Phil Mills

Phil Mills lives in Toronto, Canada, where he learned to approach filk gradually and somewhat sideways. After being an infrequent filk listener for a couple of years, he attended FilKONtario in 2004 and wrote his first song as an entry for its song contest. That entry was scratched when he learned that writing was not enough…he was also expected to perform it. That would never do for someone who could experience stage fright simply by imagining the existence of one!

By summer of that year, however, things had changed and he and his wife, Jane Garthson, were attending house filks in the area and quickly became almost impossible to stop. At that point, he also started writing songs regularly, which has turned out to be equally difficult to prevent. Phil's songs, as a group, cover both serious and funny subjects and individual songs may be hard to categorize even using that simple axis. Having a song described as 'twisted' makes him smile. Phil released the CD Rain on the Sand in 2009, containing all original songs.

Performance isn't quite as scary as it once was. He was music guest of honour at Con*Cept in Montreal in 2010, and has played scattered concerts in Canada and the north-central USA over the past few years. Honestly, though, he'd rather be writing.

Outside of music, his main work and play interests include cats, computers, cameras, gardening, and just about anything that can eventually be turned into a filk song.

Representative Work for the 2011 Pegasus. Note- this is NOT a song nominated for the 2011 Pegasus Awards.

Powders And Signs

Copyright © 2007 by Phil Mills, All rights reserved
Used by permission

Our sick old dog, he died one day.
He might have lived longer, but who can say?
And I found my knife that had gone astray,
I'd forgot where I'd set it down.
Mr. Joe Dollar saw a daytime moon,
Which might mean luck or it might mean doom
And all this happened the same afternoon
That the witch girl walked into town.

Chorus:
There's an old woman who lives on the hill.
If time can't kill her, I don't know what will.
Death comes sniffin' 'round once in a while,
But she scares him half outta his mind.
There's an old woman who lives on the hill.
If time hasn't killed her, she's livin' there still.
Potions, medicines, lockets, and charms,
Poultices, powders, and signs.

My Pa once saw her pass his home,
Eyes black as blood, skin white as bone,
Then the next he knew he was standing alone
On a roadside, dusty brown.
He tripped in a ditch, put his arm in a sling,
But, lyin' in the dirt, found a silver ring
And he rubs it bright while remembering
That the witch girl walked into town.

Chorus

In Grand-dad's day, the crops turned black.
He lost both his sheep to a fierce wolfpack
And his cousin saw ghosts near the cider shack
Just as evenin' rolled around.
But they won their war 'gainst the privateers
And he started a fam'ly in this cabin here
On exactly the day, or at least the same year
That the witch girl walked into town.

Chorus