Filk Stuff
(better title to come)

The Meanings of Words

"What," you might quite legitimately ask, "is filk?" One quick answer is that it's the folk music of science fiction fandom. That's pretty good as far as it goes. Another, rather more tautological definition, is that 'filk' is that music sung by filkers at a filksing. What 'standard' genres is it like? Well. Uhm. The only good answer is, it varies. Some filkers sing more rock-related, some more folky, some songs that are reminiscent of hymns, and one gentleman listed below specializes in putting new and twisted lyrics to, of all things, ABBA songs. Something they usually have in common (with each other and with some of the modern 'alternative music' movement) is interesting lyrics - meaningful lyrics. I find this refreshing in contrast to the 'you don't have to enunciate as long as the bass and drums are loud enough' school of radio-friendly pop/rock/grunge/what-have-you. Most filk is quite melodic, and some of it has amazing vocal harmony.

Quite a versatile word, filk. It can also be found as a verb (To Filk - to provide new words to an older tune, or to comment upon a previous work of any sort in a song), a collective noun (filkers, i.e. people what perpetrate filk) an adjective (wow, that's a Filkish song), an adverb ... ok, so maybe not an adverb. :-> To me, though, filk is just plain fun. Tom Smith's website has another set of definitions and Frequently Asked Questions; check it out. Also, I recently found a work of poetry on the filk newsgroup, rec.music.filk (its list of answers to Frequently Asked Questions resides here) that does a very good job of defining filk, by way of describing several people's experiences of it. It is a parody or filk (filks without music are sometimes called 'Pietry') paying homage to (filking) a wonderful work by John Godfrey Saxe, borrowing a rhythm scheme and reminding one of the original subject. Here is the new, 'parody' poem, called The Wise Fen and the Filk. (Goodness, but I'm using an awful lot of parentheses in this paragraph, aren't I? Hmm.)

In a more possibly useful vein, here are some filk, filkers, and filk-dealers; explore at will, and enjoy. Some of it's funny, some of it's sad, all of it's pretty creative; and as is becoming usual on my site, all of it is Annotated For Your Protection - or my opinions, anyway. :->

My mom and I did write one filk song back before I'd heard that name for the style.
I started to add on a section to this page for the albums I have and my comments there-about, then decided it was getting FAR too large and split it off to put it here. Many of the filkers mentioned below are also in my collection; for song-specific critiques, check it out.
I'm now attempting to host housefilks (i.e. Come To My House And Sing Parties) here near downtown Chicago. Flyer here.
Quick Reference
Filkers' Homepages Filk Dealers Found Filk
Tom Smith
Urban Tapestry
Bob Kanefsky
Joe Kesselman
Steve Savitsky
Dave Weingart
Arthur Levesque
 		Random Factors
Prometheus Music
Dandelion Digital
DAG Productions
Wail Songs
Love Song Productions
 		Enter the Haggis
Blind Man's Bluff
Rockapella
Weird Al Yankovic
The Barenaked Ladies
Tom Lehrer
Novareinna (?)
Filkers' Home Pages
In no particular order as of yet.
Tom Smith
A sick, twisted, lovely, hilarious human being. Music files on MP3.com; Lyrics from his website. He can write anything from the fall-over-laughing funny songs (Like Superman's Sex Life Boogie), to important, emotionally-true relationship songs (Like Heat of the Blood and the funny-as-well I Wish I Couldn't Read Her Mind), to tear-jerking sad songs (Like A Boy and His Frog, a tribute written as an elegy to Jim Henson). One of the biggest ranges, writing-wise, I've seen out there, and also known as the World's Fastest Filker. Why? For his staggering talent at writing Instafilks - songs composed on the fly, sometimes as he's singing them. Muses hit this man with baseball bats, I think. :-> He has his own "What is Filk" page (including his own opinions on a bunch of filkers and what tapes to buy to get started as a fan of it), and here is a posting he did in defense of filk in general on a Babylon 5 newsgroup.
Urban Tapestry
A Toronto, Canada-based trio who do wonderful things with vocal harmony. Sound Clips and Lyrics available on their website. They specialize in sweet and in funny, and all of them estrogen-soaked. :-> Who else could write a song called Sex and Chocolate and make it work? :-> Some acapella, some with instruments. TechnoNerdBoy is a love anthem for the technically-savvy modern female.
Bob Kanefsky
One of the more gifted parodists I've become acquainted with. He doesn't seem to like to be recorded singing them, but lots of other people do :-> I've been using his listings recently as a sort of guide to tunes which are commonly used as the basis of filks - teaching myself what tunes I ought to learn, as it were. Music Files on Mp3.com; lyrics database on his website. You can search it in several different ways, including by the title of the song he's parodying (he usually uses other people's tunes). A neat feature is that he has full listings of lyrics and sources for music of the originals. Don't miss his Mineral Rights if you're a Trek Fan, or The Boogie-Woogie Boogeyman if you like silly bug-eyed aliens. A lot of his tapes and songbooks are technically out of print, but some errant copies are still available from Random Factors. There are apparently plots afoot to get the cassette-tape albums back into print as a multi-CD set - cross your everythings. :-> Just recently (Summer 2000), a new album of his parodies, Roundworm, was put out by Prometheus Music . I have a copy, and will put up my comments on my personal filk collection page soon.
Joe Kesselman, called Keshlam
Lyrics to some of his compositions are on his website. Alas, I couldn't find any sound files. I've never heard him sing, but he writes nifty stuff and posts to the rec.music.filk newsgroup reg'lar like.
Steve Savitsky
Lyrics available on his website. Lots of computer geekery here; also a surprising number of baby/parenthood filks. I guess he has kids :-> Mostly to original tunes, but he includes guitar chords on many. He's also got several songs on a tape called The World's Funniest Computer Songs, which you can order direct from the site or may or may not be able to buy from various filkdealers. My recommendation is definitely, buy it, 'cause the title sure don't lie :->
Dave Weingart
Lyrics and Sound Files available on his website. Some neat songcrafting here. Alas, I live nowhere near him ...
Arthur Levesque
Creator of such horrid monstrosities (but we love them!) as the Rocky Horror South Park Show and many other sick and twisted and hilarious lyrics. You should really go look for yourself; they're organized by category. There's South Park stuff, Cthulhu stuff, Babylon 5 stuff, Star Trek stuff, computer stuff, and more. He uses a lot of Bouncy Eighties Tunes and disco songs with his lyrics.
Found Filk, or, They Ought to Be Filkers ...
When you hear something and immediately know you're going to sing it at the next filksing you attend, that's called 'found filk' - the author or artist didn't intend it as such, and may not even have ever heard of filk, but it fits in just fine.
Enter the Haggis
A Toronto, Ontario bar-band who do something that could be inadequately described as celtic grunge bagpipe folk-pop. Sort of. They have MP3s available on their newly-revamped website, though not of their most filky tracks yet; Lyrics available on the homepage of a band member. Their CD is well worth the cost if you feel like taking a flyer just on my say so. I should soon add their 'Do They Play The Bagpipes on Mars' and 'What Kind of Boy Am I' to my repertoire.
Blind Man's Bluff
A northern-midwest all-vocals rock band (no instruments, just harmonies and vocal effects), somewhat similar in style to Rockapella (see below). Their 'percussionist' is just FRIGGING amazing, he's a human drum machine. They have some sound clips on their site, including a 10-minute 'drum solo' (called Paul's Nitrous Boost), some covers ('Semi-Charmed Kind of Life' inter alia), and some original songs. If you can see them live, DO. They have a short CD as well.
Rockapella
The original acapella rock band. If you're my age you probably remember them best from their 5-year stint as house band on the PBS kids' show, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego. They did the theme song, and sundry other vocal work for it. They also did two commercials for Folgers (both of which are available in video or sound files from the Rockapella website).
Weird Al Yankovic
You all know who Weird Al is, don't you? I thought so. If not, check out his website. He writes weird and bizarre parodies and original songs with interesting lyrics.
Barenaked Ladies
I first met BNL through their first tape, 'Gordon' (it needed a name, so they named it Gordon), which is one of the few non-'Greatest Hits'-type albums I've ever listened to where nigh to every single song blows my socks off. They're in a huge variety of musical styles, to boot, using well-played instruments of wide variety! And harmonizing, by ghu! You can even understand all the lyrics. Needless to say, I was lost from the start. No sound files or lyrics on the (rather bare-bones) official site, but a fansite called Barenaked Heaven has lyrics, and rather a lot more content than the official one. A selection of guitar tablature is available on a site that seems to be primarily focussed upon Canadian artists. There's lots more out there, too - try a websearch. And buy 'Gordon.' :->
Tom Lehrer
Another given. Tom's influenced more filkers than probably any other single artist, with his cutting satirical lyrics set to bouncy, fun to sing, unforgettable tunes. He's got a new box set out, in case you don't already own most of his stuff :-> . He doesn't seem to have an official site (if I'm wrong, tell me!), so I've linked to a good and thorough fansite called A Website (Wasted) on Tom Lehrer that happens to be run by a friend of mine. Enjoy!
Novareinna (?)
A recent find out on the web; I'm not sure what her name is, but her site is called Penumbra. In the Spire of Scribbles you will find her writings - the ones of particular interest to me are the poems, many of which have a tune listed. Exempli gratia:
Filk Songs - Music Files
Organized by author.
Filk Songs - Lyrics on the Web
Organized by author.
Filk-Dealers, or, Would You Like To Buy A Tape, Little Girl?
No particular organization at the moment.
Random Factors
A major multi-publisher dealer with quite a large selection, especially of convention tapes. I like con tapes because they're anthologies - pre-winnowed selections of really good songs by several different singers/songwriters per album. They help me figure out what it is I like, and whose albums to buy next :-> Their website isn't all that e-commerce-y, being mainly the equivalent of a paper catalog with one webpage per category.
Prometheus Music
A fairly low-volume publisher; they only have a couple-three titles available at any given time. However, what they've got is good, and they usually carry samples in mp3 format. Online ordering in most cases through Amazon Z-Shops. Good people.
Dandelion Digital
Another relatively small publisher, though with more titles than Prometheus. Larry Warner, Dr. Jane, Duras Sisters, some anthologies. Good detail on their albums, quick response, though completely nondigital in the ordering (you mail a check to a representative).
DAG Productions
Another publisher, middling-size catalog; they're expanding their website. They take credit cards, though they don't have secure online ordering (you can email the info if you feel Adventurous, or mail it, or a check).
Wail Songs
Publisher of a lot of great albums; as of this writing, the website consists primarily of a page with a phone number and an email on it, but they're working on it.
Love Song Productions
A rather neat site. Mostly REALLY old in the content department, but promising.
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Copyright (c) June 2000 Eloise Beltz-Decker / eloise@ripco.com