“The Temper of Revenge” is one of my favorite filksongs, though I was introduced to it by the Star Trek II-related parody, “The Temperature of Revenge”. A few weeks ago, on a bus from Madison to Chicago, I decided to see if I could fit some lyrics about my favorite video game, Outer Wilds, to the tune. It took a lot of revising to do so without massively spoiling the game - and, if you ever intend to play it, do be careful of spoilers! - but I think I’ve succeeded.
A Matter of Time
(to the tune of The Temper of Revenge, by Julia Ecklar)
We were born on a fragile, ancient world
Raised up with tree and reed
There’s no time for what we could become
Yet I’ve all the time I need
I wake from sleep, it seems, again
With star-fire strong in my heart
I step out from the light, walk again through the night
And towards a black sky, I depart
My memory’s filled with names and sights
Fresh in my mind, a web is unfurled
This time I search not for trinkets or lore
But how I can shield my world
CHORUS:
So find me a ship, no matter how small
Find me a hatchling to answer the call
Hearth’s wood, Nomai metal, with courage will fly
In a friendship to rival the death in the sky
Bring me my scout, bring my scope
Far from this world, there still may be hope
I’ll search far and wide; towards the stars I will climb
For it’s only a matter of time -
It’s only a matter of time
My village is all I’ve ever known
Beneath skies so vivid and clear
We started our lives at the end of the world
But our story could never end here
My ship holds my air, my spacesuit, and me
As out from the timbers I speed
I’ll scour every world for the secrets they hold
For knowledge is all that I need
I’ll search every ship, each ruin and moon
I’ll read every text and ponder each rune
I’ll fly for an age, if that’s what it’ll take
Until I find the the answers I’m due!
CHORUS
As a reminder, these lyrics, like everything on this site, are licensed CC-BY-SA. That means you can copy them, remix them, and sell things based on them, so long as you retain an attribution notice and the CC-BY-SA license. Note that the tune is not so licensed.