For wealth, or land, or life, or freedom, or some king's lies. 1 and 2 are... understandable. 3 and 4 are praiseworthy. 5 is straight-up evil.

“War was always here. Even before man was, war waited for him. The ultimate trade awaiting its ultimate practitioner"

First time I ever heard of Leslie fish and Filk music was back when I played space station 13.

I've been listening to your music since I was a kid, and am delighted to learn that not only do you have a youtube channel but you still actively upload to it! Thank you for all you do, Miss Fish. I'll be listening to you with my children and grandchildren, for space is wide and good friends are too few.

War is inevitable evil

Ancient Greeks had a stories like this... In Greek myth, a king named Sisyphus had a clever plan to cheat death, by trapping the God of Death known as Thanatos in his own chains... This interestingly resulted in nobody dying, which made war very awkward and the God of War known as Ares among other gods were very pissed off about this because why do wars if no one is dying... So they freed Thanatos but Sisyphus again survived death again by convincing Persephone to let him out of the Underworld due to his wife not giving him a proper funeral... Then the god Hermes dragged him back to the Underworld and by this point the gods were so over Sisyphus' bullshit that they sent him to Tartarus where he is famously punished into pushing a boulder to get it to the top of the hill except every time he gets close the boulder rolls back down to the bottom and he must try again... And that's where the term 'sisyphean' comes from to describe a task that is requiring continuous effort that is overall pointless... Aside from that there's also another person sent to Tartarus I know of where their punishment was basically to be starving/thirsty forever and like, whenever they'd reach for water it'd move away from them, and whenever they'd grab fruit or some other food it's immediately rot and wither away... That was King Tantalus (who, come to think about it, is probably where the word 'tantalizing' comes from which actually makes a lot of sense because if something is tantalizing it looks very nice but is essentially just out of your reach... And that's exactly Tantalus' problem in Tartarus...)

Is leslie a religious person??? Interesting

Is the chorus what brings this song all together

The morale of the balled “There’s no sin in fighting for the right reason”

Leslie, is that Christa Landon singing background vocals here?!?

I am a wise man. I understood the secret truth of Christianity. I understood the secret truth of Buddhism. And it did not bring me joy. Only grandchildren bring joy.

I have not listened to this video. I just wanted to send the message of gratitude and well wishes.

Found your music recently, Avalon Is Risen has become one of my favorite albums ever. Glad to see you still strumming.

Fuck yeah

This is a very good and meaningful song, truth of war is that it is an ugly necessity of our existence but one that shouldn't be done lightly. The song also makes it where any old god fits in it as well, from the faiths that still stay around like the Abraham ones, Hinduism, to even the old ones that fall into history and mythology. It is an ancient truth that rings out. For there to be peace, men prepare for war and fight to defend and preserve freedom and what they hold to be true and just. We may never agree on the reasons, after all, for war there has to be disagreement, but when war is finish, peace is seen. When peace is seen for too long, men make the conditions for strife and suffering, calling for war of some form to set it right once more

Your music brings me great joy thank you

*sighs* While best know for slightly more upbeat songs such as "Banned" or "Engineers Hymn", the raw emotion Leslie puts into the Centurion still evokes strong emotions in me even after all these years. This, I say, is the sign of a true artist, regardless of what the major recording labels want us to listen to.

An increasingly relevant message!

Classic <3

Great variation on the original. Love this!

Love the song. Beautiful artist in so many ways.

That was cool. Shame on yt.

What I find interesting is that I found this song slightly before I really got into the filk genre

This poem and another called The Islanders describe everything wrong with the modern world very succinctly. Would that the world had heeded Kipling's words more closely.

For anyone wondering, international waters is 12 miles out, so you just need to go 12 miles undetected in an unregistered vessel to escape the law book and the lawyer

I love your music and I love your stories! You're an inspiration in so many ways, happy to listen.

So cool

Sad i missed this live! But i am glad to see you are good of health!

The tune Leslie sings isn't one I'm familiar with, and it's different from the sheet music shown in the video (which I used to hear a lot but haven't heard lately), as well as being different from the tune by Sydney Carter (which is nearly identical with "Simple Gifts"). There's nothing wrong with singing it to a different tune, it just had me confused for a moment.

This speaks volumes to me since I'm a witch and male at that. Very pretty. I'm gonna share this song with many. Blessed be leslie!

I've always liked this one, but Leslie left out a key line about "Iron out of Calvary," which makes the Christian metaphor clear. I'm not a Christian, but I think settings of poems should preserve the author's intent.

One of Leslie’s best.

Been listening since the 80s

Holy heck, official lyrics! I've been *waiting* for these for *years*

This is brilliant

I always did think Rain in my Coffee was a great song. Excellent choice for the venue.

I love this track so much. It speaks to me on a very deep level. I've been listening to Leslie Fish's music since 2009, and I am forever thrilled to find there's more to hear. :) I keep putting the ConChord 9 video on so I can sing along to "Run, Cthulhu, Run". Funny enough, it's the only song of hers I've actually sung along to, and I'd happily buy an mp3 of the track just so I could listen to it anytime my spirits need lifting. Everything else, I've just listened to her guitar and her voice and never thought to sing along.

babe wake up leslie fish uploaded

The best version yet.

Just the perfect song to spend a sunny Easter morning to. Absolutely beautiful - as always

Cold Iron has to be one of my favorite performances from Leslie Fish, I get the feeling it's going to show up on my Spotify wrapped this year lol. I'm absolutely in love with the quality of this one, I saw it on my recommended page and went, 'ooh!' out loud and the second I heard it start playing, I was pretty damn impressed. Great job from whoever handled the audio recording!

I'm always impressed that you provide the perfect music to go with Kipling's classics.

This version sounds very clear and good!