List of great filk songs

Algon15 Nov 2025 0:17 UTC
22 points
3 comments2 min readLW link

I love filk. Dreaming of strange worlds, listening to a narrative set to music, what’s not to love. If you’re reading this, you probably love filk too. So maybe you’d like some recommendations for songs for the space age, and more.

  1. I recommend the album “Minus Ten and Counting: Songs for the Space Age”. All the songs in this album are, at the very least, decent. But the [] standouts are:

    1. Toast for Unknown Heroes. Hufflepuff coded.

    2. Hope Eyrie, my favourite filk song. Little wonder, as it is practically a hymn. The version I linked is IMO the best.

    3. Minus Ten and Counting. Great sense of suspense.

    4. Fire in the Sky. It has not right to be as good as it is.

    5. Everyman. Beautiful tribute to co-operation.

    6. The Moon Miners. Somehow, I’m reminded of Heinlein Niven and Pournelle by this song. Also, Moon (2009). Great film btw. Watch if you haven’t already.

    7. The Light Ship. Another nearly religious song. For all you Hyperion-cultists out there, this one is for you. (It’s weird how many filk songs are for you. Oh well.)

    8. Sentries.

  2. Least of My Kind, a song about a spiteful werewolf warning their slayers that they are the least of their kind.

  3. The Goddess and the Weaver, a song about Athene and Arachne. I can only describe the mood as tragic yet bright and airy. For all those who’d curse the Olympians.

  4. Finity’s End is another great album, especially for fans of C. J. Cherryh. Ironically, I have never read his works, though this album does make me kindly disposed towards them. Standout hits include:

    1. Signy Mallory. I basically view this as the theme song of The Squire from A Practical Guide to Evil.

    2. Sam Jones. A complete story! God, I love these. Sings of the tragic life of Sam Jones.

    3. Mazianni. A war song, promising vengeance to foe and former friend from soldiers who feel betrayed by command.

    4. Serpent’s Reach. Disquieting, with the vibes of a 19th-20th century pastiche of India that somehow works.

    5. Merchanter’s Luck. Another song sweeping through a tragic life. Softer than Sam Jones, with a gentler sadness than Sam Jones.

  5. On a Bright Wind 05: Man of War.

  6. Carman Miranda’s Ghost

    1. One Last Battle

    2. Dawson’s Christian. Got an urgency that sends a thrum down my nerves.

    3. Some Kind of Hero. “They all call me the hero of Antelope’s Run, and I’ve got to show them they’re wrong.” What a way to start! And I’m a sucker for reluctant heroes.

    4. Guardians. Grit in a song.

  7. Avalon is Risen. Another great album. Though it’s fantasy, not SF.

    1. Ship of Stone

    2. Lucifer

    3. Rise Up, Bright Sun

    4. Chickasaw Mountain. I don’t know why this one feels like a Russian folk tale to me, but it does.

    5. Wanderer

    6. The Sun is Also a Warrior

    7. Polaris/​Recall (Based off a short poem by H.P. Lovecraft)

    8. Avalon is Risen.

  8. The Wizard of Macke Town.

  9. Horsetamer—Julia Ecklar

    1. Troll King—it is perhaps the best on a sentence level: one banger of a line after another.

    2. The horsetamer’s daughter. A fun story. More hopeful than the others of its kind.

I’ll extend this list as I think of others.

Algon15 Nov 2025 0:17 UTC
22 points
3 comments2 min readLW link