Questions and Answers

Questions and Answers

Roberta Rogow, author of Songs of Space, answers questions about filking and the book.

What exactly is filk music, and why does it have such a weird name?
In the 1950s author Lee Jacobs made a typo in his unpublished essay called “The Influence of Science Fiction on Modern American Filk Music,” using “Filk” instead of “Folk.” Fans found the typo amusing and adopted it. Hence, fans use the words filk songs, filkers, and filking for the new genre of science fiction music.

Do you primarily sing filk songs, or do you sing other types of music as well? I sing all kinds of music. I got my start as a folk singer, and I also sing choral music. At one time I was a paid chorister at St. Bartholomew’s Church in New York City. I’ve also sung Jewish liturgy both as a paid and volunteer singer at both my own synagogue at Temple Beth Ahm Yisrael and at other synagogues. I just sing music.

The only kind of music I don’t sing is pop but only because no one has asked me. A lot of the music I parody is both pop and country tunes. The music I write comes out rather jingly and poppish.

What makes filk songs special? The lyrics, what they’re saying. The music itself ranges over a lot of genres—folk, rap, jazz, etc.—but what’s being said in the lyrics makes it filk.

When you write a filk song, do you already know which tune to use? Yes. For me it’s the tune first. If I hear a song that resonates with me, I’ll think “I’ve got to use that tune.” It’s rare for me to write a lyric and then need to find a tune for it. When I hear an existing song, the words or the tune make me want to use it in a parody.

For example, I used the same tune, “Charlier on the MTA,” for two of the songs in the book. The lyrics in my filk song talk about the same type of thing in the original song: people who were stuck in near calamitous situations, even though they were all rescued after I wrote the songs. “The Cosmonaut Who Never Returned” talks about how Sergei Krikalev was trapped alone for a year. In “The Weekend Run That Lasted,” the two astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, were also stranded for a year. The situations demanded that tune.

Why do you write the music for a song, rather than using an existing tune? When I have to. Sometimes I can’t find an existing song that fits the lyrics. It doesn’t happen very often. As a matter of fact, I didn’t need to write new tunes until 2007. The only song in the book for which I wrote the music is “Working Women in Space,” which is why the sheet music appears in the book.

What kind of filk songs have you written? I’ve written lyrics to songs about space, science fiction, fantasy, mystery, and horror; computers or games; favorite characters and themes in television, movies, and books; and what’s going on in the world.

How long did it take you to write Songs of Space and why did you write them? I wrote them over a period of 40 years. Some songs were written in parody workshops. Others I wrote to comment about events, especially when I have strong feelings about them, such as the Challenger disaster in “Salute to the Challenger Crew,” or scientists deciding Pluto wasn’t a planet in “Pluto’s Degradation.”

How many publications have you written? I’ve written 17 mystery and science fiction novels, 16 short stories, and lots of fan fiction. I’ve also written and published newsletters, fanzines, and numerous filk songs.

Are your children and grandson interested in filk? No, although both of my daughters contributed to a filk song many years ago. My daughter Miriam does sing karaoke. Her husband is interested in Irish music and collects musical instruments. My grandson is musical but not interested in filk.

My father was completely enthralled with music. He had vinyl records, CDs, pop, jazz, all kinds of music. My mother loved dancing, and she and my father were folk dancers.

###