Polite Dissent

One of my favorite obscure singers is Tom Smith, the self-described “World’s Faster Filker.” I first ran across his music six years ago while looking for some Heather Alexander CDs at a small Sci-Fi convention. I have since acquired all of his CDs and listened to him in concert at three different conventions, and my appreciationfor his music has only grown.

His work is mostly humorous, though he does write some serious songs. Many of his best works are parodies. All his songs are easy to sing along to, and feature incredibly clever word play and occasionally painful puns. His topics generally include Sci-Fi, fantasy, comic books, movies, and fandom in general. He has also written the official song of Talk Like a Pirate Day.

My favorite songs are Superman Sex Life Boogie, 500 Hats (a song that manages to cover nearly every Dr. Seuss book. Sung to the tune of 500 Miles, by the Redeemer), Five Years (the entire Babylon Five plot, to the tune of Barenaked Ladies One Week), Rocket Ride (about old classic SF/fantasy/comics versus their shallow modern versions), and I Want to be Peter Lorre. All three of his albums available on CD (Debasement Tapes, Plugged, and Tom Smith and his Digital Acoustic Compilation) are highly recommended and available at hissite.