The Ballad of Lois Mangan

Historical note: At Boskone 33 Lois sang "The Ballad of Gordy Dickson" from the NESFA Hymnal, Vol. 1,* and I was immediately inspired to write this. It takes only slight poetic license with the facts. First sung at the M.A.S.S.F.I.L.C. meeting of March 30, 1996, with Lois in attendance.

In 2006 Lois was inducted into the Filk Hall of Fame.

Pronunciation note: There is no "g" sound in the name "Mangan". It rhymes with "Then she SANG ANother one."

You can find more filk about fan history at Dave Weingart's fan history page.

Once I was an ordinary
happy science fiction fan
till I met up with Lois Mangan,
she made me a filking man.

CHORUS [repeat after each stanza]:
   Lois Mangan, Lois Mangan,
   Lois Mangan is her name.
   Singing filk is just her hobby,
   filk recruiting is her game.

At a con in Massachusetts
I went filking on a whim.
She was leading from the Hymnal, *
grabbed my arm, and pulled me in.

After filking for an hour
I said, "Thanks, that's really fun.
Now I'm going to hear a panel."
Lois smiled, "We've just begun."

After three more hours of singing
I could hardly make a sound.
Lois said, "Come back tomorrow
afternoon: we're doing rounds!"

By the time the con was over
I could neither sing nor speak.
When I croaked, "I'll see you next year,"
she said, "MASSFILC meets next week!"

All that year my children wondered,
where does Daddy go to sing?
So I took them to Arisia...
Lois smiled, "Fresh blood you bring!"

I sat dozing in a corner,
filking made a background drone.
Suddenly she loomed above me:
"Bring these children to Boskone!"

On my deathbed I will tell her,
"I've paid my dues, now let me die.
I have given filk my firstborn
and another two besides."

When I've died and gone to Heaven,
soon or late I'll see her there
with a pile of NESFA Hymnals
making filkers of the choir.

[CHORUS twice to finish]

* The NESFA Hymnal is a collection of hundreds of filksongs in two volumes, nicknamed the Old and New Testaments. NESFA, the New England Science Fiction Association, puts on Boskone every year, publishes books, and commits much other fanac of note.