known
And I could not live without her in a life no longer whole
So I chose to die by starlight and let fire cleanse my soul
And now the screens grow blinding bright, the fires burn ahead
The hull around me whispers as it glows an angry red
Theres a high, cold wail behind me, as if starships too could cry
But my hand is cold and steady and the time has come to die
But now my love comes back to me cross gulfs Ill never know
And I hear her voice within me, and I hear her saying no
And I pull the throttle to me, and the forward thrusters burn
And the ship cries out in agony as she fights to make the turn
Then my vision starts to fail me as the forces mount and grow
And I wonder when the ship will fail, and I wonder if Ill know
Then the screens before me darken, and a coolness strikes my face
And theres nothing left before me but the endless depths of space
Theres a darkness out between the stars that any eye can see
But theres light within that darkness touches even a fool like me
For I know my love forgives me and I know she loves me still
Once we roamed the stars together; now I know we always will")
![Bill Sutton - Poet and a Starman [HQ]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/p-EJX1mZz8E/mqdefault.jpg "Bill Sutton - Poet and a Starman [HQ]
Past Due track 11. Thanks to rocketman0739 for providing high-quality versions of these songs.
Download the album here: https://archive.org/details/filk_past_due
Lyrics:
I am a poet and a starman
I drift the boundless void alone
I seek the brilliant clusters
I touch the alien stone
But the songs I sing are the songs of home
My long lost home
I race the universe and travel
Not fast enough to catch its light
I left my life behind me
In time and in my flight
The things I loved in endless night
While I shine bright
Ive seen their wonders and their treasures
Ive read their words and heard their songs
They speak their dreams so proudly
Their voices loud and strong
I sing alone when they have gone
Then I go on
I am a poet and a starman
I sing my way from sun to sun
I ask the brilliant clusters
Where distant planets run
Do I regret the things Ive done?
The songs Ive sung?")
![Julia Ecklar - Signy Mallory [HQ]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/p7WzzKNGIto/mqdefault.jpg "Julia Ecklar - Signy Mallory [HQ]
Horse-Tamers Daughter track 10. 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:
(Chorus)
Captain Signy Mallory has no soul, they say;
The captain of the Norway has a heart of frozen clay.
That on the bridge of Norway, she throws mens lives like dice.
Captain Signy Mallory, her eyes are fire and ice.
Shes the captain of the Norway, a thorn in Unions side
Protector of Pell Station and a source of grudging pride.
Left the Mazianni with their price upon her head,
And stayed to guard the Stations that the Company left for dead.
They say she doesnt think about the lives that she has lost.
They say when Norway goes to fight, she doesnt count the cost
That once she finds a course she never reckons wrong or right—
Then why does she stare sleeplessly into the dark all night?
They say for Norways captain, disciplines an iron whip;
That its worth your life to break her rules, in dock or on the ship
That no one sane serves under her command, but if thats so,
Then why do her troops cheer her when she passes them below?
Shes the captain of the Norway, and a thorn in Unions side.
The Mazianni fear her; shes the heart of Norways pride.
And Stationer and Merchanter, from Fargone back to Pell,
Know for Mallory all Norway would fight demons out of Hell
(Chorus)")
![Technical Difficulties - Lullaby for a Weary World (slow version) [HQ]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/p_vGVqKZmnc/mqdefault.jpg "Technical Difficulties - Lullaby for a Weary World (slow version) [HQ]
Please Stand By bonus track. Thanks to rocketman0739 for providing high-quality versions of these songs.
Download the album here: https://archive.org/details/filk_please_stand_by/
Lyrics:
I wonder how my world can live with all the hate she harbors
(Sleep, my weary world.)
And Im scared of how long it may last,
And just how soon it all could end,
And I wish the power to stop it all
Could rest within my hands.
I see her people dying for such bold and bloody causes
(Sleep, my weary world.)
And the bodies of the innocent
Are washed up on the lengthening shore
While the rising tide of history
Just ebbs and flows again.
Chorus:
Oh, make me a cradle to rock my weary world,
Make me a gentle voice to soothe her when she weeps,
Make my arms strong enough to hold her when she wakes,
And make me a lullaby so sweet and fine
That I can sing my weary world to sleep.
I wish that I could smooth away her jagged scars of hatred
(Sleep, my weary world.)
And though my hands may bleed and burn,
Ill hold my broken world to me
Until her ugly scars have healed
And peace may reign again.
(Chorus)
And if her fighting will not stop, then Ill hold her that much closer
And sing my lullaby above the noise and pain of war.
And if her bleeding I cant staunch, Ill bleed along beside her,
But I will not let her go, no, Ill never let her go.
And when the stars have all burned out, Ill sing to her in darkness
(Sleep, my weary world.)
And pray a tender God may find me
Huddled in the dark and cold,
And grant the precious world I shelter
One more chance to live.
May God grant my precious world
Another chance to love.
(Chorus)")
![Bob Kanefsky/Leslie Fish - Filk of the Night-Mare [HQ]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/pt9SIkqOBGE/mqdefault.jpg "Bob Kanefsky/Leslie Fish - Filk of the Night-Mare [HQ]
Tapeworm I track 7. Thanks to rocketman0739 for providing high-quality versions of these songs.
Download the album here: https://archive.org/details/filk_tapeworm_1
Lyrics:
If I see her again,
I shall meet my doom
In the smoke-filled air
Of the chair-ringed room,
When the hour is late
And the seats are bare,
In the form of an upturned
Well-aimed chair.
For where there’s a tune, there are filks to spare,
And one of the filks is mine.
[second verse by Leslie Fish, not Bob Kanefsky]
Have you seen her again
When the night grows old,
When the songs turn ose
And the words grow bold?
When the booze runs free
And mundanes have fled,
When the fumes and smoke
Knock allergics dead,
Where the night hotel clerks all fear to tread
As if the floor were mined.
We will see her again
When the mikes shall cry,
When the lights fall down
As the notes run high.
She will strike a chord
On her old guitar
With its twelve strings bare
To the heaven’s stars.
She will sing all night till they close the bars,
And no one in sight will mind.")
![Aislinn (Anne Prather) - Memorial [HQ]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/q913o4UqR_Y/mqdefault.jpg "Aislinn (Anne Prather) - Memorial [HQ]
High Wings track 10. Thanks to rocketman0739 for providing high-quality versions of these songs.
Download the album here: https://archive.org/details/filk_high_wings
Lyrics:
Fly, heroes, and go with our love;
Carry our song to the bright stars above.
Tell of the pride of the whole human race,
In all those who fought for the conquest of space.
She was the one who could teach us to know
The pride and the joy of all those who go.
She taught the children of all of the earth
The wonder of star-flight, its pain and its worth.
Fly, Christy, and go with our love...
His was the hand that would guide the great ship
On her wonderful, marvelous, glorious trip.
His was the power and the pride in her course;
His great love for flight was his dearest resource.
Fly, Michael, and go with our love...
He led the mission, her job and her crew;
Each one of the fire-eagles habits he knew;
His was the hand that could keep them alive;
Given two seconds, they might have survived.
Fly, Francis, and go with our love...
Ellison, Gregory, Judy and Ron
We honor your courage, and now we go on;
Along the bright road that you helped us to build
Til someday our souls greatest dreams are fulfilled.
Fly, heroes, and go with our love...")
