This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Not-So-Badass Longcoat: I'd suggest deleting the Vampire The Masquerade example as basically they took existing songs unrelated to the game (ie. "Deception") and sometimes only present on the album due to having lyrics about vampires (ie. "Bloodsucker 2000" and "Hemoglobin"). Of course, it doesn't help that the album is So Bad Its Horrible ("Hemoglobin". Dear God, "Hemoglobin"...).
Scifantasy: OK...after looking at the mess of an entry, I've gone ahead and, well, pretty much rewritten it in total. Yanked things that are just Troper Tales (though I've also started a Troper Tales entry), sorted the examples into categories, rewritten the description, changed the Laconic entry. Hopefully this will solve most of the problems referred to below about confusion.
Addy The Pawn Slayer: I've removed most of the examples, see the page history for which ones. This is because they were examples of songs about sci-fi or fantasy, and not new versions of existing songs. The Laconic entry I've now added will hopefully end future confusion as to what this trope is.
Looney Toons: I see that you don't seem to consider that the composers and performers of some of the pieces you've so cavalierly declared "not filk" think that they are — just for an example, let's take "Banned From Argo". Practically all of SF/Fantasy fandom considers it filk, Leslie Fish (who composed and performs it) considers it filk, and it's been published in numerous collections of filk songs (I first saw it in the 1980 songbook "The Westerfilk Collection"). But clearly you know better — I'm sure all these people over the last 30 years are very grateful that you have corrected their misapprehension. "Hope Eyrie" is another example — although you deleted it as allegedly "not filk", it's available on the Virtual Filksing page as an example of the best in filk. You seem to think that a song has to be a parody to be filk. That is not the case at all. Consequently, I am undoing your changes.
Addy The Pawn Slayer: Fine, whatever. Clearly though the description of this trope bears no resemblance whatsoever to the reality of it then, since the description quite clearly says "parody only". No mention of sci-fi whatsoever.
Tapam N: Would this count?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ColRwxkC1FY
Sci Vo: I don't think so... I think that's more like The Jimmy Hart Version, another musical parody trope. A Filk Song is typically stand-alone, whereas The Jimmy Hart Version is characteristic of TV soundtracks. //Later: The Jimmy Hart Version wasn't on the list of Parody Tropes yet, so I just added it.
Scifantasy: Wow, LT, I've been in filk for a few years now and never heard that story about "Hope Eyrie." I wish it were true, and will see what I can do about confirming or denying...
Mike Rosoft: I have scrapped the following example:
- This troper (from the Czech Republic) takes part in a bicycle race named Tour de Zavadil. During one of the races, he altered (okay, by means of a simple word substitution) the lyrics of the Czech folk song Hudsonské šífy ("Hudson boats") into a song about the race. (If you want to know what kind of race it is/was, suffice to say that Rudolf Zavadil, in whose honor the race takes place, is permanently entitled to the first place - despite not actually racing - and that one participant is officially in charge of setting the tempo of the race and others are strictly forbidden from overtaking him.)
Silent Hunter: Perhaps this warrants a troper tales. I've redone the lyrics of "Bohemian Rhapsody" into a song about Kim Bauer...
Mike: I must be missing something here. Half the entries are just about mainstream original songs with a fantasy or science fiction theme. Filk, as I understand it, is an original song that is then changed, typically to have a fantasy or science fiction theme, although for that matter the Element Song ought to count as a filk of Modern Major General.
Vifetoile: I've... written an actual filk song. It's not as informative as the previous entry, yes, but on the other hand, now it's a Self-Demonstrating Article.
I leave it to the mercies of the wiki whether it survives or not.
Scifantasy: What? I can't hear you over the noise of the standing ovation I'm giving you. grin
Michael: Is there a TV Tropes section under Crowning Moment Of Awesome?
Korodzik: So... what the hell is a filk song? The entry and the examples don't explain anything.
Michael: Take a song, replace the words, ideally put in a pop culture reference. I agree, some of the examples listed are just songs with pop culture references which isn't right. The element song is a very early example, being a filk of Modern Major General into a song about the periodic table.
Vifetoile: Now this is just getting confusing. My entry/example still stands (good idea, btw, to combine a Self-Demonstrating Article with an actual prose entry) but the very long prose entry doesn't have a word about a filk as a parody of an already popular song, putting the given example at odds with the text. Either this has got to be split into two different tropes, or the consensus on what a filk is is wildly different from what I had been led to believe.
Scifantasy: Trust me, there is no consensus. The best description is "the music filkers sing." That said, I made a point of mentioning parody: "The humor is often, but not always, parody." But a lot of what was getting filed as "filk because it's parody" is found filk, at best—hence splitting the categories.
