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The Space Girl’s Song

[Peggy Seeger, Ewan MacColl]

Peggy Seeger and Ewan MacColl wrote The Space Girl’s Song in 1956 for a short ballad-opera with the title You’re Only Young Once to be performed by the Theatre Workshop. It is a parody on The Ghost Soldier Song which was popular with American soldiers during the First World War and mocks most of the major themes of 1940s science fiction.

Peggy Seeger sang The Space Girl’s Song in 1960 on her and Ewan MacColl’s Folkways album The New Briton Gazette Volume 1. The liner notes commented:

Words by Peggy Seeger and Ewan MacColl. Melody, American Negro song, Ghost Soldier.)
Written in 1956 and now well known throughout the London folksong clubs.

Peggy Seeger also sang it in July 1970 on their Argo album The World of Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger, Volume 1: Songs From the Radio Ballads.

Shirley Collins sang a much shorter version of Space Girl in 1960 on the 10" HMV LP Rocket Along: New Ballads on Old Lines. She was accompanied by Robin Hall, guitar, Jimmie Macgregor, mandolin, and Vic Pitt, double bass.

Eliza Carthy sang Space Girl in 2010 on The Imagined Village’s second CD, Empire & Love. This track was also included in 2013 on her Topic anthology Wayward Daughter. She recorded it again in 2022 for her album with The Restitution, Queen of the Whirl.

Lyrics

Peggy Seeger sings The Space Girl’s Song

My mama told me I should never venture into space,
But I did, I did, I did;
She said no Terran girl could trust the Martian race,
But I did, I did, I did.
A rocket pilot asked me on a voyage to go
And I was so romantic that I couldn’t say no,
That he was just a servo-robot, how was I to know?
So I did, I did, I did.

My papa warned me never trust a space engineer
But I did, I did, I did;
He said free-fall and super-drive would surely cost me dear,
And they did, they did, they did.
I’ve been as far in hyper-space as anybody can,
I’ve travelled through the time-warp on the psycho-plan,
They say a gal must travel for to find her superman
So I did, I did, I did.

They warned me not to go around among the asteroids,
But I did, I did, I did;
They said I’d make those class-three mutants dreadfully annoyed,
And I did, I did, I did.
They said that Saturn was too hot and Venus not much fun,
And bug-eyed monsters tended to be just a trifle dumb,
They said I’d need a blaster and a needle-freezer gun,
And I did, I did, I did.

They said to find a man out there and try to settle down,
So I did, I did, I did.
They said my kids might grow up one-eyed, green or bald or round,
And they did, they did, they did.
My cosmic husband died of mumps a hundred years ago,
My daughter’s in the Milky Way a-tracking down a beau,
And I’m so old and doddering I’ve nothing for to show
What I did, I did, I did.

Shirley Collins sings Space Girl

My mama told me I should never venture into space
But I did, I did, I did.
She said no Terran girl could trust the Martian race
But I did, I did, I did.
A rocket pilot asked me on a voyage to go
And I was so romantic I couldn’t say no—
That he was just a servo robot how was I to know?—
So I did, I did, I did.

She told me never venture out among the asteroids
But I did, I did, I did.
She said the Milky Way was something to avoid
So I did, I did, I did.
She said that Venus was too hot and Saturn not much fun
And bug-eyed monsters tended to be just a trifle dumb.
She said I’d need a blaster and a needle-freezer gun
And I did, I did, I did.

My mama told me never trust a space engineer
But I did, I did, I did.
She said free-fall and super-drive would surely cost me dear
And they did, they did, they did.
I’ve been as far in hyperspace as anybody can,
I’ve travelled through the time warp on the psycho-plan.
They say a gal must travel for to find her superman
And I did, I did, I did.