"Home on Lagrange (The L5 Song)" is a

filk Filk music is a musical culture, genre, and community tied to science fiction, fantasy, and horror fandom and a type of fan labor. The genre has existed since the early 1950s and been played primarily since the mid-1970s. Etymology and defi ...

song, written in 1977 by William S. Higgins and Barry D. Gehm, intended to be sung to the tune of ''

Home on the Range "Home on the Range" is a classic cowboy song, sometimes called the "unofficial anthem" of the American West. Dr. Brewster M. Higley (also spelled Highley) of Smith County, Kansas, wrote the lyrics as the poem "My Western Home" in 1872 or 1873 ...

''. It was inspired by the idea of placing large, self-contained space colonies into stable equilibrium at the or Lagrange points, which had been advocated by

Gerard O'Neill Gerard Michael O'Neill (September 1, 1942 – August 22, 2019) was an American journalist, newspaper editor, and writer. A long time investigative reporter for ''The Boston Globe'', he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reportin ...

. The song's lyrics satirize the enthusiasm of space-colony advocates.. A U.S. copyright has been registered on "Home on Lagrange (The L5 Song)."Copyright 1978 by William S. Higgins and Barry D. Gehm
/ref> Higgins and Gehm originally published it in the magazine ''

CoEvolution Quarterly ''CoEvolution Quarterly'' (1974–1985) was a journal descended from Stewart Brand's ''Whole Earth Catalog''. Stewart Brand founded the ''CoEvolution Quarterly'' in 1974 using proceeds from the ''Whole Earth Catalog.'' It evolved out of the o ...

'' in 1978. It was subsequently republished in many other media, including the ''

NESFA Hymnal The New England Science Fiction Association, or NESFA, is a science fiction club centered in the New England area. It was founded in 1967, "by fans who wanted to ''do'' things in addition to socializing". NESFA is currently registered as a non- ...

'' and the ''

L5 Society The L5 Society was founded in 1975 by Carolyn Meinel and Keith Henson to promote the space colony ideas of Gerard K. O'Neill. In 1987, the L5 Society merged with the National Space Institute to form the National Space Society. Name The name ...

'' magazine ''L5 News''. It was anthologized in ''The Endless Frontier'', a collection of stories about space colonization. The song was also quoted by historian

W. Patrick McCray W. Patrick McCray (born 1967) is a historian at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He researches, writes about, and teaches the history of science and the history of technology. Life McCray grew up in rural southwestern Pennsylvania a ...

in his book ''The Visioneers''. Today, it can be found at various websites on the Internet, often without attribution. The chorus of "Home On Lagrange:" :: ''Home, home on Lagrange,'' :: ''Where the space debris always collects,'' :: ''We possess, so it seems, two of Man's greatest dreams:'' :: ''

Solar power Solar power is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Photovoltaic cells convert light into an electric current using the photovoltaic e ...

and zero-gee sex.''

References

External links

James Oberg's website has permission to host the song.

1978 songs Space colonization Filk songs {{1970s-song-stub