[filk] Open Eyes

There are times when one feels the need to do something different, and other times when one tries to do a bit of everything. It may be a bit obscure, but I present the present presentation for your and my amusement. The aforementioned present presentation presents a gorgeous Pink Floyd album by the title of Atom Heart Mother [original lyrics], released in 1971. This first track, like the last, has no lyrics, so instead I present (besides the presently over-presented presentations of the word "present") the present poem-type-thing for "Atom Heart Mother Suite," and the will-be-present-later-in-the-presentation songfic for "Adam's Psychedelic Breakfast." The other three tracks are, of course, standard filks.

"I'm a poet, and I know it - hope I don't blow it."

Open Eyes Rant [Atom Heart Mother Suite]

a) Filker's Shout [Father's Shout]

Where the hell's the comic, Fred!
I've been waiting seven hours,
My F5 key is damn near dead,
Waiting only for its funeral flowers.

Is it so hard to write the friggin' strip?
Really, tell me, it's only your job.
I wish my boss let my standards slip
To your standards of craftsmanship.

B) Rest Filky [Breast Milky]

My friend, do not abuse the artist so.
He has given you free entertainment -
Three strips a week (more or less)
And owes you nothing more.

Sit back, relax, enjoy the pace.
Analyze the third brick in panel four,
Or that odd mark on Ping-chan's face
And don't even suggest 'tis only a stray mark!

c) Mother Brain [Mother Fore]

Oh, the line of fans is endless, nameless!
Hordes of newbies coming in and out again,
Choose a lousy name, write seven sucky posts,
Leave for greener boards, return by other names!

The main discussion thread would be so nice
If they felt no need to chime on every posted strip
Merely to say they love Tohya's latest outfit
Or ask if hamsters are a particular specie of mice.

Damn, just go somewhere else!

d) Filky Dung [Funky Dung]

...okay... how about this?

I have one task in Piney Flats,
A verse to write, and it's
About a time I dined in Pat's
And wrote about their slivovitz.

The poets there in Piney Flats
They boast of their delightful wits
Then joke of bats and rats and cats
And drink a jug of slivovitz.

I asked the bards of Piney flats
From where they gained their wiley wits.
Perhaps they've studied poetic tracts?
"Not that," they say, "but from the slivovitz!"

e) Mind Your Posts, Please [Mind Your Throats, Please]

The flames they roar accross the board
Spamming and trolling every thread
I wish you could, you know you should
Just discuss the comic instead!

f) Filker's Indoor Voice [Remergence]
[Additional apologies to Ezra Pound]

I make a pact with you, Fred Gallagher -
I have detested you long enough.
I come to you as an old Rodney fan
Who has had a slow, boring comic;
I am l33t enough now to sit still.
It was you who leapt over the wall
That divided our two "-visions."
We have one strip and one artist -
Let there be commerce between us.


Jump (Kimiko) [If]

Jump over the crowd and be proud
Jump over the pride to confide
And jump out the attic
If you want to hold on to your new job

Jump over your job to be real
Jump over the fake to play games
Jump over the game, please don't leave
Your fans in the rain

Jump over the rain to find snow
Jump over the snow to be cold
Jump over the cold man, and understand
The spaces between friends

Jump over with friends or be 'lone
And jump over with fans and they'll learn from you
And jump over the fame
But please keep acting in our game

Jump over the crowd and be proud
Jump over the pride to confide
And jump out the attic
If you want to hold on to your job


Summer '07 (Ping) [Summer '68]

Would you like to be something 'sides fantasy?
Perhaps you'd care to know exactly how you feel
You've played your games without a Player 2
Maybe you are too cute, so flatten out your frame
Those glasses make the final touch, but even now you're fake
From your code you gained a life and lost what makes girls real
And I would like to know
Can you be real (can you be re~al?)
Can you be real (can you be re~al?)
(Ba-bop-ba ba-ba~)

Zombies shuffle 'round the street, fake girls don't need to fear
Brave Junpei-san he saved your brain but what was the need?
If zombie eat, it must be real - even 'bots of '05
Your classmate hears you stumble out your code's apology
Tomorrow brings another doll so Sony throws you out
Take some time before you're trashed and make another friend
Just to let them know
Can you be real (can you be re~al?)
Can you be real (can you be re~al?)
(Ba-bop-ba ba-ba~)

Good-bye to you
Piro, Miho, too
I've had enough for one game
A~aah~


Magic Girl (Yuki) [Fat Old Sun]

When that magic girl from the sky is falling
On her fanboy she goes sprawling
Newfound lover, watched so long
Tries to catch her (is he strong?)
Schoolday chimes, after-school times so sweet
Who said no one ever looks?
Look on up and bring her down

And as you fall, don't make a sound
See your feet won't touch the ground
And if you feel as if no one cares
Just sail down to the boy right there
Draw with me, draw with me

When that magic girl from the sky is falling
On her fanboy she goes sprawling
Sensei's lesson took too long
This one waited all along

And as you fall, don't make a sound
See your feet won't touch the ground
And if you feel as if no one cares
Just sail down to the boy down there
Draw with me, draw with me

When that magic girl from the sky is falling...

Ocelot's Roundabout Breakfast [Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast]

a) Rise and Shine

Within Dallas County, a young Megatokyo fan awoke. He'd stayed up too long last night listening to music, and couldn't quite get it out of his head.
"Marmalade, I like marmalade."
Yeah... wait, no I don't. Anyway, he was starving, and looked through all his cupboards. As he did, he thought about
"Breakfast in Los Angeles, macrobiotic stuff."
I don't even know what that means, but he thought about what breakfast was like in Megatokyo households. He already knew
"Pancakes, bacon...."
Sorry, I'm too hungry to write this intro.

B) Sunny Side Up

Weekend mornings are always quiet at the Sonoda residence. Dad was gone and Mom was off in some other part of the house while Yuki and Yuuji ate breakfast. All was quiet... except for Yuuji's frickin' smacking! Yuki squeezed her spoon tightly in frustration at the constant smack-smack-slurp, trying hard not to show any sign of irritation, for if her brother noticed how annoyed she felt, he would undoubtedly smack louder.

She knew that, because she had made that mistake before. She'd tried asking him to quit, and she'd tried retaliating, but there was no stopping him. If only Mom was around, she never tolerated such poor manners, but alas - getting up to find her was not an option, because Yuuji would know what she was doing and slip out, and calling her would just bring their mother's ire upon both of them.

Then, Yuki had an idea. Might this be a good opportunity to test her newfound Magical Girl powers? She looked at Yuuji's glass of juice and, with just a flick of the wrist, made it topple over towards him so that the offender of good manners now had a crotchful of orange juice.

Her brother was smart, though. He made no sound, knowing that, though he'd certainly bring Mom's anger down upon his younger sibling, that would also deny him his own retaliation. Instead, he slowly rotated his head towards Yuki, then lifted his spoon out of his cereal bowl, took aim, and fired. However, his munitions flew backwards into his own face! This turn of events was so unexpected that Yuuji couldn't help but jump, and nearly fell out of his seat. Yuki took the opportunity to spring off the chair and out the door, making a mental note to be particularly careful around Yuuji for a few days.

c) Morning Glory

Meanwhile, at the Tohya residence, things are... well, how are things?
"Well, wouldn't you like to know?" asked the young mistress with a wink.

This post has been edited by Wavebird_Ocelot on Jul 25 2007, 10:00 PM

Ooh...nice.
I really like these even though I'm not that familiar with the Pink Floyd albums. My B/F does though, I think he'd have a better idea on how it goes than I do. I reads pretty good though for not being familiar with the songs.

~shadowrider

Oh! Did we have a Piney Flats last Xmas? I think I missed it. It feels like it's been years! Too long, anyway.

Very enjoyable. I don't have Atom Heart Mother on CD and my turntable has been in storage for years. I want Muddle before ATM, but I still remember those untranslated breakfast lines. I only recently discovered Alan wasn't Alan Parsons, but another Alan associated with the group.

Filker's Shout hit a chord on a frequent complaint that annoys me everytime some newbie coughs it up.

All Praise to Wavebird_Ocelot!!!

First of all, thanks for the replies - spread out though they may be. ;)

Ah, this album charted all the way up at #50-something in the US, so I'm not surprised not too many people recognize these songs (though it was Floyd's first #1 in the UK, oddly enough). I am aware of two videos for a couple songs, though (both fan-made, of course).

The first is for "Summer '68," and is actually quite nice - link.
The second, quite bush league, really, is for "Fat Old Sun" - link2.

I'm very glad someone understood the Piney Flats part (for those out of the loop, click here). I've always felt disappointed at my misfortune of discovering MT far too late for that thread, but this seemed like a good opportunity to have some fun with it. This verse is a little out of place in the larger work, since it clashes with the mostly serious instrumentals, but I like it. ^_^

I don't have Meddle, unfortunately, though I am familiar with a couple tracks. At one time, I wanted to filk every Pink Floyd album, but ran into a few problems. First, a couple are a bit obscure (Zabriskie Point, anyone?). Second, Ummagumma is almost entirely instrumental, and is... below Floyd's usual standards, to put it nicely. Finally, it would be a lot of work, even by my standards. o_O

Finally, though I'm unsure whether anyone ever reads them, my traditional "making-of documentary."

I started on this filk within a week or so of buying the album - June 12, according to my .rtf file holding the work. "Magic Girl" was the first done, with "Jump" following a week later and "Summer '07" the next day. The liner notes were written next, but the next two intrumental tracks took over a month to get right. "Ocelot's Roundabout Breakfast" was easy enough to write, but the "Rant" took forever. Originally, it was just a longer version of what became "Filker's Indoor Voice," but the form was horrendous and it failed to capture the scale of Floyd's source work. After a few weeks wrangling over what to do with it, on 7/25 I just sat down and... the whole thing flowed in hardly an hour.

The cover image has nothing to do with the piece inside, besides Osaka's "open eyes," but since the original cover was unrelated to ATM, this doesn't seem like a problem. Plus, I love the image, and it seemed appropriate to include what is essentially a rescript along with the verse, filk, and songfic. I think I've hit on more types of fanwork in a single piece than anyone else, ever. ^_^