Minus Ten and Counting: Songs of the Space Age

I was putting together a blog post about space songs when I discovered this amazing collection of filk from 1983.

Minus Ten and Counting: Songs of the Space Age was apparently immensely popular in science fiction circles.

After the 2500 original cassette tapes quickly sold out, the album was widely bootlegged, but has never been re-released because of copyright and personality conflicts among its contributors.

Enjoy!

Surprise! (Sputnik)
— written by Leslie Fish, performed by Leslie Fish, Roy Torley, Julia Ecklar

Mercury-Our First Steps (Mercury)
— written by Harold Groot, performed by Ross Douglas, Julia Ecklar

Star Fire
— written by Cynthia McQuillin, performed by Julia Ecklar

A Toast for Unknown Heroes (Apollo)
— written by Leslie Fish, performed by Julia Ecklar, Leslie Fish, Doug Olsen

Memorial (Apollo 1)
— written by Mercedes Lackey/Ewan MacColl/Peggy Seeger, performed by Julia Ecklar

Phoenix
— written and performed by Julia Ecklar

Pioneer’s Song (Pioneer 1 & 2)
— written by Jordin Kare, performed by Julia Ecklar, Leslie Fish

The Ballad of Apollo XIII (Apollo 13)
— written by William Warren Jr/Gordon Lightfoot, performed by Julia Ecklar

Legends (Apollo)
— written by Bill Roper, performed by Doug Olsen, Leslie Fish

Apollo Lost
— written by Worden/McQuillin, performed by Cynthia McQuillin, Catherine Cook

Hope Eyrie (Apollo)
— written by Leslie Fish, arranged by Doug Olsen, performed by Doug Olsen, Sandy Rittenhouse, Ross Douglas, George Spelvin

Minus Ten and Counting (Shuttle)
— written by Mercedes Lackey/Leslie Fish, performed by Leslie Fish, Arlin Robins

Fire in the Sky (Shuttle)
— written by Jordin Kare, performed by Doug Olsen, Julia Ecklar

One Way to Go
— written by Diana Gallagher, performed by Julia Ecklar, Arlin Robins, Joey Shoji, Jim Fox-Davis

Fly, Columbia! (Shuttle)
— written by Diana Gallagher, performed by Leslie Fish, Arlin Robins

Everyman
— written by Mary Jean Holmes, sung by Julia Ecklar

The Moon Miners
— written by Dianna Gallagher, performed Ross Douglas, Julia Ecklar

Voyager (Voyager)
— written Cynthia McQuillin, performed by Cynthia McQuillin, Joey Shoji, Catherine Cook

The Light-Ship
— written Leslie Fish, arranged by Catherine Cook, performed by Julia Ecklar, Catherine Cook, Joey Shoji

Planetbound Lovers
— written by Diana Gallagher, performed by Julia Ecklar

The Mass-Driver Engineer
— written by Diana Gallagher, performed by Doug Olsen, Catherine Cook

Sentries
— written by Leslie Fish, performed by Julia Ecklar, Joey Shoji

Witnesses’ Waltz (Shuttle)
— written by Leslie Fish, performed by Julia Ecklar, Arlin Robins, Catherine Cook, Gloria Oberste, Jim Fox-Davis, Joey Shoji, Susan Fox-Davis