Thank you OVFF and OVFF filkers <3 Here's the "Where's My Ass?" song...

I totally owe more lyrics. And songs on bandcamp. My sincere apologies, but there is a reason this will get a LOT easier starting in January 2025: for the last ten years I have been a planetarium director and working astronomer, and thus extremely busy with work and "life stuff," but starting in late December I will be moving with my husband to the location of his wonderful new job, and that is very likely to mean I have more time to "do music." And to go to cons! So yes, please, do come back to this space.

The OVFF Interfilk Guest concert (less than two weeks ago, it feels like an age at this point) was so beautifully supported, both by Cecilia Eng's amazing guitar and harmonies and moral support, and by a wonderful responsive audience and the seamlessly skilled tech crew -- thank you ALL so much!!! And so many thanks to Kathleen Sloan and Interfilk for making it happen. For reasons of gratitude, I'm posting some lyrics now, too, even though the songs will take a little while to get recorded and onto BarbaryAnne.Bandcamp.com ... and please don't buy the current Autumn Phoenix placeholder, I will be taking it down and replacing with the actual song! Don't want to disappoint.

Newest song, completed Oct 2024 on the way to OVFF (of course!)

Breq’s Song (filk on Ann Leckie’s Ancillary series: Ancillary Justice, Ancillary Sword, and Ancillary Mercy. If you know the series, you know the "My heart is a fish" part of Chorus 2. This is in waltz time, 3/4) – words and music © Heather L Preston 10/2024

CH 1: Bring [Dm] civilization with gloves, jewels and tea
E-[Gm]-rasing, ab-[F]-sorbing what [C] else used to [Am] be
I [Dm] sing to myself in the void hyper-c
In [Gm] languages [F] no one re-[C]-members but [Dm] me

I [Dm] once was a ship and an [C] ancillary
My [Gm] consciousness [C] shared between [Dm] dozens like [Am] me
Pre-[Dm]-serving the songs of the [F] “what used to [C] be”
I [Am] sang at my [C] work for the [Dm] Radchaai CH 1

For [Dm] two thousand years, with ten [C] decades aboard
We [Gm] annexed each [C] world: Justice, [Dm] Mercy and [Am] Sword
And [Dm] killed at the dictates of [F] Minaai, Radch [C] Lord
Ex-[Am]-panding the [C] sphere of the [Dm] Radchaai CH 1

How [Dm] long does it take to a-[C]-waken a soul?
_[G] cut off from [C] all that had [Dm] once made me [Am] whole
I’m [Dm] Justice of Toren, I’m [F] One Esk Nine-[C]-teen
No [Am] longer a [C] tool of the [Dm] Radchaai

[bridge]
But [Dm] I am not human, I [F] don’t merit [C] love, it’s al-[Dm]-right
[Bb] Why is my crew singing [F] songs they have [C] heard in the [Am] night?

CH 2: “My [Dm] heart is a fish, that hides in the grass
[Gm] Green as the [F] water, [C] green as the [Am] glass
Oh [Dm] tree, eat the fish!” How did this come to pass?
My [Gm] crew are all [F] singing, “Oh [C] tree! Where’s my [Dm] ass?!”

And [Dm] now as our universe opens and turns
[Gm] Meaning in-[C]-fuses each [Dm] soul as it [A] learns
Un-[Dm]-prejudiced spirits have [F] reached out to [C] me
Friends, [Am] cousins and [C] crew hold my [Dm] love now ||: CH 2 :||