The Engineer's Hymn

Lyrics: O' Lord thou hast made this world a shadow of a dream
and taught by time, I treat it so, except for the ion stream
From coupler flange, to spindle guide, I see thy hand, O' God
Predestination in the stride of yon connecting rod

The Captain rules upon the bridge, and I reign here below
He sends his orders down the line, and I'm pleased to have it so
For though his word, be iron law, as ancient rules decree
I know what truly moves this ship, are my engines, Lord, and me

I know Thy seas are very very wide, and the ship in truth is small
And those who dwell within her hide, I care for, one and all
Their safety rests upon my skill, their lives are in my hand
I take it for a sacred trust, and they rarely understand

Behold these purring engine-hearts, that keep the ship alive
I know them down to their atoms' parts, that I and mine may thrive
And fools they be, who fail to see why I hold my engines dear
For the engine room is a temple raised to the God of the Engineer!

O' Lord thou hast made this world a shadow of a dream
and taught by time, I treat it so, except for the ion stream
From coupler flange, to spindle guide, I see thy hand, O' God
Predestination in the stride of yon connecting rod

[folksongsforsolarsailors]

11. "The Engineer's Hymn" (adapted from Kipling/Fish) MUCH condensed from the original "McAndrew's Hymn" (six pages long!), and updated for a Starfleet Engineer—Scotty.

[smtxs]

1:08 touches me deeply as a crewchief for jets

[MnemonicHack]

As an electro-mechanical technician, this now lives in my heart.

[echobravo]

If everybody wasn't having such a miserable and fanatic time this is the kind of thing I imagine people singing on their ships in Warhammer 40K.

[ComedicLetter]

Fun fact: St Patrick is also the patron saint of engineers

[imwetodded]

Damn, I was hoping this was a new project I'd stumbled upon. Thanks for preserving these for this generation and beyond!

[babboon]

I'm *gobsmacked* Quite an astonishing song

[julien]

hopefully, sometime in my lifetime, I'll see a small revival of this subgenre of music. Filk just hits different

[millitron]

I can totally imagine a techpriest singing this.

[AlexReTard.]

Another hidden masterpiece. That's why i love internet.

[oscarwind]

This is amazing. Whoever made this was brilliant.

[vfd]

Just the sort of music I've been for

[Hunter]

The tune of this starts off a lot like Pioneer's Song, but I imagine this probably came first

[TheKhopesh]

>uploaded 7 months ago
HAH! I was right!
Everyone else kept saying the lyrics were:

"Behold these purring engine PARTS, that keep the ship alive
I know them down to their atoms' parts, that I and mine may thrive"

But I was sure it was HEARTS, because it's more poetic and it's not repetitive.



Likewise, I've been told I'm wrong about a particular line in Bill Sutton's "Bask Ye Samplers".
But for similar reasons I think the line is:

A million miles to the core and back, in the heat of the fusion glow
All mankind thrives on the lives we LEAD, but only the samplers go
If not for the neutrons we return, the starships could not run
And so we mine like our fathers mined, and bask in the NEED of the sun

rather than

A million miles to the core and back, in the heat of the fusion glow
All mankind thrives on the lives we NEED, but only the samplers go
If not for the neutrons we return, the starships could not run
And so we mine like our fathers mined, and bask in the HEAT of the sun

---

The first correction is self-explanatory.
All mankind thrives on the lives they lead.

The second is Bill Sutton switching up the chorus lyrics to change the meaning.
The miners are basking in the fact that humanity NEEDS what they mine from the sun.
(They're probably also basking in the glory and profits too...)

But why needlessly miss such a golden opportunity?
Especially when the chorus already uses "bask in the heat of the sun"!

[RosseRue]

This is one of the worst Scottish accents I've ever heard, but she has a beautiful voice, and the song is wonderful, so I suppose that makes up for it XD

[Bennycanofbeans]

No. This is not our hymn. I listened AND commented though.