Banned From Argo

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You may be looking for Banned from Argo (slideshow), very early form of vidding.

Filksong
Song Title: Banned From Argo
Composer: Leslie Fish
Lyrics: Leslie Fish
Melody: original
Date: 1976
Subject: Star Trek: The Original Series
Other:
External Links: Banned From Argo Wikipedia article

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Leslie performing the song while sitting in the Captain's chair, at Worldcon 2013. Photographer: Joseph Abbott. Photo uploaded with Leslie's permission. It was, according to one attendee, the "first time she sang Argo on the Enterprise." [1]
from The Bastard Children of Argo

Banned from Argo is a classic and much riffed-on filk Star Trek: TOS by Leslie Fish.

The characters are never mentioned by name and instead are identified by their titles and characteristics. Two examples: Captain Kirk is sexually promiscuous, and Scotty is very fond of alcohol. In the filk, the crew makes a shore leave stop at "Argo Port," cause chaos and destruction, and the planet's leader bans them from ever coming back.

TV Tropes calls it "one of the best-known Filk Songs in existence." [2]

It was a last minute addition to Folk Songs For Folk Who Ain't Even Been Yet, released in 1976. This collection was the first commercially available filk recording.

From a 1977 description:

Strictly for fun, this is a raunchy, boastful "fo'c'sle" chantey, based on an old ballad tune ("The Boston Burglar"), about the Enterprise crew on shore leave. Written almost overnight (after finding that we were one song short for a full-length album)... [3]

The filk won a Pegasus Award in 2003 for Best Classic Filk Song. It also became so popular that Leslie Fish got tired of hearing it. In 1992, Fish wrote: "[I] got asked for at every con for years until I got so heartily sick of it that I refused to sing it again..."[4]

Lyrics were printed in many zines and are at the OVFF Pegasus Awards.

You can listen to the song here.

Fish Turned It Into a Story

At some point, Fish wrote a novel based on the song. It was submitted as a Star Trek tie-in novel but was turned down after the Trek publishers veered away from accepting works written by fans.

On January 10, 2021, Leslie uploaded this story to Archive of Our Own: Banned from Argo.

The novel follows the song, verse by verse, but later diverging from that point. From a fan in 2021:

At first it seems she’s just expanding on the verses, providing accounts significantly different from what the verses suggest. For me, the “Lady of Communications” chapter was where I could see a story emerging. It’s the story of a petty, dishonest, somewhat Puritanical planetary government. It decides to clean up the dens of vice when the Enterprise arrives and steadily digs itself into deeper trouble. It’s a story of rebels against authority — in other words, exactly what you’d expect from Leslie. [5]

The Original Filk's Appearances

Audio

Lyrics

The lyrics were printed in many places, sometimes with permission, mostly with not. A sample is below.

Leslie Fish Comments

1992

Song I'm least proud of: "Banned From Argo", no contest! I wrote it to order, to fill in a four-minute shortage on the master tape when we were recording SOLAR SAILORS, and hoo- boy, do I ever regret it! The damned piece of fluff became damn-near as popular as "Hope Eyrie". It's inspired a horde of filk-variations (which Random Factors has collected into a book, gods help them), got asked for at every con for years until I got so heartily sick of it that I refused to sing it again, and now it's inspiring spin-offs too. Arrrgh! [6]

2001

Well, it all started back in 1977 when my band, The Dehorn Crew (me, Kathy Taylor, Robin Oye, Mary Frohman and sometimes Carol Shuttleworth too) were down in Columbus, Ohio making the master tape of what would later be the album SOLAR SAILORS. We'd just finished recording all the filksongs we'd brought with us (in those days, the recording studio at Ohio State U. didn't have multi-tracking capability; the engineer stuck individual mikes on all of us, but we all did the songs together and hoped to Ghu there were no mistakes) and spent the evening at our producer's -- Steve Reubart's -- house listening to the rough dump of the results. The tape sounded fine, but when we were finished we realized that there was a problem: the album was a wee bit too short. To be specific, we needed another four minutes filled in on one side. Of course, Steve asked: "Hey, Leslie, can't you write just one more song -- about four minutes long?"

Oy. The things I do for Art.

[...]

I started writing...and soon realized that I'd need a name for the planet in question. Wrigley's Pleasure Planet was too long a name, didn't scan well, was hard to rhyme -- and besides, sounded too much like the name of a famous chewing gum company. Had to find something better. As I recall, my eye fell on the contents of Steve Reubart's garbage can, in which lay an empty can of corn -- brand name: Argo. I didn't think it likely we'd be discovered -- let alone sued -- by a canned veggie company, so I borrowed the name. The rest came easily.

[...]

Robin and Kathy loved the nice catchy tune; it worked well on mandolin and banjo, gave them plenty of opportunity for improvs and vamps. Everybody in general cracked up over the words. We thought it would make a neat filler for that four-minute gap in the recording time.

So, we practiced for the rest of the evening, got minimal sleep, went back to the studio and recorded the song next day. The engineer loved it too. We got it down in four takes, went off to a well-deserved party, then headed home to await the final result. The editing, pressing, duplicating and cover printing went smoothly enough, and we had the finished LP in time for the Xmas rush.

[...]

I made a point of hitting every convention I ..ould reach in order to sing at the filks and push the record. Soon enough, word began to spread and sales to pick up. Pretty soon, lots of folks had heard our filks -- and lots of our listeners had picked a favorite song off that album.

Guess which one it was.

For the next few years, thank you, at every con I went to, I got asked to sing "Banned From Argo" -- sometimes two or three times a night.

Overkill, anyone?

Soon enough, I got sick to death of singing that bleeping song. I made a general announcement asking the fen to please not ask me to sing it more than once per con. Even that got to be too much, and I asked the fen not to ask me for it at all. That didn't stop other filkers from singing it -- often several times per con -- while I was in earshot, so next I asked that please, nobody sing it while I'm around. Well, the fans complied -- but then, if you please, they started filking it. Yea, verily, they kept their promise and didn't sing that bleeping song in my presence; they'd sing filks on it instead. [7]

2017

I put my favorite filk song, which is “Hope Eyrie,” my tribute to the first moon landing, and when the engineer added up the time [on the preliminary recording]. Remember, you had to have enough music to fill two sides of a record. He said, “We’re 11 minutes short. Can you come up with another song?” So, I thought fast. I had written a song for just about every crew member and major event. What’s left? Well, do a funny song that lists the whole [unclear]. I had written “Banned from Argo” in a couple of hours. We sang it the next day. It was purely a filler. I thought it would be forgotten, and oh no. (laughs) “Hope Eyrie” could be my most famous filk song or folk song, but “Banned from Argo” was the second most. Arrrgh! Such is fame.

[Why do I think "Banned from Argo" appeals to people?] Well, first, it’s funny. It’s more than slightly dirty, and it paints a lot of [un?]flattering portraits of all of their favorite characters. [8]

Riffs, Parodies, and Other Transformative Works

Like any good fanwork, once it escaped into the wild, fans made it their own.

There are MANY versions of the original song for every incarnation of Star Trek, as fans payed homage to the song's popularity in their own filks, art, vids, meta, and social commentary.

1980

An early Star Trek parody of the song, with Star Trek specific lyrics, was published in 1980 in Enterprise Incidents #8 in comic book form.

In 1980, the filk was also made into a slide show by Kandy Fong, see Banned from Argo.

"Banned from Hiltons" is a filk by Roberta Rogow. It was printed in the program book for Augustrek.

Fans, often with Fish's knowledge and blessing, created their own versions and adaptations. Many of these parodies were collected in the filk book Bastard Children of Argo.

1981

Roberta Rogow and Leslie Fish Herself wrote a meta story that included "Banned from Argo." Conventional Fish Story. In it, "Lee Fitch" (Fan Guest of Honor) sings Banned from Argo at a con in which Carl Sagan appears. "High adventure involving a Big Name Fan, assorted con goers and the KGB thrown in for good measure! Ralph finds that this is one place where THE SUIT blends into the scenery." This story was originally printed in Fantazy #1.

1982

In the Starlog essay All Of The Filkers Are Singing, Bjo Trimble played her part in introducing the filk to a wider audience: "No filk session, Star Trek or other, would be complete without the hilarious singalong favorite, "Banned From Argo": ". . .just for having a little fun. . . ", original words and music by the talented Leslie Fish. The activities on shore leave of a crew from an unnamed ship are improbable and unprintable in a family magazine!"

1983

Banned from Tulsa is a reference to an early anti-slash incident that took place at a fan-run convention called Tulsa Star Trek 1983.

1985

1988

Some 1988 examples of inspired works are "Peggy Sue is Occupied" ("lyrics for the eighties in the tradition of capitalist realism") and "Bound for Argo," both of these filks by Susan Kray are in the Professionals zine, Pig Tails & Other Swill.

Another one is the Star Trek: TNG filk by Claire Maier, Harold Feld and Charles Asbjornson in Grip #29.

1989

"Banned from Duxford," is a Robin of Sherwood filk by Ruth Dempsey, printed in Herne's Stepchildren #1.

1996

From a fan's comment about Journey's End (Star Trek: TOS story by Jenna Sinclair): "Loved that Uhura and the others sang Banned from Argo in the rec room, though I will admit that I was very glad Spock didn’t walk in while they were singing the verse about him. (Hmmm... Wonder how he would have reacted to that?)[9]

1999

The filk was included in the vid compilation tape, The K/S Press Songtapes #3.

2007

Different versions of the song have occasionally been used in comedy vids. One is a version sung by the DeHorn Crew with Leslie Fish for a Torchwood vid. [10]

2008

Another vid example is "Have Phaser, Will Travel" (2008) [11]

2011

A fan in 2011 was inspired to write some social commentary based on "Banned from Argo." See tablesaw's filk about Google+ banning pseudonyms: Banned From Google.

Fan Comments

2007

These are only the ORIGINAL verses. There about about 500 KNOWN verses now. You might be shot for uttering the words "Banned from" when it's your turn to pick songs at a filksing. They will kill you RAPIDLY, so that you're not able to get the whole title out as an official request. Even dead, your choice still applies . . . [12]

2018

Why does that bring back memories now that I’m old. I wish I would win one of these quarter billion dollar lottery so I could afford to have this turned into a short animated picture. I think it would be a real hoot! [13]

2021

This sounds like a folk song where every starfleet ship has their own version about the alleged secret lives of their senior officers, all with the same argo chorus. [14]

2023

I can't even describe the comfort that songs like this have brought to my life. I don't know why this resonates with me but, it does. I hear this and, I'm happy.[15]

2024

I know it definitely wasn't intended, but I love the interpretation of the Engineer's verse that this is a setting in which Scotty outdrank seven Astartes. [16]

I've only just now heard this song, but I get the feeling I have to listen to it enough to get sick of it so I can keep with tradition regardless.[17]

References

  1. ^ Facebook post accessed September 7, 2013. Dead link.
  2. ^ Banned from Argo » Music
  3. ^ from the 1977 songbook for Solar Sailors
  4. ^ "Leslie Fish". Archived from the original on 2016-03-19.
  5. ^ Fanfic discussion: Banned from Argo by Gary McGath (February 1, 2021)
  6. ^ "Leslie Fish". Archived from the original on 2016-03-19.
  7. ^ from Bastard Children of Argo
  8. ^ from Media Fandom Oral History Project Interview with Leslie Fish
  9. ^ The K/S Press #2 (10/1996)
  10. ^ Youtube, Torchwood - Banned from Argo (fanvid) Posted September 16, 2007. Accessed November 21, 2008
  11. ^ "Banned from Argo": the music videos Posted September 27, 2008. Accessed November 21, 2008.
  12. ^ a comment at Leslie Fish's "Banned from Argo", Posted December 01, 2007. Accessed November 21, 2008
  13. ^ comment at You Tube
  14. ^ comment at You Tube
  15. ^ comment at You Tube
  16. ^ comment at You Tube
  17. ^ comment at You Tube
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