Julia Ecklar - Space Heroes & Other Fools [1983]

[662c548ad992dKolya]

I just found this song and it's heartbreaking and beautiful.

Julia Ecklar - Darkness
From the album "Space Heroes & Other Fools" [1983] (Lyrics)

There's a darkness out between the stars that any eye can seeThere's a deeper dark within me, where no light will ever beThere's an empty place beside me where my lover ought to standAnd there's a burning sun before me, and the throttle's in my handTwo days ago I lost him, on a world without a nameAs we touched the land to claim it, for the thousandth time the sameAnd I left him but a moment, and I did not see him fallI only know that I failed him, never heard his final callI dug his grave in alien ground, in the shade of an alien woodAnd I touched him there one final time, and I said what words I couldLet that cold world hold him gently, for he came so far to dieThen I took the ship that was our home and blasted for the skyBut deep space holds no comfort for one broken and aloneAnd our ship held only memories of the joys that we once had knownAnd I could not live without him in a life no longer wholeSo I chose to die by starlight and let fire cleanse my soulAnd now the screens glow blinding bright, the fires burn aheadThe hull around me whispers as it glows an angry redThere's a high, cold wail behind me, as though starships too could cryBut my hand is cold and steady, for the time has come to dieBut now my love comes back to me, 'cross gulfs I'll never knowAnd I hear his voice within me, and I hear him crying, No!And I pull the throttle to me, and the forward thrusters burnAnd the ship cries out in agony as she fights to make the turnMy vision starts to fail me as the forces mount and growAnd I wonder when the ship will fail, and I wonder if I'll knowThen the screen before me darkens, and a coolness strikes my faceAnd there's nothing left before me but the endless depths of spaceThere's a darkness out between the stars that any eye can seeBut there's a light within that darkness touches even a fool like meFor I know my love forgives me, and I know he loves me stillOnce we roamed the stars together, now I know we always will 

Julia Ecklar - Hymn to breaking strain
From the album "Space Heroes & Other Fools" [1983] (Lyrics)

The careful text-books measure - Let all who build beware!The load, the shock, the pressure material can bearSo, when the buckled girder lets down the grinding span,The blame of loss, or murder, is laid upon the manNot on the Steel - the Man!But, in our daily dealing with stone and steel, we findThe Gods have no such feeling of justice toward mankindTo no set gauge they make us, for no laid course prepare -In time they overtake us with loads we cannot bear:Too merciless to bear.The prudent text-books give it in tables at the end -The stress that shears a rivet, or makes a tie-bar bend -What traffic wrecks macadam - what concrete should endure -But we, poor Sons of Adam, have no such literatureTo warn us or make sure!We hold all Earth to plunder - all Time and Space as well -Too wonder-stale to wonder at each new miracle;Till in the mid-illusion of Godhood 'neath our hand,Falls multiple confusion on all we did or planned -The mighty works we planned.We only in Creation - how much luckier the bridge and rail! -Abide the twin-damnation, to fail and know we failYet we - by which sole token we know we once were Gods -Take shame in being broken, however great the odds -The Burden or the Odds.Oh, veiled and secret Power, whose paths we seek in vain,Be ye with us in our hour of overthrow and painThat we - by which sure token we know Thy ways are true -In spite of being broken, or because of being broken,Rise up and build anew.Stand up and build anew! Rudyard Kipling (1935)

This filk album was only ever released on Audio-Cassette and has long been out of print. Grab it below.
And then visit Prometheus-Music.com for Julia Ecklar's later releases.

Links

• Anne Prather's Space Heroes & other Fools
• List of out of print filk albums incl. downloads
• SciFi-themed filk on Youtube: Songs from the Stars
• Fanlore wiki article about Space Heroes
• Julia Ecklar on Bandcamp
• Similar albums: Free Fall & Other Delights, Carmen Miranda's Ghost, Walkabout, Where no man...
  

[662c548ad9b56GiggyTheEvil]

Sounds good. I'll give it a listen.

[662c548ad9c8cKolya]

I spent some time trying to track down that album but it's impossible to find for love or money. Eventually I asked someone who should know and that person was so gracious to give it to me for free. So I'm sharing it with you above.

[662c548ada266unn_atropos]

To late for me. I just downloaded literally the whole youtube channel here: http://www.youtube.com/user/weyrdmusicman
Took a bit of time and I only choose standard quality but it will do for me.
I think this filk genre is very interesting. You expect some crappy sounding music (and in some parts, there is ) and get this funny, creative songs by really good singers. It's a genre I hadn't known about before.

Today, much of the mainstream music is, im my opinion mediocre at best. It's great to have people that digitize old cassettes from the 80's and share it with us. I found so much marvelous stuff by just surfing on youtube and blogs that share old music.
All this is more than the sum of its parts...

[662c548ada411Kolya]

Oh but mainstream music mostly sucked ever since the 70s! Anyway, I have this faible for music that sounds handmade and unpolished. And yeah, some of filk fills this spot. A lot of it is pretty unbearable too.

In case of Julia Ecklar she manages to make this type of music work for me that I wouldn't come close to otherwise. It's so pathetic, this medieval dame with a guitar stuff. But then she's got these awesome lyrics and you notice she's not soft at all. And suddenly I'm screaming along: Not on the Steel - the Man! Haha. And The Darkness? Had me in tears, sobbing like a homeless alien.
Oh well, I understand if anyone thinks this sucks and walks along. Never cared much about that.

[662c548ada52bGiggyTheEvil]

Personally, I found Cold Dreams to be the most poignant.
Second I would say Pushing The Speed of Light.

Space Hero was pretty terrible, and the more opera-y ones I didn't like so much. But overall, I found the album quite deep.

[662c548ada6eaKolya]

Not sure which ones you define as reminiscent of operas? Not the ones I've posted videos of above I hope? These are just so
I still have another album of her early works somewhere. Haven't really listened to that yet.

* Kolya goes rummaging in his harddrive's basement

[662c548ada89eGiggyTheEvil]

The ones like Crystal Singer ( I remember reading that book) and Helva's song.

Just noticed hymn to breaking strain hadn't upacked properly, so I haven't listened to that more than once. Its 

Somewhat unrelated, Cold Dreams inspired a short bit of writing. Should I post it in here or should I make a new thread?

[662c548ada9feSam]

Thank you!
After listening to Darkness, I felt obliged to download the whole cassette.

Sam

[662c548adabd5Kolya]

If you like Darkness you will probably find a few more. ... Glad I'm not the only weirdo.

@Giggy: Wherever you prefer.

I have meanwhile found out that Hymn to breaking strain is a poem by Rudyard Kipling from 1935. I also read that (some of) the other songs are based on sci-fi novels, though I don't know which ones in particular.

The other album I have is "Horsetamer's Daugher", also from 1983. It is based on Marion Zimmer Bradley's "Darkover" series of novels. To me it is less interesting because it covers medieval fantasy stories. I guess that fits her style, but I like "Space Heroes & Other Fools" exactly for this contrast of tone and subject.

[662c548adaf40GiggyTheEvil]

I recognised some of them.

Crystal singer is about by the book of the same name, where the main character starts by being told she has a natural flaw in her voice ("music's broken me") meaning she can't go into show business. Instead she meets a crystal miner and becomes one herself - the crystals resonate to the human voice so you have to sing as you cut them or them become useless (or something on those lines, I read it long ago).
I believe Helva's Song is inspired by the book The Ship That Sang, a novel about how children have their brains built into ships to control them. Each ship is a semi-independant entity, and the novel follows Helva throughout various situations.
Hymn to Breakign Strain, well, you've said yourself.

Syble's song sounds familiar, but I can't place that one.

OK, the writing:

The frozen dreamer

Out between the stars, a metal seed drifts through the void. The steel shell is scored with impacts and dents - the many glass eyes cracked and shattered, wounds open to the icy grasp of space. Engines that once flared with might are silent, dead; bled dry of fuel, the huge arrays roar no more.  The seed had a name, once. The caress of interstellar dust has brushed the name from the sides of the hulk, but the stars remember. They recall back along the empty aeons, to when the seed buzzed with life as it leapt from the home soil. The mother tree is dust, now, and the seeds it released to the solar winds blown far from the warm earth.

The iron halls echo to the tinny whisper of memories and dreams, along the abandoned walkways and failed machinery. But deep within the seed, lights still blink a heartbeat amid dead compartments. Ancient systems still watch over a cargo most precious. A spark of life, sealed in crystal and steel. Dark hair sparkles with ice: delicate lashes are beaded with diamonds of frost. The cargo sleeps on in a life like death, waiting for an awakening that will never arrive. Deep within cold dreams, the sleeper lives eternal.

Out between the stars, a dreamer drifts through the void. Time and man have forgotten, but the stars watch over the endless journey, awaiting the return of the frozen dreamer.

It's too short, but I'm not sure how to extend it further. Thoughts?

[662c548adb0f5Kolya]

It's nice, it has a poetic language without being corny, I like that. In order to extend it, I guess you could go back to the mission this ship once had and describe its crew. It would be nice if there were at least 2 female members, so all we know is that one of them will be the dreamer in the far future, but we don't know who. We might witness the events that led to the lonely dreamer drifting through space.
Back in the present a ship might find the hulk, which would now be interesting because we know the dreamer inside. There might even be a fight over the remains and a rushed wakening. Oh well, just some quick ideas and nothing too original I fear.

[662c548adb2e2Kolya]

Julia Ecklar's last album "Divine Intervention" appeared 25 years ago. If you like her filk you might be interested to learn that she just released a new album named "Horsetamer". You can pre-listen the complete album and place a discounted pre-order it here.

As with her other albums except "Space Heroes & Other Fools" this deals with fantastic topics. And it is a quality production, with symphony musicians, a production crew and all that. I personally prefer the more intimate raw low-fi (and sci-fi themed) music of her early years. Still "Horsetamer" has great songs ("Gentle Arms of Eden") and your mileage may vary. I'll buy it, if only because I was never able to pay her back for "Space Heroes" which still means a lot to me.

[662c548adb42bAj]

I have loved the haunting sound of Julia's music and guitar since the first time I heard Dreamer, Petiron's Song, and ... I could go on with the list.  Love the music, love the voice, love the acoustic guitar. 

[662c548adb50dra_diohead]

may God bless you, kind sir. many thanks.

[662c548adb894Kolya]

I have updated the first post with a link list. On Ann Prather's site is info about the songs she wrote, some of which was correctly summarized by GiggyTheEvil before. Additionally she has this to say about Sybil's Song:

The Science Fiction genre is rich with retelling of fairy tales. Sometimes these ret el lings are deliberate, sometimes they seem to be almost accidental, and sometimes they are inspired by the fairy tale but do not stay strictly within its structure. The Snow Queen by Joan D. Vinge is an example of the third type, in which the Anderson fairy tale provides that backbone for a much larger story. This tale, which won a Hugo award, is one of the best clone stories ever written. But it's much more–a tale of cultural upheaval, a confrontation between good and evil, and a deeply moving love story. In the song, Moon Dawntreader Summer is telling about her duty as a sibyl and her need to go home and rescue her people.