Sixteen Clicks (filk)

[kjn]

A friend of mine was stuck at work doing a very basic operation over and over and over, so I wrote him this one to cheer him up, I hope.

For once, it's in English. Comments on how to improve rhythm and meter are welcome.


Some people say a man is made outta mud
An engineer's made outta neurons and blood
Neurons and blood and skin and bones
A mind that's bored and a back that's wrong

You click sixteen times, what do you get
De Quervain syndrome and maybe a cheque
Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go
I trust my files to the sequential store

I was born one mornin' when the sun didn't shine
I picked up my grapher and I sat in the line
I clicked sixteen times on PLM code
And the straw boss said "Well a-bless my soul"

You click sixteen times, what do you get
De Quervain syndrome and maybe a cheque
Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go
I trust my files to the sequential store

If you see me comin', better step aside
A lotta men didn't, a lotta men died
One brain of neurons, one of silex
If the right one don't a-get you
Then the left one will

You click sixteen times, what do you get
De Quervain syndrome and maybe a cheque
Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go
I trust my files to the sequential store

Comments

[canyonwalker.livejournal.com]

The song you're filking, Sixteen Tons, has fairly dark lyrics. It describes the grim circumstances of Debt Slavery.

A similar folk song is Fifteen Years on the Erie Canal. It was written in 1905 and has been known by many different names, including "Low Bridge", "A Mule Named Sal", and "Fifteen Miles on the Erie Canal". Wikipedia article. I learned it as a boy and have always liked it because it refers to the drudgery of repetitious work but also finds a positive side in relationships one can build with people while working. In my teens I sang the song to myself to pass the time while doing repetitious, mind-numbing work.

[filkerdave.livejournal.com]

It's got dark lyrics, but it's a great song (and has been filked about a thousand times ;) )

[kjn]

Yeah, I think I have Wolf von Witting's filk of it somewhere in my piles of old fanzines.

Wonder which original tunes are most popular for filking? At least I know I'm mining in fields not that well-treaded yet (though there has been some great Swedish filkers before me).

[filkerdave.livejournal.com]

And I have at least one version of my own.

As for which ones are the most popular? I think that depends on which demographic you're in. For a long time, classic folk songs were on top; I personally know very few of them because I grew up listening to rock. But you can't do a fair number of those w/o big banks of amps ;)

[kjn]

Yeah, there is that. Good melodies are hard to wear out, however.