More on Sam's Song

I've since had a chance to talk to Sam Armitage (Soren). so I have this further snippet to add:

It was written at the start of the 80s, as a result of Zan and I gaining (probably unauthorised) access to a hostel bar, where we could drink Silver Dragons, cider and trop, and where there was a piano on which he could compose (his digs at the time having little musical apart from something like a Pekinese, though later it was to have an infestation of beetles.

(The Pekinese didn't have a direct influence on the beetles -- they came from an inadequately-sterilised convention tribble, and a pack of biscuits. )

And it was about who we were at the time, and how Zan saw me and my life.

Cliffs Notes

Harry's bar was indeed "nicked" from Chris Chivers, who was filking before it was called filking, and created it in Lunaville.

The "evening had just begun", probably because the "hours" would have been Zan's in the bookshop and mine in Chambers.

McIvor was a character of mine; he "nearly fell into the sun" because (stay with me here) McIvor (a journalist) was associated with Jet O'Conor (a space-pilot char of mine); her name came from the Wings song, which was on the album Band on the Run, in which there is reference to the Band nearly falling into the Sun.

The droid and the wookie are (probably) just from Star Wars (which did have a bar in it)

And the 49 bus ran (in those days) from Shepherd's Bush, where I lived, in the Hovel of cursed memory, to Battersea from where I could get another bus (the number of which now escapes me) to Streatham where Zander lived.

Sam's Song

Putting this here since I've already expended some effort:

When I was tapped to organize a filk session at a Canberra convention in 2003(?), I reached out to see what new songs were current and worth learning.

The song that immediately popped up was "Sam's Song", by Zanda Myrande and Soren Nyrond.

Sams's Song is not about Sam Gamgee, as I first suspected, but is something of an ode to fandom in general, and missing your friends. Or possible just being happier in a book than in real life, it can be read in a number of ways.

The earliest recording I can find of this song dates from 1993... I've not yet been able to confirm this was when it was written. It was written by Zander Nyrond and Soren Nyrond, but according to the eponymous Sam (Soren is nom-de-plume of Sam Armitage) he was the inspiration rather than a direct contributor.

The trail gets complicated. Zander Nyrond aka Jonathon Waite aka Andrew Lyng aka Zanda Myrande. Zanda transitioned in 2018, so that is how I will refer to her from here on in. Zanda died in 2019, so I never got to ask her about this song. Under various of her names, she wrote books and apparently quite a lot of filk songs over the years.

Sam's Song was more or less the anthem for UK fandom. For many years it was sung at the closing ceremony of every UK SF convention. The UK filker awards are CALLED the Sams in Soren's honour. But the curse of early internet rot appears to have struck, and beyond some random paragraphs here and there's precious little to be found about the history of this apparently quite important song.

Zanda's website is still here, but it has not been updated for a long time and the formatting struggles with modern browsers/screen resolutions, but there's some interesting stuff there.

Absolutely everything I know about Soren Nyrond/Sam Armitage is here:

"Sam Armitage is the creator of the Jet O'Connor mythos. His short story collection Jet, which is also a roman a clef based on London media fandom of its day, was published in 1979 by Barbara Kitson. The zine is now available by download from the British Library. Sam is also Soren Nyrond, co-creator with Jonathan Waite of the Nyrond narrative cosmos and inspiration, if not co-author, of the anthemic filk 'Sam's Song.'

Apparently, Zanda wrote Sam's Song for Soren when he was going through a difficult time. 

Lyrics

Well, it's after hours down in Harry's Bar, and the evening has just begun,
And MacIvor is telling all over again how he nearly fell into the sun,
And the droid in the corner is getting well oiled, and the Wookiee has let down his hair,
And I'm sitting alone on a 49 bus and I'm wishing that I was there...

I'll have one more photon torpedo, Harry, and make it a litre or more,
And if I should happen to fall off my seat, just let me slip to the floor,
'Cause it took me too many years to come, but I'm where I wanted to be;
Home is the Hunter, home from the hill and the sailor, home from the sea...

And it's outward bound on a Nyrond ship, and the warpdrive is coming apart,
And that damn Vigilante is back on our tail, and we've only got five minutes start,
And the planets around here all have us on file and they'll grab us as soon as we land,
And I'm sitting alone at a barrister's desk and I'm watching life slip through my hand...

I'll have one more try at the warpdrive, Zander, and then we'll work out what to say,
And although my life is in deadly danger, I feel that I've lived for this day,
'Cause it took me too many years to come, but I'm where I wanted to be;
Home is the Hunter, home from the hill and the sailor, home from the sea...

(Instrumental break)

Well, it's peaceful down here in the Library, and I'm reading of h'Ellen and Jet,
And Kirk and the Seven are all on their way, and a Nyrond is never in debt,
And my friends are around me and so are my foes, but no-one's for fighting today,
And I'm standing alone on the top of this hill, and it's only inches away...
(I rather like it ending just there, but we did in fact finish it off.)

I'll read one more page of my oldest book, the one that I know and love best,
Then I'm for my bed and my mind for its roaming while everything's lying at rest,
'Cause it took me too many years to come, but I'm where I wanted to be;
Home is the Hunter, home from the hill and the sailor, home from the sea...
Yes, it took me too many years to know that wherever we happen to be
Is home for this Hunter, home from the hill and the sailor's home from the sea...
Home from the sea.

Meaning

From an email from Zanda:

"Harry's Bar derives from an old protofilksong by Chris Chivers, concerning your archetypal spacer's bar in Lunaville. 

MacIver was one of Soren's story characters, a journalist who once (wait for it) nearly fell into the sun. 

A photon torpedo is a moderately lethal drink made with rum, lime juice and advocaat. It doesn't usually come in litres. And the 49 bus used to run from the centre of London out to Shepherd's Bush where Soren used to live.

"Nyronds are immortal space-faring snake oil salesmen whose technology tends to go phut on them at moments of dramatic tension. Vigilantes pursue Nyronds, but have not yet managed to catch one. 

A barrister is the kind of British lawyer who stands up in court (see Rumpole), and Soren used to be one. h'Ellen Mac and Jet O'Conor are story characters of Soren's, and the Library is a safe haven of our own invention."

Recordings

Zanda Myrande, Bandcamp - apparently all of Zanda's discography is available there, but there is some doubt her widow has access to any of the funds from there.

Kathy Mar, from Woad Warrior

And from the Filky Way Youtube Channel

Which is not a lot for a song that's been around for as long as this one has. 

Here is my own contribution.

Zanda was part of the band Cosmic Trifle.