Science Fiction Fandom has given much to the wider culture. Filk Music started off as a typo, continued as an in-joke and then expanded beyond the original circle. Way back when, a young fan mistyped 'folk' music, and so the subcategory 'filk' music was born. Or, shall we say, reinvented and claimed by fans even as the rest of the world blithely continues the rich tradition of parodies.
Filk music started out, for the most part, as participatory. A fan would adopt a well-known tune with new lyrics based on a favorite book or movie. They'd pass around dittoed sheets and everyone would sing along, the wide range of keys bringing a campground feel to the event. Sometimes, the performer would do a solo act, but the song was aimed at their friends and fellow sf fans. Mundanes simply wouldn't get it; that was the charm. What Allen Sherman did and Weird Al Yankovic does, fans do to almost anything deemed worthy. The Green Hills of Earth is a poem from a Heinlein story, and has been filked to Amazing Grace and The Gilligan's Island Theme Song. Onward Sauron's Soldiers is sung to the tune of Onward Christian Soldiers. That sort of thing.
Nowadays, there are still traditional filkers, but a large array of people with performing and songwriting talent have joined fandom, and con music is closer to the folk coffeehouses of old. I'll most likely review a bunch of musicians known primarily through their performances at science fiction conventions. Many are fine musicians and don't like to be called filkers... but we know.
Masquerading As Human by the Duras Sisters is the closest thing to traditional filk in this review. The group is named after the power-hungry Klingons in Star Trek: The Next Generation, and the a cappella trio does a lot of songs based on the tv show, indeed some of the songs are based on individual episodes. My favorite songs aren't from the show, however. I really love the title cut, Masquerading As Human, about an alien on Earth, and Bella Chow, a parody of a Russian troika that every cat lover will appreciate.
The personnel in Dandelion Wine keeps changing, anchored by Decadent Dave Clement, but they make some of the best music in or out of fandom. Based in Winnipeg, their music is in the tradition of Canadian balladeers like Stan Rogers. Circles in the Grain is a great album. I prefer the 'filk' side to the 'folk' side (it was originally released on cassette), but your tastes may vary. Drink Up the River ("you've got to drink up the river before you drown") is an amazingly upbeat song about aiming toward the future. Discovery is about explorations, from Columbus to the stars. Captain Jack and the Mermaid is a terrific tale well told. This Island Earth is another optimistic song.("calling all dreamers and optimistic fools").
Cheap Hooch is good too, with a nice version of Dixie Chicken. (You can get both Dandelion Wine CDs here here, it claims, as well as other filk that I'll be reviewing later.)
Nate Bucklin has been a mainstay of the LA/Minneapolis fan music scene for a long time, with forays into professional gigs, and has been a friend of mine for over two decades (with a short stint as housemate).He writes heart-wrenching autobiographical songs and plays them spectacularly well. Someday, a recording will live up to hearing him live in a filk circle but in the meantime we have his three tapes and Rainbow's Edge on CD. My favorite Nate work is The Chart Song, about trying to live down a sexual encounter at a science fiction convention, full of faannish references (a Langdon Chart is a diagram of such liaisons, so you can find out how many links you are from...) and delicious rhymes. You enter into his life with Convention Report, You Don't Know About Me, Afraid of the Desperate, I Pop Pills (heard on Dr. Demento), and others. Some Dumb Duke is silly and fun. I never know how seriously to take When I Stop Reading SF ("Will you still love me when..."), since Nate still reads (and occasionally writes) the stuff.
Dave Romm is a conceptual artist with a radio show and a web site and a very weird CD collection. He reviews things at random for obscure web sites. You can read all his music recommendations from Bartcop-E here.
Thanks, Dave!
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Michael Dare - 'The Life and Death of Captain Preemo'
