Category: Songs Page 8 of 12

Keep You Closer
Words and Music by Robert Wynne
© 2001

For all my chosen family throughout the filk community,
and especially for LM, who is ever in my heart.

We come from different corners of the world
And the times that our paths will cross are few
A few short weekends through the year
And then it’s time to go
And parting ways is always hard to do

But give me just a minute to embrace you
To hold you close before you turn away
A moment to remind you
That we’re closer than the miles
To keep until we meet another day

If I could hold the world inside these arms
If I could build a bridge across the sea
If I could shrink the miles that lie between us
I’d keep you closer every day to me

If the world were only a bit smaller
Then parting wouldn’t be a time for tears
But the shuttle waits to take you home
And on a plane you’ll soon be gone
And we may not meet again until next year

(chorus)

Slowly now we pull apart and smile and say goodbye
I pack my bags into my car and go
And though there is a sadness
that must come with each farewell
I love you, and that’s all you need to know

(chorus x2)

Of all the songs I’ve written, this one is probably the one that means the most to me, personally. And yes, while it is about a lot of people on one level, when I wrote it I had a certain few individuals on my mind. I’m very happy to say that, a year later, I did manage to shrink the miles between myself and one of those individuals, and the two of us are very happy being closer every day.

This song was published with sheet music in the Gafilk 2002 songbook.

Hope and Mercy

In Songs

Hope and Mercy
Words and Music by Robert Wynne
© 2001

September 11, 2001

The world around me has gone mad
I cannot find the words
To make sense out of anything at all

I feel so helpless and confused
So powerless and small
If anyone is there to hear my call

Hope and mercy
For this alone we pray
Send us strength from somewhere
To make it through this day

Faith and courage
To help us through the night
And draw us all together
To set the world to right

I know I cannot save the world
Not by myself alone
I’m not even sure how to survive

Please tell me there is still a chance
A reason to go on
There must be hope as long as we’re alive

CHORUS

So at last we come together
To comfort and to grieve
And lean upon each other in our fears

But dawn will bring a new day
And together we will strive
To build a new tomorrow without tears

CHORUS

While I did write this song on September 11, it’s not really about the terrible events of that day. One of the first reactions I saw to the events on rec.music.filk was someone who said, “I shall write songs of vengence tonight.”

This struck me as…the wrong approach somehow, and I got to thinking about how communities, such as ours, come together to face adversity. No matter what tries to divide us, we know we can build a better tomorrow together, because we will always have each other. This is a song about coming together and dealing with adversity as a community.

This song was published with sheet music in “September 11, 2001 – A Memorial Songbook.”

Dead Tired

In Songs

Dead Tired
by Robert Wynne
Music: “Weird Science” by Oingo Boingo
© 2001

(Dead Tired)
Jet lag and too little sleep
Going to a con
God it’s half past one
I’m feeling

(Dead Tired)
Folks I’ve never met before
Behind ballroom doors
Talent and imagination

(Dead Tired)
Here’s what I came here to do
Makin’ dreams come true
Living music, warm friends

(Dead tired)
Jet lag and too little sleep
God it’s half past one
God it’s half past one

CHORUS
(God it’s)a convention — is it real?
It’s a convention — I do not know
Bring caffienation — No time to sleep
With friends and music — I will not weep

Far from bed and far from home
This is why to here i roamed
Filk convention ….ooooh, dead….
dead tired!

(Dead tired)
Music and high fantasy
Science fiction chants
Puns and geekery
I’m feelin’

(Dead Tired)
Consuite breakfast and corn chips
Glad I made the trip
It’s been magic
I’m feeling

(Dead Tired)
Pictures for my conreport
New songs and chord charts
Sorry now to part (and feelin’)

(Dead Tired)
Staying for the dead dog filk
God it’s half past
God it’s half past

(Chorus)

This is, of all things, a filk written about a con report, specifically Dave Weingart’s conreport of his trip to Consonance in 2001 . I’d love to hear it performed by a full band one day…

This song was published in the Gafilk 2005 songbook.

Consumed By Wonder

In Songs

Consumed By Wonder
Lyrics and Music by Robert Wynne
© 2001

Hundred Acre Wood
is dark
is dark
is closing in
Shadows linger shadows leap
from behind from within
swirling spectres soundless formless
timeless ageless seamless screaming
shifting sliding swirling swooping
down upon me in the closing of the dark
of the dark
of the dark
of the Hundred Acre Wood

Alice’s Wonderland
is dark
is dark
is closing in
Shadows shuffle shadows flee
from below from without
stalking phantoms mindful prideful
vengeful willful skillful streaming
swerving skulking stalking swooping
up behind me in the closing of the dark
of the dark
of the dark
of Alice’s Wonderland

The Emerald City
is dark
is dark
is closing in
Shadows startle shadows fly
from above from withstanding
creeping spirits spaceless graceless
endless trendless friendless weeping
seeping sleeping creeping swooping
from within me in the closing of the dark
of the dark
of the dark
of the Emerald City
This song was written during a particularly difficult time in my life, and is an attempt to evoke the emotions I was working through at the time as I travelled over some especially dark internal landscapes.

The Work Of The Drummers

In Songs

The Work of the Drummers
by Bill Sutton and Robert Wynne
Music: “The Work of the Weavers” (aka “Drink to the Health of the Dorsai”)
© 2000

We are gathered here to sing some songs tonight
With our songbooks on our back and our axes in plain sight
There’s not a man among us who couldn’t get it right
If it weren’t for the work of the drummers

If it weren’t for the drummers, what would you do?
You wouldn’t have nobody to feel superior to
You wouldn’t have nobody to beat you black and blue
If it weren’t for the work of the drummers
Bill and I wrote this to annoy his wife, Brenda, who is an excellent drummer and who, i might add, can play percussion behind me anytime she wants. It was all in good fun Brenda…..honest…. please put the tipper down…..ow!

Ramblin’ Fan

In Songs

Ramblin’ Fan
by Robert Wynne
Music: “Ramblin Man” by the Allman Brothers
© 2000

Lord I was born a rambling fan
going to conventions and doing the best I can
So when its time for the dead dog I hope you’ll understand
That I was born a rambling fan

My father was a filker from New Hampshire
My mother published zines in New Jersy
And I was born in the back row of a panel talk
in Massachussetts back at Boskone 3

(chorus)

Left a con in New Orleans this morning
Next weekend is Nashville, Tennessee
Every weekend there’s another convention to attend
And Worldcon’s where I hope they’ll bury me

(chorus x2)

I wrote this in the car on the way back from dinner at Gafilk 2000. As a note to the literal minded, I don’t have family in New Hampshire or New Jersey, and I was 31 years old the first time I even visited Massachussetts. So this song isn’t remotely autobiographical. For the record.

This song was published in the Gafilk 2001 songbook.

Play It…AGAIN?

In Songs

Play It…AGAIN?
by Robert Wynne and Jeffrey Williams
Music: “Circle Sky” by Michael Nesmith
© 2000

My old hits
Bored to bits
Requesting
Same old thing

Oh, do I have to play that once again?
Dear God, do I have to play that once again?

Played this song
For so long
Rather do
Something new

But now I have to play this once again!
Yes, now I have to play this once again!

It’s a very tedious thing
But no one out there understands
But I sing what I must just to please
All my fans….all my fans

Trapped by my
Success I
Grin and play
Every day

And now I’ve gotten through it once again
Thank goodness I have gotten to the end.
This song was written on the way back from seeing Mickey Dolenz in concert, and I was asking myself “What on earth must it be like to have to play the same songs, over and over again, for thirty years?” In a way, I can guess. There are times I look at all my collected songs and think “I hate everything in this book and I don’t want to play any of it.”

Music Of The Cat

In Songs

Meowing, slinking
Hide under the sofa
Running aimless
Under and then over
Stop to lick your fur
Then remember where you were
And give out a plaintive mew
And crouch down flat
And start to make the music of the cat

Prancing, pawing
Partake any pleasure
Balls of yarn are
Such a priceless treasure
Toss it in the air
Then pretend that you don’t care
If a human observes you
engaged in that
For they can’t hear the music of the cat

Close your eyes and surrender to an hours sleep
Twitch your ear lest they think that you don’t hear
Warm and safe on the top of the TV
Only cats can know the true meaning of free

Prowling, pouncing
Rub against a pants leg
Wishing, hoping
But far too proud to beg
Curl up in a lap
Take yourself another nap
And if they stroke your fur
You’ll purr for that
And once more make the music of the cat
I wrote this one day while observing one of my cats being playful, unaware that I was watching. The moment she DID realize, she suddenly became very dignified and intent on washing her paw. I know too many parodies of this tune have been written already, but it really seemed to fit.

This song was published in the Contata 3 songbook

Fund Me Now

In Songs

I have an idea
A surefire scheme
A vision of making a few million off of technology dreams
There’s just one problem
I don’t have the cash
If I could just find some investors I’m sure we’d be rich in a flash

Oh-oh, fund me now
Oh-oh, fund my start
New VC
Is the hardest part, the hardest part

You say I’m a dreamer
We’re a dozen a dime
But this one’s a sure thing, I promise we’ll turn out
A profit this time
We’ll create us a new firm
That will draw in the dough
All we need is that first little push to get started
Can you make us go?

(chorus)

You ask for the numbers
What’s our business plan
But those are just details, and don’t you agree
Our idea is just grand
We’re not asking for billions
Just a few million bucks
You’ll make it all back in the end, all we need
is a whole lot of luck

(chorus)

Someone on rec.music.filk posted a filk of the Thompson Twin’s “Doctor, Doctor” titled “Dotcom, Dotcom”, and Dan Reitman suggested someone should write “Fund Me Now” to this tune. I picked it up and ran with it.

One of my favourite performances of this song was the first time I played it for my friend Robert Cooke, who writes grants for a living and actually gets to listen to just this sort of pitch every week. I’ve never seen someone laugh so hard at a song in my life.

Fare Thee Well, Lithuanian Maiden