To the tune of Simon & Garfunkel's "The Boxer"
I am just a spacer, and I might be gettin' old,
But I have wandered through the System
in the cargo holds of freighters goin' everywhere.
I ride the jets,
Though the captains and the companies
Don't like my kind of guest, mm-hmm.
Well, I left my home and my family
When I was no more than a boy,
In a starship full of strangers,
With a quiet sense of desperation,
Runnin' scared.
Lyin' low,
Seeking out the lower quarters
Where the captain wouldn't know,
Playing for the spacers songs they used to know.
Lie-la-lie...
With my worn-out spacer's papers
I go lookin' for a job
But I get no offers,
'Cept a come-on from the whores on Venus Avenue.
I do declare
There were times when I had creds enough
I took some comfort there.
La la la la la la la...
Lie-la-lie...
Now I'm layin' out my pressure suit
And wishin' I was free,
Goin' home.
Wish the cool green hills of Terra
Could be there for me.
There for me,
Goin' home.
On the ships there lives a spacer
Though a singer now his trade,
And he carries the reminder
Of the burning light that blinded him.
It burned him till he cried out
In his anger and his pain
"I am leaving, I am leaving
On the starships I'll remain."
Mm-hmm.
Lie-la-lie...
--Performed live at Worldcon in Baltimore, MD in 1983. Posted to alt.music.filk in 1994; added here April 27, 2002.
©1983, 1994, 2002 Alan P. Scott. All rights reserved.
Last updated April 27, 2002.
Contact me:
ascott@pacifier.com