Context, for any who don't know: this is set in C. J. Cherryh's Alliance-Union universe. Viking is a planetless star and, by extension, the large space station orbiting it. There is a deep societal divide between spacer/merchanter culture and stationer culture. Ships can make FTL jumps, but after they do, they must use a special system to slow down from near-light velocity. If that system breaks, bad things happen. Lyrics: Now I met Sam Jones on a dockside night in a rundown Viking bar, A kid of maybe fifteen years at that purely nowhere star He had no ship, he had no skills, no name or family, And he looked at me like a thirsty soul at a boundless salty sea For space is wide and good friends are too few "Captain, take me with you! Captain, I'll work for free! I was spacer born and stranded here; dockside's not for me." Now that tale sure is an old one; some stationer unwise Had slept up with some spacer love and got herself this prize. For space is wide and good friends are too few And the kid grows up all restless and dreams of faring free, Of stars and worlds and foreign docks and things he'll never see. "A spacer's more then born," I said, "he's trained from infancy. And you, you've grown up stationside; boy, you're no use to me." For space is wide and good friends are too few Well, I saw him take that hope of his and turn his face away; Not give up, no, he'd never quit, just try further down the way. "Hey kid," I said "you're stubborn-if you work with half that will, Well, our engineer could use a hand; we've got a berth to fill." For space is wide and good friends are too few He stood there with that scowling look as if he hadn't heard, And then the tears ran down his face, but he didn't say a word. No, he never was much for talking; after we took him on board, "Yes sir, yes ma'am, no sir," were all the words that he'd afford. For space is wide and good friends are too few Now the engineer Kate Meacham, well, her eyes were going bad; She knew I knew, and that kid I sent drove old Kate raving mad. "Out!" she'd yell, and he'd lie low until old Kate got cool, Then back he'd go, and he'd do the scut while Kate would call him a fool. For space is wide and good friends are too few In time Kate's eyes got much worse, and every crewman knew, But Kate herself, well, her heart would stop on the day she left the crew. That close-mouthed kid would never talk, he just covered Kate's mistakes; "Kate," he'd say, "Check the number four," or "Kate, that's nine-point-eight." For space is wide and good friends are too few Now we made our rounds on the ports we used from Halley's to Almar, And one jump all of our luck ran out at a little K-class star. We hit a rock, a vane went down, the ship went kiting through, No way to stop and no damn thing that a rescue ship could do. For space is wide and good friends are too few "It's the number three bar," Kate Meacham said, "that's broken on that vane." "I'll send a man up," I said then, first hope I'd entertained. "No way," said Kate, "it's outside work, we can't fix that from here, And to pull that thing with a high-vee charge is a job for the engineer." For space is wide and good friends are too few Now we rode in dust at three-quarters c with our shields all down and null; "Kate," I said, "it's hell out there, dust is chewing up our hull. It'll chew a hardsuit faster still, ten minutes is all you'll last." "Die now or later," old Kate said, "I'll just work a little fast." For space is wide and good friends are too few Well, old Kate put that hardsuit on, she went out in the driving hail Of high-vee gas that scoured our hull with a shriek like a banshee wail. Her voice came back so thin and weak that we could hardly hear, "I'm on it now, I'm at the vane, I've got the cover clear." For space is wide and good friends are too few And silence then a long, long while, all drowned in static hiss... "Damn this thing! My face plate's fogged, my sight's gone all to mist." "Kate!" I said, "Get back inside! Someone else will go." But then I heard the aft lock work, two levels down below. For space is wide and good friends are too few "Steady, Kate" said the kid's low voice, then, while the minutes ran, "Easy, Kate, my suit's brand new-keep low as ever you can. I'll find the pins, you tell me how, and I'll get this bastard free." Kate's voice then-we listened hard, caught about one word in three. For space is wide and good friends are too few "Ten minutes gone," we heard Kate say, then we heard the kid's hard breath. "I got her, shove the other in-hold on for life and death." Said the kid, "My arm's gone numb-oh, that's it-now there, Kate, she's in. Get inside fast, get outta here!" He went to static then. For space is wide and good friends are too few "Boy, hang on," we heard Kate say, then we heard Kate Meacham swear And quiet then, just the static hiss and the stillness in the air. Ten minutes more-"Power up," I said, for we heard no sound back there, It was my hand shoved the lever home, and the power surged and flared. For space is wide and good friends are too few Our speed ebbed down and ebbed again as we turned for that K-class sun, But Kate and the kid went on together on the trip they'd both begun. Old half-blind Kate and young Sam Jones made a hell of an engineer, So turn down a glass for such as they, and thank God we're sitting here. For space is wide and good friends are too few Yes, space is wide and good friends are too few

I can't even begin to tell you how much this means to me, this has been my absolute favourite album for years and now some truly amazing human being has taker his/her time to fix them up propper. Thank you so so very much!

@rkt739

4 жыл бұрын

You're welcome!

Skim all the hiss off the top after boiling the track in audacity. Then collect the skimmed hiss in a big bowl and give it all to me. I kinda like the hiss but this is still nice. Good work.

For years i have been listen to the shitty hiss tape version. FOR YEARS. You, sir, are a man of culture!

@rkt739

3 жыл бұрын

@Leslie Fish I'd love to be singing harmony when you do

@romwell

3 жыл бұрын

@Leslie Fish I can't believe I can just log in to my computer and see a LEGEND respond to the unwashed masses. Thanks for the awesome work, I just discovered the album this year, and it blew my mind! The hiss-tape version is still my favorite, I feel like the dual guitar backing is all this song needs to leave more space for your voice. Must have listened to this song dozens of times in the past two months alone!

@overdrive8876

3 жыл бұрын

@Leslie Fish Been trying to pick out the chords for these songs recently because I absolutely fell in love with em'. Managed to get Some Kind of Hero out alright but I was wondering whether you still had tabs or chords of these old albums laying around? Would love to learn all of Carmen Miranda's Ghost and Where No Man-

Whos crying? I'M NOT CRYING, YOU'RE CRYING!

What a find! I didn't know this album could sound so clean. Really good job! Good to be among other spacers

You absolute legend! I´ve listened to the worn out version of this album for so many times and hearing it now in it´s original quality just makes smile. Thank you, seriously!

I've looking for these songs in good quality for so long, thank you!

I downloaded the album and I have to say how much I LOVE hearing "Some Kind of Hero" in CRYSTAL clear audio. It sounds so unbelievably crisp and I... honestly can't put into words how it FEELS to listen to it now. Honestly from the bottom of my heart Thank You... I can't wait for the next album you upload.

What I want to know is how you got such a clear version .

@rkt739

4 жыл бұрын

I removed the tape hiss in Audacity

@noecarrier5035

3 жыл бұрын

@@rkt739 You've got my thanks for that! This version is much nicer to listen to without the tape hiss. I've never been able to find any covers of this one either.

@KuzdaleA

3 жыл бұрын

@@noecarrier5035 there is a cover of it but it's a male voice. Just Google search sam jones goat. Not a troll I promise. Guy does some pretty good covers and originals

Still haven't read the books, TY for the upload, o7