Steve Savitzky IF HoF

Steve Savitzky is a hacker/songwriter who learned both hacking and folksinging back in the 1960's; he discovered organized fandom and filkdom (i.e. was dragged to his first con) in 1978, and wrote his first "real'' filksong shortly thereafter. About half of his recorded songs are about computers; some, like The World Inside the Crystal, are even serious. His first CD, Coffee, Computers, and Song!, was released in August, 2007; his lyrics and writings are on the web at steve.savitzky.net. He and his wife Colleen were inducted into the Filk Hall of Fame in 2008. Lately he has been performing as part of a filk group called "Tres Gique", which he helped found in 2007, and even more recently in "Tempered Glass".

In his professional life as a computer scientist (a glorified term for "ageing hacker''), he is currently interested in such minor arcana as web publishing, lightweight content-management systems, web-based communities, macro-based HTML formatting engines, peer-to-peer filesharing, and RESTful web service APIs. He is a strong proponent of open-source software, a heavy Linux user, and a card-carrying member of the EFF.

This song is a representative work for the 2009 Pegasus Awards. Please note that the song itself has not been nominated.

Quiet Victories

Copyright © by Stephen Savitzky- Some Rights Reserved
Used by permission

This isn't meant to be a tragic song. It's a victory march.

Sit down with me and talk a while;
And please believe me when I say
I don't need much to make me smile,
Just tell me how you spent your day.
I don't need tales of heros bold
Gentle lady, tell to me,
Some tale of yours you've never told;
About some quiet victory.

Forget heroic fantasy
That's not the tale I need to hear,
Tell me of quiet victory
Of love and life against your fear.

Don't tell me of the Amazon
The battle-lust hot in her breast;
Just tell me what the mirror showed:
A warrior's scar across your chest.
Would he still love you after that?
Would you die beneath the knife?
The cancer gave you Devil's odds;
You rolled the dice and won your life.

And still you see your friends and kin
Make their throw, to lose or gain
Against the old familiar foes
Grief and fear and death and pain.

Don't tell me of the shieldmaid bold,
Her laughter in the face of death
I'll take the smile you gave your son
To cheer him as he fought for breath.
No matter that your heart was filled
With fear you gamely had to hide;
No matter what it cost to spend
The next two days there at his side.

You tell me that it wasn't hard,
and it was love that saw you through.
Yes, I believe you when you say
It's what a mother has to do.

I've heard you sing a Goddess' praise
On Athens' ramparts standing fast;
What did your grey-eyed lady sing
When she proclaimed her love at last?
What does it cost you two to share
A love that half the world despise?
What did it take to tell your Mom
And face the anger in her eyes?

It's not a myth you're living now
The hate you'll face is all too real;
You'll make it through the coming years
With hearts of glass and nerves of steel.

That tale of dwarves, and rings of gold,
Dragons flying through the air
Is that the movie that your girl
Was watching in intensive care?
And when at last she's home again,
You dread the word you'll have to say:
She asks, can she walk home from school?
You swallow hard, and say ``OK''.

Tires squeal all afternoon;
Sirens make your blood run cold.
She'll be a woman all too soon;
You let her grow up strong and bold.

Agamemnon stands prepared
To sacrifice his only joy,
That Artemis might free the wind
And let him sail at last for Troy.
Upon the altar lies a dream
And now it's you who holds the knife;
Your body's weakness holds it down:
Bid it farewell, and free your life.

No honor waging useless war
Against a foe you can't destroy.
Accept the dream you're living now,
Sail back to family, home and joy;

Mirror, mirror, on the wall,
Mirror, mirror, tell me true.
It must be lying after all:
The face you see is never you.
Terror as you drain the cup;
Anger as you smash the glass.
But still you fear to tell your friends
About the change that's come to pass

You pass a mirror in the hall
The face you've chosen meets your eyes
Till now you've seen it but in dreams--
The mirrors never told you lies.

Prince Charming sweeps you off your feet
And boldly carries you away;
Your rescuer has come at last--
But that's not what the bruises say.
You try to be the perfect wife,
But fail no matter what you do.
You hope that he won't see you cry.
There must be something wrong with you.

A friend comes by while he's away
You pack a bag and quickly leave
Those must be tears of joy you say,
There's nothing left behind to grieve.

It's not the woods you're walking in;
That was a foolish thing to do:
There's worse than big bad wolves tonight
Who prey on little girls like you.
He says he'll kill you, makes you kneel;
There's just one chance that you can snatch:
Squeeze, twist, and pull with all your might;
Nobody told you they detach.

And in the station, safe at last,
The laughter slowly calms your fears.
They'll tell their daughters what you did,
A legend growing through the years.

men:
Here's to the women, gently brave
Mothers, daughters, sisters, wives,
And to the quiet victories
We seldom notice in their lives.

women: (if there's a woman on stage to lead it)
We stand together, sisters all
Braver than we realized
To celebrate the victories
We seldom speak of in our lives.

(repeat men's and women's verses together)