Some So-Called Music:

What is 'Filk'?

This question has consumed way too many neuron-hours and a few megabytes on USENET.

The two shortest definitions I've seen are

"Filk is whatever a filker does"
"Filk is a matter of symbolism and intent"

Here's my take on the question, with some friendly amendments by Joseph Kesselman:

• Science, speculative fiction, literature and fandom are our shared vocabulary.
• Lyrics - The ideas are important. Someone -- maybe the person you're listening to -- spent a long time selecting the words that express them. Maybe those words are trying to make you laugh, or cry. Maybe they are telling a story. Maybe they are trying to cram a whole lot of puns into 2 1/2 minutes. There are exceptions (i.e., instrumental filk), but often the words are given a higher priority than the notes.
• Listen - Yes, it's true. The writing, singing, playing & performing abilities in this group vary. But we try -- really hard -- to be tolerant of people who aren't as good at [xyz] as we would like. It's good for you. (We also try -- really hard -- to get better to make life easier for others when it's time for them to listen to us.)
• Think - Wow. Think and listen at the same time. What a concept.
• Participate - You... yes, you... are strongly encouraged to take part. Write new stuff, if you can. Sing, if you can. Play an instrument, if you can. In any event, listen and think. There is at latest count exactly one person trying to make a living off this gig. For the rest of us it's Just A Way Of Life. Filk is not a spectator sport.

Some links:

I urge you to support the Pegasus Awards.
As always, vote early and often.

My friend Laramie is selling Filk-logo paraphernalia at Cafe Press. Check it out.

Here is a flyer Lee Gold wrote for running the Bardic Circle at ConFrancisco, and has since used at other cons. If you adjust the font size and remove page numbers, URLs, etc from your output you'll probably be able to print this on a single page. Lee says: use it as you will.

Some examples:

"09-f9..."

( Net censorship / Lawyers -- 2007 )

"2012 December 21 A.D."

( Mayan Calendar Apocalypse -- 2011 )

"Anti-Serenity"

( Firefly -- 2005 )

"Banned From Okra"

( Religion / MiniCon -- 2003 )

"Black Choppers in the Sky"

( Government conspiricies / paranoia -- 2005, 2008 )

"Bonnie Lassie"

( Television / Lassie -- 2017 )

"Caffeinated Worms"

( Caffeine / compost -- 2010 )

"Cancer & Slimeball"

( Spammers / Net -- 1994 )

"Chris Dodd's Lament"

( Internet / Politics / The Copywraith [MPAA/RIAA/ilk] -- 2012 )

"Corporation For Public Broadcasting"

( TV / Politics / Government -- 1995 )

"Cthulhu Walks"

( Cthulhu Carol -- 2009 )

"Denver Omelet"

( Cthulhu / Lovecraft -- 2010 )

"Dog Heaven"

( Dogs / Guilt -- 2002 )

"The Ensign Toast Fan Club Theme Song"

( TV / Trek -- 1994 )

"The 'Feel Like I'm Fixing A Bowl Of Ripple Chips With Bermuda Onion Dip And A Beer' Rag"

( TV / Politics / Government -- 1996 )

"Fenlandia"

( Fanatic Fandom -- 2007 )

"The Girl Named Ivanova"

( TV / B5 - "And Now For A Word" -- 1995 )

"Grand Old Party Lands"

( 2008 political campaign / local impact -- 2008 )

"GROPO"

( TV / B5 - "Gropos" -- 1995 )

The Hair of Ellen Carter

( Man-mad sorority sisters -- 2008 )

The Hero Named MacGyver

( Single verse with additional verses by Kate Gladstone )
( TV / MacGyver -- 2004/2005 )

"Hole in the Nothing"

( Cosmology -- 1997 )

"Hot Rod Cray"

( Computers / Net -- 1994 )

"House Filk"

( TV / House M.D. -- 2012 )

"If I Were A Spammer"

( Spammers / Net -- 1996 )

"In Neighbors' Basements Seeds Are Found"

( Invastion of the Body Snatchers -- 2009 )

"I've Just Seen the Great Cthulhu"

( Paranoia / Lovecraft -- 1999 )

Jabberwocky

( Lewis Carroll -- 2014 )

"JATO"

( Urban Myths / Darwin Awards -- 1995 )

"Little Lost Robot"

( SF / Asimov -- 1997 )
-- To the tune of Lady Lavender's "Google-Eyed Aliens From Mars" ( this link includes a .GIF of the sheet music ) --
( © 1997, reproduced here with permission )

"Microsoft iLoo"

( Everyone's favorite monopoly -- 2003 )

"The NSA Is No Picnic"

( Government spying -- 2013 )

"O Avatar"

( "Avatar" / moviemaking -- 2009 )

"Pennies for Pohlad (...or... They'd put up money, even now, if Pohlad passed the hat...)"

( Local politics / Sports -- 1997 )

"The Pirate Song"

( Pirates -- 2013 )

"Quaff the Dragon Flagon"

( The Court Jester -- 2007 )

"Renfield and His Master"

( Dracula -- 2002 )

"Requiem For A Heaven's Gate"

( Comets / Cults -- 1997 )

"A Rose"

( Buffy the Vampire Slayer -- 2011 )

"At Roswell"

( UFOs / Cover Up / Paranoia -- 2006 )

"(Should Have) Done It Myself"

( Computers / Crackers / Security -- 2000 )

"$6,000,000 Man"

( Six Million Dollar Man -- 2006 )

"Six Strong Wheels ( ...or... Another Little Lost Robot )"

( Mars / Sojourner -- 1997 )

"(I am a poor) Spacefairing Stranger"

( Aliens / Celtic Myth / North Sea -- 2022 )

"Suppertime"

( Food / Diet -- 2013 )

"Take Back The Future"

( Space advocacy -- 1997 )

"The Tale of Transport 18 (Efficient Use of Resources)"

( Dawson's Christian / Ballad of Transport 18 -- 2001 )

"The Teddy Bears' Dane Geld"

( Kipling -- 1998 )

"There's a Hole in the Pentagon"

( Paranoia / Illuminatus! -- 1998 )

"Tinky Winky Teletubby"

( TV / Paranoia / Teletubbies -- 2000 )

"Toad"

( Parody of "Woad" -- 2005 )

"Unnamed Melody"

( Cthulhu / Insanity -- 2003 )

"Weight Gain"

( Diets / Food -- 2005 )

"When I Was A Youth"

( TV -- 2001 )

"Work of the Reavers"

( TV / Firefly -- 2007 )

"Would you like to build a wall?"

( Sesame Street / Donald Trump / Mexico -- 2019 )

"Zathras, Zathras"

( TV / B5 - "Conflicts of Interest" -- 1997 )

Zombie

( Zombie aplcalypse -- 2010 )

---

The following are not supposed to be indexed by Google, etc.

"Bugger the CDA"

( Politics / Censorship -- 1996 )

"Last Sauna in St. Paul"

( Local politics / Government -- 1997 )

"Scannin' for 'Damn'"

( Censorship / Censorware -- 2000 )

"The Starr Report in Verse"

( Politics / Scandal -- 1998 )

My filks are licensed under the Creative Commons attribution, non-commercial, share-alike License. If you use my stuff I would appreciate hearing about it.