small logo SETI Songs Aplenty

Fun-Funaro
Dedicated to Jim Funaro, founder of CONTACT: CULTURES OF THE IMAGINATION
(first performed at Contact 2000 on the occasion of Jim's 60th birthday)

lyrics © 2000 by Dr. H. Paul Shuch
Sung to the tune of "Fun Fun Fun," ©1964 by Brian Wilson and Mike Love

In April, 'eighty-three, pros and fen from across the nation
Convened a gathering called Cultures of the Imagination.
It was to be the first of many an iteration,
And it was Fun-Funaro brought the first Contact conference our way.

The whole thing started with a course Jim taught at Cabrillo College,
As he endeavored to impart anthropologic knowledge.
Proposed at Westercon, and at World Fantasy acknowledged,
Then it was Fun-Funaro who brought the Contact conference our way.

They went to Santa Cruz, and the mayor made a proclamation
Declaring 'Contact Day,' and creating a great sensation,
And C. J. Cherryh wrote more than one alien creation,
But it was Fun-Funaro who brought the Contact conference our way.

Two teams of writers, artists, anthropologists and others:
One played the aliens, and the other was their human brothers.
It wasn't easy making contact, they discovered,
That is, when Fun-Funaro brought the first Contact conference our way.

With Larry Niven spying and Poumelle as the troubleshooter,
No conversation between groups, not even by computer,
The humans left their Earth on a huge interstellar scooter,
And it was Fun-Funaro who brought the Contact conference our way.

The aliens were a blend of cetaceans, mollusks, and crustaceans,
The strangest creatures to try interplanetary relations.
If they were flawed, it was just that they were really human creations,
And it was Fun-Funaro brought that first Contact conference our way.

Before the audience, two teams acted out their meeting.
Three humans moved on in, but they couldn't find a peaceful greeting.
That first game ended with the humans rapidly retreating,
When it was Fun-Funaro brought the first Contact conference our way.

For nearly twenty years the annual Contact convention
Has kept attracting scientists all very worthy of mention
To seek a cosmic path free of hostility and dissension,
And still it's Fun-Funaro who brings the Contact conference our way.


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