A very nice one.
[Update Saturday afternoon]
OK, now let’s come up with some verses for “What Shall We Do With The Drunken Belter?”
[Update a couple minutes later]
Laura Montgomery has another one from a few years ago, but no known tune.
8 thoughts on “A Space Shanty”
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You have a knack for finding talented young women on the interwebs. She’s adorable, as well as talented.
She and her song would certainly be major filksinging hits at any sci-fi con.
I’m reminded of this, by Alfred Bester:
“Gully Foyle is my name
Terra is my nation
Deep Space is my dwelling place
The stars my destination”
Near as I can figure, the tune is Yankee Doodle.
Wow! Just wow.
Okay, I’ll give this new genre a try.
From “High Barbary.”
***
There were two cleanup ships
From old Boca came
Drift high, drift low
And so sail we.
One was the Fly By Pick Up
And the other Garbage Pros.
Cruisinā round the face
To high apogee.
A sweep there, a sweep there
Our tracking radar pried,
Drift high, drift low,
And so sail we
Scan ahead, scan astern,
Scan a-lower, scan above
Sweep round the face
From high apogee.
Thereās naught upon the scope
Thereās naught within the beam
Drift high, drift low
And so sail we
But thereās a satellite
To sunward and sheās tumbling
Fast and free.
Cruisinā down to race
From high apogee.
Oh ping her, oh ping her
Our gallant captain cried.
Drift high, drift low,
And so sail we,
Is she respondinā
With good telemetry?
Move for rendezvous
From high apogee.
It is not a working probe
Nor satellite said he,
Drift high, drift low
And so sail we.
But it is an old spent booster,
A piece of space debris
Down along we come
From high apogee.
Alongside, alongside
A long time we lay.
Drift high, drift low,
And so sail we
Until the Fly By Pick Up
Got the booster in the bay
Down around the limb
To low perigee.
De-orbit, de-orbit
The crewmates they did cry
Drift high, drift low
And so sail we
And the impulse that we gave it
We dunked it in the sea
Cruisin’ round the limb
At low perigee.
Cruisin’ round the limb
At low perigee.
Cruisin’ round the limb
At low perigee.
I’ve passed that on to her; we’ll see if she does anything with it. She’s probably still looking for excuses to not work on her thesis.
Bravo!
Very nice; “Noisy” Rhysling would approve.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRAG16mrkxA
“The Green Hills of Earth”