Uploaded November 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
I have heard from a few sources that Leslie Fish is unwell. I don't have any way to get a message to her, but wanted to write a song in support of her incredible legacy.
Leslie was my gateway into #Filk when a friend suggested I search up 'Banned from Argo', back in 2017. Not an understatement to say that it has changed my life. Meeting filkers from all over the world, who share my weird interest in fantasy, science fiction, parody, communal music and general strangeness, has been wonderful.
Leslie Fish is even more remarkable, with experience in the IWW, meeting Woody Guthrie, being amongst the creators of the revival of Paganism in the US on the West Coast in the 70s and 80s.
I had the great honor of swapping Kipling settings with Leslie for nearly three hours, thanks to Aya Katz:
youtube.com/live/yhr7oYuhmtM
I know people don't agree with all of Leslie's views. Living together in kindness while holding different opinions is the only way we survive as a species.
Photo: Catherine MacDonald
#Filk #LeslieFish #Pagan
I have heard from a few sources that Leslie Fish is unwell. I don't have any way to get a message to her, but wanted to write a song in support of her incredible legacy.
Leslie was my gateway into #Filk when a friend suggested I search up 'Banned from Argo', back in 2017. Not an understatement to say that it has changed my life. Meeting filkers from all over the world, who share my weird interest in fantasy, science fiction, parody, communal music and general strangeness, has been wonderful.
Leslie Fish is even more remarkable, with experience in the IWW, meeting Woody Guthrie, being amongst the creators of the revival of Paganism in the US on the West Coast in the 70s and 80s.
I had the great honor of swapping Kipling settings with Leslie for nearly three hours, thanks to Aya Katz:
youtube.com/live/yhr7oYuhmtM
I know people don't agree with all of Leslie's views. Living together in kindness while holding different opinions is the only way we survive as a species.
Photo: Catherine MacDonald
#Filk #LeslieFish #Pagan
![The Bonnie Banks o Fordie [ Child Ballad No. 14 ]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/RRpwsvfm0EI/mqdefault.jpg "The Bonnie Banks o Fordie [ Child Ballad No. 14 ]
Back to my efforts to get Volume 1 of the Francis Child collection recorded this year.
This is variant E in Child:
https://archive.org/details/englishandscotti01chiluoft
As published in George Kinloch:
https://archive.org/details/ancientscottishb01kinl
(with an interesting addtion about the death of Ragnar Lodbrog)
Loudon (not clear why that make him a Robber) is from Lothian, named after the #Arthurian King Lot:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lothian
The photo of the Karna church is by Håkan Svensson Xauxa, from the Wikipedia page:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C3%B6res_d%C3%B6ttrar_i_W%C3%A4nge
The church is related to the Swedish folk song, which is probably the origin of the one collected in the UK.
Woodblock illustration is by Charles Hodge Mackie.
#ChildBallads
Purchase my music:
https://ozfolklounge.bandcamp.com/
Website (Lyrics and Chords):
https://www.folklounge.org/lyrics-and-chords/")
