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
Eli
January 4, 2011 — 2:49 am
It also inspired a modern CD of space songs, which I published, and you can find the whole album for free streaming at the above URL. 😉
Steve Wilson
February 13, 2011 — 9:14 am
Thanks, Eli!