Uploaded November 2021 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
Thanks to rocketman0739 for providing high-quality versions of these songs.
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Lyrics:
A friend of mine is marking time on the steel ribbon road
Says he's long stopped pulling, now he's just part of the load
He says, wherever the steel wheel goes,
That's the place that he wants to know
He's walked the hardened highway and the trail among the trees
And every town and city was just a place that he could leave
He walked along the silver stream
And walking in the silver stream...
He says, oh....
Oh...
He said, there's oceans and there's harbours, there's really nothing in between
We race across the blue till we can tremble in the green
We buy our shelter sight unseen
We buy our shelter sight unseen
And say, oh...
Oh...
Thanks to rocketman0739 for providing high-quality versions of these songs.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lyrics:
A friend of mine is marking time on the steel ribbon road
Says he's long stopped pulling, now he's just part of the load
He says, wherever the steel wheel goes,
That's the place that he wants to know
He's walked the hardened highway and the trail among the trees
And every town and city was just a place that he could leave
He walked along the silver stream
And walking in the silver stream...
He says, oh....
Oh...
He said, there's oceans and there's harbours, there's really nothing in between
We race across the blue till we can tremble in the green
We buy our shelter sight unseen
We buy our shelter sight unseen
And say, oh...
Oh...
![Leslie Fish - Bring it Down [HQ]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/PkS7F0gS1nk/mqdefault.jpg "Leslie Fish - Bring it Down [HQ]
Firestorm track 07. 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 dont like this world weve made!
(Bring it down, bring it down!)
Wed take World War Three in trade!
(Bring it down, bring it down!)
Risk the fire in the midnight sky
The rain of hell when the ashes fly—
Just so long as the generals die!
(Bring it down, bring it down!)
(Bring it down, bring it down!)
We dont like the work we do!
(Bring it down, bring it down!)
Nothing useful, safe, or true!
(Bring it down. bring it down!)
Faceless bureaucrats in the hills
Drive us down at the pace that kills—
They get dividends, we get bills!
(Bring it down, bring it down!)
(Bring it down, bring it down!)
We dont like society!
(Bring it down, bring it down!)
No one here is really free!
(Bring it down, bring it down!)
Freedoms dream has fallen far,
A million rules have dimmed its star—
We dont like the way we are!
(Bring it down, bring it down!)
(Bring it down, bring it down!)
Laws and orders hem us in!
(Bring it down, bring it down!)
Give us our frontier again!
(Bring it down, bring it down!)
Slowly growing, deep-set rage
Breaks the bars of the paper cage
Till the gear wheels disengage!
(Bring it down, bring it down!)
(Bring it down, bring it down!)
No reform will save the day!
(Bring it down, bring it down!)
Sweep this garbage all away!
(Bring it down, bring it down!)
Fearless rage and deathless hate
Grow the worse, the more we wait—
To save our planet, smash the State!
(Bring it down, bring it down!)
(Bring it down, bring it down!)
(Bring it down, bring it down!)
(Bring it down, bring it down!)")
![Leslie Fish & the Dehorn Crew - God Bless the Grass [HQ]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Pkb5NRyUgG8/mqdefault.jpg "Leslie Fish & the Dehorn Crew - God Bless the Grass [HQ]
Its Sister Jennys Turn to Throw the Bomb track 12. 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:
God bless the grass that grows through the crack!
They roll the concrete over it to try and keep it back.
The concrete gets tired of what it has to do,
It breaks and it buckles and the grass grows through,
God bless the grass.
God bless the truth that fights toward the sun!
They roll the lies over it and think that they have done.
But it moves through the ground and reaches for the air,
And after a while its growing everywhere,
God bless the grass.
God bless the grass that breaks through cement!
Its green and its tender and its easily bent.
But after a while it raises up its head,
For the grass is living but the stone is dead,
God bless the grass.
God bless the grass—its gentle and its low,
Its roots they are deep and its will is to grow.
And God bless the truth, the friend of the poor,
And the wild grass growing round the poor mans door,
God bless the grass.
God bless the grass.")
![UnReal Estate 11 - Honor the Dreamers [HQ]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/PuKzauLugRA/mqdefault.jpg "UnReal Estate 11 - Honor the Dreamers [HQ]
Sung by Heather Alexander. Thanks to rocketman0739 for providing high-quality versions of these songs.
Download the album here: https://archive.org/details/filk_unreal_estate
Lyrics:
Dreamer, your eyes are the mirrors of memory,
In them your hopes are reflections of light.
Though you must dwell in a world filled with strangers,
Your heart is exploring the cosmos each night.
Chorus:
Honor the dreamers and set them apart,
For dreamers have mastered the rarest of arts.
They spin the ideas of worlds yet to be
And weave those bright threads so that others may see.
Dreams are the beacons that guide your lifes journey
As you wing your way through the darkest of skies.
Where your visions lead you, we hasten to follow,
For we see the world through the stars in your eyes.
(Chorus)
Hold fast to dreams, they can help shape the future.
We dare to hope while our vision still gleams.
Time cannot stop us, nor sorrow defeat us—
Tomorrow belongs to all those who have dreams.
(Chorus x2)")
![Julia Ecklar - A Rose for Emily [HQ]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/QLJhXVJ9G4k/mqdefault.jpg "Julia Ecklar - A Rose for Emily [HQ]
Horse-Tamers Daughter track 05. 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:
You are my love, come to me.
Let me hold you through the night.
You promised things so sweet to me;
Ill cling forever to your light.
I heard you swear youd never leave,
And that in love wed never die.
So drink of love, so bittersweet;
In our dark dreams well never cry.
You are my rose.
Bloom for me,
A rose for Emily
A rose for Emily
I touch your hand, your hair beneath my lips.
My love, I keep you always near.
I never dreamed that love could be like this,
So cold and still, but always here.
Youll never run away again, my love.
Ive kept you carefully to my side.
Your skin, once soft, though brittle now to touch,
Is still as sweet as when you died.
You are my rose.
Bloom for me,
A rose for Emily
A rose for Emily
A rose for Emily")
![Leslie Fish - Desolation Valley [HQ]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/QMqKLUcETZc/mqdefault.jpg "Leslie Fish - Desolation Valley [HQ]
Firestorm track 09. 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:
Darling, let me in, its only me
Weve got to talk of how our lives will be
I found us two ways out of here, but I dont know which is right
Sweetheart, you got to help me choose tonight
Chorus:
I only know our loves worth fighting for
Though living isnt easy, and freedom takes much more
But while we got each other, theres somewhere we can find
To leave this Desolation Valley far behind
We cant just be good victims anymore
The law wont leave us anything but poor
So do we both go underground, that Paper Game to play,
Or head for empty country, far away?
(Chorus)
Country livings hard, and land aint cheap
Lose one crop and were in trouble deep
Wed have to barter, make, or grow everything wed own
But there, at least, we might be left alone
(Chorus)")
![Leslie Fish - The Paper Sea [HQ]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/QX0Ng4lSxfA/mqdefault.jpg "Leslie Fish - The Paper Sea [HQ]
Firestorm track 06. 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:
I went to work for welfare in hopes to help the poor
The staff showed me a desk and introduced me to the war
They warned me that the battle started right outside the door
And they fought it on the paper sea
There were thirty social workers, forty-seven clerks,
Twenty-seven managers all gumming up the works,
Three inspectors from the legislature exercising perks
Barracudas in the paper sea
There were countless regulations, rulebooks by the score,
Explaining every policy and system tried before
The money spent on paperwork left nothing for the poor
Abandoned on the paper sea
There were seven hundred forms could be applied to every case
To account for every penny, number, name or date or place
The clerks were working overtime but never keeping pace
With the waves upon the paper sea
Why these endless papers and ministers and more?
All to guarantee there was no cheating by the poor
While for every dollar saved we spent a hundred on the chore
Of adding to the paper sea
Outside in the hallway, the poor folk had to wait
The line stretched down the block, coming early, leaving late
Maybe one poor soul per hour ever made it through the gate
Past the boundaries of the paper sea
First came in a man who didnt have a cent
I filled out twenty forms to guarantee his check was sent
By the time it reached his address he was gone for lack of rent
Well serviced by the paper sea
Next came in a mother, abandoned by her man
She said, Get me some daycare, and Ill find what work I can.
But daycare was too controversial for our family plan
We marooned her in the paper sea
As I walked in one morning, I stumbled on an arm
Attached to some poor body who had clearly come to harm
While waiting for his Medicare, his heart had bought the farm
We had drowned him in the paper sea
I told my supervisor. He said, Lets be discreet
Just sneak the body out the door and leave it on the street
And then its not our problem, but the cops out on the beat
Lets dump him in their paper sea.
I tried to make the system work, I tried to help the poor
I struggled through the paperwork and might have taken more
But thats the final straw that sent me screaming out the door
Sent me running from the paper sea
Id had it with the paper sea!")
![Jordin Kare - Callahans Bar [HQ]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/QaUmd5HMVkc/mqdefault.jpg "Jordin Kare - Callahans Bar [HQ]
Fire in the Sky track 04. 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: Callahans Bar stories, Spider Robinson]
Lyrics:
There is a bar called Callahans, its really quite a place
Theres aliens there every night from every world and race
And when the puns start flying, as they do at quite a rate
Not even steel-jawed robots can quite keep their faces straight
Chorus:
Spider, oh Spider, why wont you tell us where
Callahans is hidden, and well do our drinking there
A time traveler comes in each week and buys a couple beers
Hе drinks them down, then taps his belt and promptly disappеars
Next week, same time, hes back again, still potted to the ears
Hes been on one long bender for some twenty-thousand years
(Chorus)
There is a guy with funny eyes, his name is Michael Finn
He carries quite an arsenal tucked underneath his skin
His masters had him programmed once to do the whole Earth in
And the only thing that stopped him was a glass of homemade gin
(Chorus)
A frigid-blooded methane breather wandered in one night
And announced to one and all that he was lookin for a fight
Mike said “Ill have no fighting here in any shape or form!”
And with a single mighty blow, he knocked the fellow...warm?
(Chorus)
A large grey wolf paced to the bar and ordered in a growl
Mike dusted off an old brown jug; he gave a joyful howl
One swallow and there stood a man—twas quite a trick to pull
But the liquor, it was moonshine, and the bottle, it was full
(Chorus)
Doc Webster, feeling genial, once told us of the day
He mixed chromosomes from vegetables with canine DNA
He crossed Lassie with a canteloupe. Said Mike, “So whatd you get?”
“Why, a melon-collie baby and one hell of a startled vet!”
(Chorus)")
![UnReal Estate 05 - The High Frontier [HQ]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Qy_g3KO07qc/mqdefault.jpg "UnReal Estate 05 - The High Frontier [HQ]
Sung by Mitchell Burnside Clapp. Thanks to rocketman0739 for providing high-quality versions of these songs.
Download the album here: https://archive.org/details/filk_unreal_estate
Lyrics:
Jake was a spacer, he was handsome, lean, and proud,
He was a triple pilot on the Earth-Moon run, aloof in the dirtside crowd.
Claire loved him for his laughter, like a boy hed shrug and grin.
His dreams were visions of the yet-to-be, away from the crowds and din.
He wrote her nearly every other watch and hoped for a regular run;
She lived in the Springs and every other day thought of going home to Mum.
But hed await the phone when they were home alone; by duty, love is clear
On the High Frontier.
Cut next to Jake in orbit, writing words then crossing out,
Shedding crumpled sheets like autumn leaves, a winter breeze of doubt.
“I need you, Claire, my darling, but I need to be here too.
I cant quit now and let my dreams fade out, so close to coming true.
“For if I leave now, with the job half through, its not been worth a damn—
This isnt only just a thing I do, its more like who I am,
And theres a queue around the block who wait for me to drop.
Can we take it for another year,
On the High Frontier?”
The last time he left her crying, angry words, then he went away.
Claire wonders where she fits into Jakes life, and she packs her things that day.
But then the phone starts ringing; she almost lets it go—
“A call for you from Luna Terminal.” With hope she says “Hello?”
“Its me, my darling, and Ive got good news; they gave me a steady run.
Well be in Luna City, and theres room for you on the next ship out but one.
Till I can be with you and watch my dreams come true, well make our future here
On the High Frontier.”
So they worked out the passions, the anger, and the tears
Save them in your memory
On the High Frontier.")
![Jordin Kare - Ladyhog [HQ]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/QyknpGVIU6s/mqdefault.jpg "Jordin Kare - Ladyhog [HQ]
Parody Violation track 16. Thanks to rocketman0739 for providing high-quality versions of these songs.
Download the album here: https://archive.org/details/filk_parody_violation
Lyrics (TTTO Ladyhawke, Julia Ecklar):
Im a frog among men, with no guts but big dreams
Just two ping-pong ball eyes in a sock
But a magical pig far less real than she seems
Has convinced the whole world we can talk
Its not just her beauty, for beauty I know,
Though the French that she speaks makes me swoon,
Its the strength she can place in karate-chop blows
That sends me right off to the Moon
Ladyhog, Ladyhog, swine bravely on,
Hooves spread oer each mornings meal (pigs cant fly!)
Ladyhog, Ladyhog, from dusk to dawn,
Teach this poor frog to be real")
![Aislinn (Anne Prather) - Star Pilots Hymn [HQ]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/RADF3NYOTmA/mqdefault.jpg "Aislinn (Anne Prather) - Star Pilots Hymn [HQ]
High Wings track 13. Thanks to rocketman0739 for providing high-quality versions of these songs.
Download the album here: https://archive.org/details/filk_high_wings
Lyrics:
My starship rides on wings of joy
Her myriad courses round
The galaxy and her suns so free
With mystic song resound.
And I am part and parcel
Of the Universe at play
The winds of space are in my soul
And among the stars Ill stay.
I know no love but in her arms
No one may claim my soul
The love I bear for my ship so fair
Is all that keeps me whole.
And Ill take no human lover
Save one who knows full well
That I love the stars and the song they sing
More than human words can tell.
I know no home but in the stars
No planet calls me here.
My home is space whose joy and grace
Casts out my remnant fear.
And though the primal calling
Of Earth may be quite strong
Though I may long for Earth Ive been called since birth
By the stars sweet haunting song.
Oh, I am free in space and time
Eternitys my friend.
Though my heart may cease her living beat
My life will never end.
My spirit joins the chorus
Of the Universe at play.
The winds of space are my time and place
And among the stars Ill stay.")
![Free Fall & Other Delights 15 - New Sins for Old [HQ]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/RDt_zrFMW6I/mqdefault.jpg "Free Fall & Other Delights 15 - New Sins for Old [HQ]
Sung by Leslie Fish. 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
Find more of Leslie Fishs music at: https://lesliefish.bandcamp.com/
Lyrics:
Oh, whats the use of this looting and pillaging
Swinging my ray-gun through blood, guts, and gore?
Raping and robbing and boozing grow boring
The life of a pirates no fun anymore
No fun anymore, no fun anymore
Its only a job, its no fun anymore.
Always the same: all the planning and ambushing
Pouncing, attacking, and hauling away
The whoring and boozing and passing out afterwards
Its getting monotonous, day after day
Day after day, day after day
Its boring as Hell, fighting day after day.
Ive bounced in more beds than theres hairs on my you-know-what
Ive bred enough bastards to crew my own ship
Ive never had time to stay home and raise one of em
So what will I have when Ive emptied my clip?
Emptied my clip, emptied my clip
Wholl call me Dad when Ive emptied my clip?
Ive got an itch to go do something different
Get a good farm and a nice buxom bride
Raise some tall crops and a lot of fat babies
Complacencys one sin that Ive never tried!
Ive never tried, Ive never tried
Playing Good Citizen Ive never tried.")
