Definitions of Exclusion

[drcpunk]

GAFilk's secret guest this year, Emma Bull, collects found filk. I believe this can be defined as "filk that does not come from the filking community". This includes stuff like the songs from the musical episode of Buffy, some of Jonathan Coulton's songs, modern cowboy songs... quite a lot of material. And, since Emma asked us to send found filk her way, I asked for a definition of "Not-Filk".

She said that this was an interesting question.

mnemex defined it as "mimetic". He said that "Title of the Song" is found filk, but the songs it spoofs are Not-Filk.

Emma noted that Stan Roger's "White Collar Holler" is found filk. Logically, most of his songs should be Not-Filk, such as the wonderful "45 Years From Now", one of my favorite love songs, but we sing it at filks, so it is filk.

Musicals fall into an interesting slot. I think the songs from The King and I are Not-Filk. I think. osewalrus, mnemex, and I sang "Sit Down, You're Rocking the Boat" as the dead dog filk wrapped. Does that make it filk? What about the songs from Rocky Horror, Sweeney Todd, and Urinetown?

And, what about the songs from Grease? At first glance, these look like Not-Filk. But, as those who've seen the stage play and those with a really quick ear who've seen the movie know, there are at least two songs one could make an argument for being found filk. One of these is the school anthem for Rydell High School. The other is the parody of this anthem that the kids sing in the halls of that venerable institution.

Categories may well be fictions, but they are often useful fictions. However, they are more useful when they are exclusive. The problem I've had with the term "interstitial" is that I cannot figure out what is not interstitial. I want to send Emma cool found filk, but this is much harder if I don't know what not to send her.

Comments

[mneme]

I didn't express it very clearly. It wasn't that accessible.

Mostly, I mean that words need to be audible and comprehensible. This is actually true for most (but not all) music. (mind, I've seen one exception; Toy Boat's rendition of a certain popular filk song -- but there, the audience was expected to already know the words).

[jl8e]

I don't think that's a problem with any of the bands in question. (I know I used to (and probably still do) have all the lyrics to Iron Maiden's album Seventh Son of a Seventh Son memorized, and I'm pretty sure it was from listening, rather than reading the inlay card.)

Mumbling as a singing style belongs more to grunge/alternative than it does hard rock/heavy metal. :)

[mneme]

Fair enough.

[avram]

Another issue: Can you plausibly adapt the song to typical filk circle performance conditions without losing most of what made it cool? In other words, can it be sung solo, a capella? Or maybe by two people, with just a guitar, or one or two other simple instruments? Will it work if accompanied on a doumbek, or does it need a full drum kit?

[avram]

Or, to put it another way, I'm pretty sure I've never heard anyone perform Led Zeppelin's "Ramble On" or "The Battle of Evermore", or Blue Öyster Cult's "Black Blade", at a filk circle. I have heard redaxe perform Dire Strait's "Brothers in Arms" (which he sees as evocative of the Dorsai stories). I'm pretty sure "Brothers in Arms" is just a much less musically demanding song than the other three.

[jl8e]

Quite possibly. ("Battle of Evermore" doesn't have any prominent instrumentation beyond guitar.)

I'd guess that, of the bands I mentioned, a lot of Dio (it's very much the singer's band), some BOC, and very little Maiden could be adapted, but I'm neither a musician nor familiar with filk.

But does that make them not 'found filk', or just found filk that's not likely to be performed in a filk context? In other words, if Josh were to adapt BOC's 'Godzilla' for harp, and play it in a filk circle, would it now be found filk where it wasn't before?

[avram]

"Evermore"'s vocals are a bit demanding.

Yeah, I think part of the "found-filk" experience might be the act of sharing it with other filkers. Maybe.

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

Slight correction: "Brothers In Arms" is found filk relating to the Darkover universe (in the Ages of Chaos, specifically).

If I were going to do Soft White UnderbellyBlue Oyster Cult's music at a filk circle, I strongly suspect it'd be the easier choice, "Godzilla", which is very clearly found filk.

[drcpunk.livejournal.com]

This is less of an issue than it used to be, at least at the bigger filk conventions. NEcons, especially in the NYC / NJ area, tend to be smaller than, say, OVFF, and generally don't have the variety of instruments we saw at this year's GAFilk. When one guy is indeed using a drum kit, a woman's on a flute, another's playing her viola, Josh pulls out his harp, and Sally works magic with her cymbals -- well, it's at a filk circle. It's done by filkers. It's filk.