Lyrics from the books

[Arwen Evenstar]

Here I'm going to post different songs from the books, and put where in the books they're at, and who it was by.

In FotR, the chapter A Long Expected Party, Bilbo sings this song when he's leaving Bag End. Then in the chapter Three is Company, when Frodo, Sam, and Pippin were on their way to Crickhollow, Frodo started quoting the words.

The road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began
Now far ahead the road has gone,
And I must follow if I can,
Pursuing it with weary feet,
Until it joins some larger way,
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.

When Pippin asked Frodo about it, Frodo said it came to him. He wasn't sure if he made it up or had heard it long before.

Later in the same chapter, they hummed and sang a walking-song, which Bilbo had written the words to and taught Frodo.

Upon the hearth the fire is red,
Beneath the roof there is a bed;
But not yet weary are our feet,
Still round the corner we may meet
A sudden tree or standing stone
That none have seen but we alone!
Tree and flower and leaf and grass,
Let them pass! Let them pass!
Hill and water under sky,
Pass them by! Pass them by!

Still round the corner there may wait
A new road or a secret gate,
And though we pass them by today,
Tomorrow we may come this way
And take the hidden paths that run
Towards the moon or to the sun.
Apple, thorn, and nut and sloe
Let them go! Let them go!
Sand and stone and pool and dell
Fare you well! Fare you well!

Home is behind, the world ahead,
And there are many paths to tread
Through shadows to the edge of night,
Until the stars are all alight.
Then world behind and home ahead,
We'll wander back to home and bed.
Mist and twilight, cloud and shade,
Away shall fade! Away shall fade!
Fire and lamp, and meat and bread,
And then to bed! And then to bed!

[Arwen Evenstar]

The next song in the book is the one sung by the elves. Here is the description Tolkien gave of it: The singing drew nearer. One clear voice now rose above the others. It was singing in the fair elven-tongue, of which Frodo knew only a little, and the others knew nothing. Yet the sound blending with the melody seemed to shape itself in their thought into words which they only partly understood. This was the song as Frodo heard it:

Snow-white! Snow-white! O Lady clear!
O Queen beyond the Western seas,
O Light to us that wander here.
Amid the world of woven trees!

Gilthoniel! O Elbereth!
Clear are thy eyes and bright thy breath!
Snow-white! Snow-white! We sing to thee
In a far land beyond the sea.

O stars that in the sunless year
With shining hand by her were sown
In windy fields now bright and clear
We see your silver blossom blown!

O Elbereth! Gilthoniel!
We still remember, we who dwell
In this farland beneath the trees,
Thy starlight on the Western Seas.

[Arwen Evenstar]

In the same chapter, there is a song Sam and Pippin sang while still on the way to Crickhollow. It is very similar to Merry and Pippin's drinking song fromthe FotR EE movie.

Ho! Ho! Ho! To the bottle I go
To heal my heart and drown my woe.
Rain may fall, and wind may blow,
And many miles be still to go,
But under a tall tree I will lie,
And let the clouds go sailing by!

In the chapter A Conspiracy Unmasked, at the house in Crickhollow, Pippin sings a bath song, which I have found can be sung to the tune of the drinking song from FotR EE.

Sing hey! for the bath at the close of day,
that washes the weary mud away!
A loon is he that will not sing
O! water hot is a noble thing!

O! Sweet is the sound of the falling rain,
and the brook that leaps from hill to plain;
but better than rain or rippling streams,
is water hot that smokes and steams.

O! Water cold we may pour at need,
down a thirsty throat and be glad indeed;
but better is beerif drink we lack,
and water hot poured down the back.

O! Water is fair that leaps on high,
in a fountain white beneath the sky;
but never did fountain sound so sweet
as splashing Hot Water with my feet!

A few pages later, as they are preparing to leave Crickhollow, Merry and Pippin started singing a song they had made based upon a dwarf song Bilbo had known. It can also be sung to the tune of the drinking song.

Farewell we call to hearth and hall,
though wind may blow and rain may fall!
We must away ere break of day
Far over wood and mountain tall.

To Rivendell, where Elves yet dwell
In glades beneath the misty fell
Through moor and waste we ride in haste
And whither then we cannot tell.

With foes ahead, behind us dread
Beneath the sky shall be our bed,
Until at last our toil be passed,
Our journey done, our errand sped.

We must away! We must away!
We ride before the break of day!

[Arwen Evenstar]

In the chapter The Old Forest, Frodo tries to lift everyones spirits by singing a song as they're walking through the forest.

O! Wanderers in the shadowed land
despair not! For though dark they stand
all woods there be must end at last,
and see the open sun go past:
the setting sun, the rising sun,
the day's end, or the day begun.
For east or west all woods must fail...

He trailed off when he came to the word fail.

[Arwen Evenstar]

When Tom Bombadil found the hobbits in The Old Forest, he was singing.

Hey dol! merry dol! ring a dong dillo!
Ring a dong! hop along! fal lal the willow!
Tom Bom, jolly Tom, Tom Bombadillo!

Hey! Come merry dol! derry dol! My darling!
Light goes the weather-wind and the feathered starling.
Down along under Hill, shining in the sunlight,
Waiting on the doorstep for the cold starlight,
There my pretty lady is, River-woman's daughter,
Slender as the willow-wand, clearer than the water.
Old Tom Bombadil water-lilies bringing
Comes hopping home again. Can you hear me singing?


On the way back to his home, he sang again:

Hop along, my little friends, up the Withywindle!
Tom's going on ahead candles for to kindle.
Down west sinks the Sun: soon you will be groping.
When the night-shadows fall, then the door will open,
Out of the window-panes light will twinkle yellow.
Fear no alder black! Heed no hoary willow!
Fear neither root nor bough! Tom goes on before you.
Hey now! merry dol! We'll be waiting for you!


((I'm going to add more to this later))

Edit:
When they arrived at Tom's house, they heard singing:
Hey! Come derry dol! Hop along, my hearties!
Hobbits! Ponies all! We are fond of parties.
Now let the fun begin! Let us sing together!

After that, as is written in the book, Then another clear voice, as young and as ancient as Spring, like the song of a glad water flowing down into the night from a bright morning in the hills, came falling like silver to meet them:
Now let the song begin! Let us sing together
Of sun, stars, moon, and mist, rain and cloudy weather,
Light on the budding leaf, dew on the feather,
Wind on the open hill, bells on the heather,
Reeds by the shady pool, lilies on the water:
Old Tom Bombadil and the River-daughter!

[River Daughter]

I like this one

[LadyOfRohan]

I like the Sam and Pippin song! ;D   

[Arwen Evenstar]

I should start working on these more! If anyone has a request for a song to be put up, let me know and I'll add it. I know this one isn't exactly the next one in line, but I already had it typed in the computer for something else, so decided to go ahead and post it.
Bregalad sang this to Merry and Pippin in TTT, in the chapter Treebeard.

O Orofarnë, Lassemista, Carnimírië!
O rowan fair, upon your hair how bright the blossom lay!
O rowan mine, I saw you shine upon a summer's day,
Your rind so bright, your leaves so light, your voice so cool and soft:
Upon your head how golden-red the crown you bore aloft!
O rowan dead, upon your head your hair is dry and grey;
Your crown is spilled, your voice is stilled for ever and a day.
O Orofarnë, Lassemista, Carnimírië!

Edit: I added a bit more to the last post I made, with Tom and Goldberry singing.#noedit

[Elorendil]

arwenevenstar said:

Snow-white! Snow-white! O Lady clear!
O Queen beyond the Western seas,
O Light to us that wander here.
Amid the world of woven trees!...

I actually set that song to music, last year. I wrote it on the theme from Council of Elrond.

My best friend and I also made up a tune for the poem Sam recites about Gil-Galad:

Gil-Galad was an elven king
Of him the harpers sadly sing.
The last whose realm was fair and free
Between the mountains and the sea.

His sword was long, his lance was keen.
His shining helm afar was seen.
The countless stars of heaven's field
Were mirrored in his silver shield.

But long ago he rode away
Where now he dwells, none can say.
For into darkness fell his star
In Mordor where the shadows are.
I haven't written out the music or composed a harmony for it yet, but I will, one of these days.