"The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins" is a song composed by Charles Randolph Grean and performed by Leonard Nimoy, telling the story of Bilbo Baggins and his adventures in J. R. R. Tolkien's 1937 novel The Hobbit . The recording was featured on the 1968 album Two Sides of Leonard Nimoy, the second of Nimoy's albums on Dot Records. It was also released as a single (Dot Records Cat. #45-17028) in July 1967, backed with a "modern thought-image" folk song called "Cotton Candy". [1] [2] [3]
When the single was originally released, Nimoy lip-synched to the recording during a guest appearance on the July 28, 1967 episode of Malibu U , a short-lived variety television series. This segment survives as a "music video" and shows Nimoy (wearing his Star Trek hairstyle as the series was in the midst of production of its second season at the time) and a group of color-coordinated young women, all wearing plastic pointed ears (presumably like Vulcans as Hobbits only had slightly pointed ears in Tolkien's writing), singing and dancing an overtly strange, hopping-waddling dance on a beach. Clothing and random objects would fly up from behind a hill, and a variety of buttons with typical Hobbit/Star Trek slogans ("Hobbits Unite!", "Admit Middle-earth to the U.N.!", "What's a Leonard Nimoy?") were occasionally visible.
Since its rediscovery on the BBC2 documentary Funk Me Up Scotty and propagation over the Internet, it has been treated as an example of 1960s camp. An excerpt from the musical number is included in the documentaries Ringers: Lord of the Fans about The Lord of the Rings fandom, and in For the Love of Spock . [4] The song was also included in the 1993 Nimoy compilation album Highly Illogical . [5] [6]
An audio clip of the song was played as part of an answer on an episode of Jeopardy! aired January 5, 2006. [7] The song was sampled by Bentley Rhythm Ace for their track "Theme From 'Gutbuster'" on their album For Your Ears Only , released in 2000. Segments of the song were shown during Bring Back... Star Trek , with Justin Lee Collins citing it as research into Leonard Nimoy.
In a 2013 Audi advertisement featuring Nimoy and Zachary Quinto (who played Spock in the Kelvin timeline films), Nimoy speaks the first few lines of the song, ending with "go Bilbo!". [8]
Leonard Simon Nimoy was an American actor and director, famed for playing Spock in the Star Trek franchise for almost 50 years. This includes originating Spock in the original Star Trek series in 1966, then Star Trek: The Animated Series, the first six Star Trek films, and Star Trek: The Next Generation. Nimoy also directed films, including Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984), Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986), and Three Men and a Baby (1987), and appeared in several films, television shows, and voice acted in several video games. Outside of acting, Nimoy was a film director, photographer, author, singer, and songwriter.
Spock is a fictional character in the Star Trek media franchise. He first appeared in the original Star Trek series serving aboard the starship USS Enterprise as science officer and first officer and later as commanding officer of the vessel. Spock's mixed human–Vulcan heritage serves as an important plot element in many of the character's appearances. Along with Captain James T. Kirk and Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy, he is one of the three central characters in the original Star Trek series and its films. After retiring from active duty in Starfleet, Spock served as a Federation ambassador, and later became involved in the ill-fated attempt to save Romulus from a supernova, leading him to live out the rest of his life in a parallel universe.
Hobbits are a fictional race of people in the novels of J. R. R. Tolkien. About half average human height, Tolkien presented hobbits as a variety of humanity, or close relatives thereof. Occasionally known as halflings in Tolkien's writings, they live barefooted, and traditionally dwell in homely underground houses which have windows, built into the sides of hills, though others live in houses. Their feet have naturally tough leathery soles and are covered on top with curly hair.
Bilbo Baggins is the title character and protagonist of J. R. R. Tolkien's 1937 novel The Hobbit, a supporting character in The Lord of the Rings, and the fictional narrator of many of Tolkien's Middle-earth writings. The Hobbit is selected by the wizard Gandalf to help Thorin and his party of Dwarves to reclaim their ancestral home and treasure, which has been seized by the dragon Smaug. Bilbo sets out in The Hobbit timid and comfort-loving, and through his adventures grows to become a useful and resourceful member of the quest.
Bag End is the underground dwelling of the Hobbits Bilbo and Frodo Baggins in J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy novels The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. From there, both Bilbo and Frodo set out on their adventures, and both return there, for a while. As such, Bag End represents the familiar, safe, comfortable place which is the antithesis of the dangerous places that they visit. It forms one end of the main story arcs in the novels, and since the Hobbits return there, it also forms an end point in the story circle in each case.
In the fictional Star Trek universe, the Vulcan nerve pinch is a fictional technique used mainly by Vulcans to render unconsciousness by pinching a pressure point at the base of the victim's neck.
I Am Spock is the second volume of actor and director Leonard Nimoy's autobiography. The book was published in 1995, four years after the release of the last Star Trek motion picture starring the entire original cast, and covers the majority of Nimoy's time with Star Trek in general and Mr. Spock in particular. The book's title was a reference to the first volume of his autobiography, I Am Not Spock, which had been published in 1975. At that time, Nimoy had sought to distance his own personality from that of the character of Spock, although he nonetheless remained proud of his time on the show. Negative fan reaction to the title gave Nimoy the idea for the title of the second volume.
Highly Illogical is an album which contains a collection of songs performed by Star Trek actor Leonard Nimoy. Most of the songs were originally recorded in the 1960s. The collection includes "The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins", which tells the story of J.R.R. Tolkien's book The Hobbit, and has been included on various novelty compilations.
The discography of American actor Leonard Nimoy consists of SEE BELOW.
Zachary John Quinto is an American actor and film producer. He is known for his roles as Sylar, the primary antagonist from the science fiction drama series Heroes (2006–2010); Spock in the film Star Trek (2009) and its sequels Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) and Star Trek Beyond (2016); Charlie Manx in the AMC series NOS4A2, and Dr. Oliver Thredson in American Horror Story: Asylum, for which he received a nomination for an Emmy award. His other starring film roles include Margin Call (2011), Hitman: Agent 47 (2015), Snowden (2016), and Hotel Artemis (2018). He also appeared in smaller roles on television series, such as So Notorious, The Slap, and 24, and on stage in Angels in America, The Glass Menagerie, and Smokefall.
I Am Not Spock is Leonard Nimoy's first autobiography. Published in 1975, between the end of Star Trek: The Animated Series and the production of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, the book was criticized by some fans because of the perception that Nimoy was rejecting the character Spock. He maintained he was only clarifying the difference between himself and Spock, whom he always enjoyed playing. However, he later published I Am Spock in an attempt to address the misconceptions.
"A Walking Song" is a poem in The Lord of the Rings. It appears in the third chapter, entitled "Three is Company". It is given its title in the work's index to songs and poems. There is a companion poem near the end of the novel.
Ringers: Lord of the Fans is a 2005 documentary film investigating the growth of the Tolkien fandom all the way from the release of The Hobbit book by J. R. R. Tolkien in 1937 to Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001–2003).
The first authorised adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's 1937 novel The Hobbit was a stage production by St. Margaret's School, Edinburgh in March 1953. Subsequently, The Hobbit has been adapted for a variety of media including stage, screen, radio, board games and video games.
Two Sides of Leonard Nimoy is Leonard Nimoy's second album released shortly after Music from Outer Space. It was released in early 1968 by Dot Records and reached 97 on the US album chart.
Leonard Nimoy Presents Mr. Spock's Music from Outer Space is the debut album of Leonard Nimoy, recorded in character as Mr. Spock from the NBC TV series Star Trek. It was released in April 1967 by Dot Records and reached number 83 on the Billboard 200.
Frodo Baggins is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's writings, and one of the protagonists in The Lord of the Rings. Frodo is a hobbit of the Shire who inherits the One Ring from his cousin Bilbo Baggins, described familiarly as "uncle", and undertakes the quest to destroy it in the fires of Mount Doom in Mordor. He is mentioned in Tolkien's posthumously published works, The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales.
For the Love of Spock is a 2016 American documentary film about actor Leonard Nimoy produced by 455 Films and directed by his son Adam Nimoy, who started it before his father's death, at the age of 83, on February 27, 2015.
The development of Spock, a fictional character first introduced in the American science fiction television series Star Trek, began prior to the start of the series. The first known mention of Spock was in a discussion between Gene Roddenberry and Gary Lockwood, where the latter suggested Leonard Nimoy for the role. Roddenberry agreed with the suggestion, and Nimoy became the first choice actor for the part. However, Roddenberry was required to audition other actors for the role. It was offered to both DeForest Kelley and Martin Landau before Nimoy. Nimoy disliked the prosthetic ears he was required to wear, and there were concerns from the studio that they made him appear satanic. Roddenberry fought to keep the character in the second pilot, "Where No Man Has Gone Before" after the rest of the main cast was dropped from the initial pilot, "The Cage".
The Song of Eärendil is the longest poem in The Lord of the Rings. In the fiction, it is sung and composed by the Hobbit Bilbo Baggins in the Elvish sanctuary of Rivendell. It tells how the mariner Eärendil tries to sail to a place of paradise, and acquires a Silmaril, a prized sun-jewel. Eventually he and his ship are set in the heavens to sail forever as the light of the Morning Star.