Filk

by | Oct 20, 2013 | Journal | 18 comments

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxTwJhO3Bt8

18 Comments

  1. CJ
    CJ on October 20, 2013 at 3:00 pm

    I’m still working to get the sheet music up.

  2. Silverglass
    Silverglass on October 20, 2013 at 4:51 pm

    Thank you!!! I have a bunch of cassettes of filk songs that I haven’t played for ages, not even sure they will still play (yes, I actually still have a cassette player), and my one attempt to transfer cassettes to MP3s failed as the kit I bought simply doesn’t seem to work with my tapes. It never even occurred to me to check YouTube to hear filk again (can you tell I didn’t grow up with the internet? 😉 )

  3. CJ
    CJ on October 20, 2013 at 5:45 pm

    Anything’s welcome. I’ve got one in sheet music, but getting it up means distracting Jane who’s been 5 days on one scene, because now that I’ve figured out how I ought to do it, I can’t remember the FTP protocol for CC…I don’t use it but once every 2 years, and it’s just a matter of finding an evening when she’s not thinking on something delicate.

  4. jcsalomon
    jcsalomon on October 20, 2013 at 7:56 pm

    I’ve re-created most of the songbook for Minus Ten and Counting for my personal use, but I’m reluctant to post it anywhere for copyright reasons. According to http://www.kayshapero.net/filkblan.htm, Leslie Fish allows her songs to be reposted but Julia Ecklar & Misty Lackey do not. Diana Gallagher isn’t in the Blanket Permission List saying yea or nay—but whoever posted the songs to YouTube didn’t scan the score for her Fly, Columbia! or Planetbound Lovers.

  5. BlueCatShip
    BlueCatShip on October 20, 2013 at 8:48 pm

    JCS, you might try contacting the filkers directly, to offer your sheet music and ask permission. The artists might offer corrections and might say yes. One can hope. One’s rose-colored glasses are now on, be it noted.

    CJC, might one suggest writing down the FTP settings on a couple of index cards to put in a handy spot in one’s desk drawer or file cabinet or a binder? Personally, one has one’s own settings written out in a computer file, and settings for one’s router/modem on index cards in such manner as described. It saves one from puzzlement and floundering now and then. One must confess a lack of perfection and symmetry in some other “ought-to-be-simple” infrequent tasks, however.

    • joekc6nlx
      joekc6nlx on October 21, 2013 at 9:49 am

      I have the songbook, but don’t know the tunes necessarily. That link will help immensely. Thanks, Tommie!

      • J. C. Salomon
        J. C. Salomon on October 21, 2013 at 1:10 pm

        Do you have this in electronic form?

        I’ve found “Pride of Chanur”, “Sam Jones”, “Mazianni”, “Finity’s End” (posted by Herself about two years ago, at ‹cherryh.com/WaveWithoutAShore/?p=3261›), “Bitch Song” (from Scapegoat, slightly altered and with additional verses), and “Signy Mallory”.

        I don’t have the words to:
        • “Forty Thousand In Gehenna” (Misty Lackey)
        • “Weird Song” (Cynthia McQuillin) (“This world is our by new rules we play”)
        • “Serpent’s Reach” (Don Simpson)
        • “Tapes” (Cynthia McQuillin)
        • “Merchanter’s Luck” (Cynthia McQuillin)
        • “Luck of the Rileys” (Cynthia McQuillin)
        • “Dockmaster’s Song” (Anne Harlan Prather)
        • “Lullaby” (C. J. Cherryh)

        Does anyone know who inherited the rights to the late Cynthia McQuillin’s works?

        • joekc6nlx
          joekc6nlx on October 21, 2013 at 7:44 pm

          I have “Serpent’s Reach”, “Luck of the Rileys” in a book I got from CJ and Jane.

          I don’t know if I’m allowed to send them to you, though.

          CJ?

        • joekc6nlx
          joekc6nlx on October 21, 2013 at 9:51 pm

          I typed up both of the songs, but honestly, I don’t know if it’s okay to send them. I have them in the small booklet that CJ and Jane gave me, but they might have had permission to give the songs out, but I don’t know if it transfers.

          I typed them up in a Word 2003 document, and I used tabs instead of spaces to form the columns. I probably should have done it in newscolumn style instead.

          • J. C. Salomon
            J. C. Salomon on October 22, 2013 at 11:54 am

            I got in touch with Don Simpson; he gave permission to post “Serpent’s Reach” and offered to send us a copy he found.

  8. joekc6nlx
    joekc6nlx on October 22, 2013 at 12:13 pm

    I wonder how I would post it, without having to copy and paste…..

    Help????

  9. joekc6nlx
    joekc6nlx on October 22, 2013 at 12:19 pm

    J.C., I emailed them to your gmail address. You might have better success posting them than me, since I’m not sure how CJ has the board set up.

  10. J. C. Salomon
    J. C. Salomon on October 22, 2013 at 12:21 pm

    Serpent’s Reach
    © 1985 (I think) Don Simpson. Reposted with permission

    Now I have seen the madness gleaming in the Serpent’s Eye,
       and that is what I’ve come to you to tell;
    for the queen of blue-hive told me, when I crawled to her to die,
       when I made her send my enemies to hell:
          There’s a price for too much cleverness,
             a price for too much change,
          the majat learn too much from men,
             and they have grown too strange—
       that is the lesson that she had to teach.
          the hives have grown too large to hear,
             have flown beyond her range,
       and madness is the queen of Serpent’s reach.

    And the oldest human said it, while I stood to hear my fate
       with slow death all that I could see ahead;
    there is a thing not on our tapes, a thing you’ll learn too late;
       too many killed, yet not enough are dead:
          There’s a price for too much arrogance,
             a price for too much greed,
          and in complacent ignorance
             we’ve sown the whirlwind’s seed—
       but no-one else there listened to his speech.
          We Kontrin outlive all we love
             forgetting all we need,
       and we are all gone mad in Serpent’s Reach.

    And so I’m here to show you, in the way you understand,
       we have more things to learn, more debts to pay;
    for all your easy murders, all the victories you planned,
       your foolishness has thrown it all away:
          There’s a price for all the men we mold,
             a price for all the tapes,
          the betas and their azi clones
             we treat as clever apes—
       The tidal wave is rising, while we dance upon the beach,
          sneering at our own reflections,
             laughing at our shadows’ shapes,
       till madness drowns us all on Serpent’s Reach.

    INTERLUDE

    I’ve thrown the wands too often, played too many games of Sej,
       and hoped you thought I gambled for a lark;
    you’ve won the ships, you’ve won the stars, you think you hold the edge,
       but now, at last, we’re dicing for the dark:
          There’s a price for too much sadness,
             a price for too much pain,
          too much time in the singing darkness
             of the hive-folks’ brain—
       But I shall have someone to love, someone to trust and teach,
          and, maybe, in that darkness,
             we can learn how to be sane,
       when morning comes again to Serpent’s Reach.

    (Tech note: I’ve use em-spaces [U+2003] to convince WordPress that I really do want these lines indented; regular spaces or tabs won’t work. —JCS)

    • J. C. Salomon
      J. C. Salomon on October 22, 2013 at 2:51 pm

      Leslie Fish’s tabulature, as best as I can figure from the version Joe sent me:

      Now (Am) I have seen the madness gleaming (Dm) in the Serpent’s (E) Eye,
         and (F) that is what I’ve (G) come to you to (Am) tell;
      for the (C) queen of blue-hive (F) told me, when I (G) crawled to her to (E) die,
         when I (F) made her send my (E) enemies to (Am) hell:
            There’s a (C) price for too much cleverness,
               a (Dm) price for too much (D) change,
            the (Am) majat learn too (E) much from men,
               and (Am) they have grown too (G) strange—
         that (C) is the (Am) lesson (G) that she had to (E) teach.
            the (Am) hives have grown too (G) large to hear,
               have flown beyond her (E) range,
         and (Am) madness is the (G) queen of Serpent’s (Am) Reach.

      (Chords may well be misplaced by a syllable or two in either direction.)

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