The Road Goes Ever On (song)

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Illustration of the road by Kay Nielsen for the 1914 fairy tale East of the Sun and West of the Moon, whose title Tolkien uses in one of his walking songs for Aman, the desired other world. Illustration by Kay Nielsen 1.jpg
Illustration of the road by Kay Nielsen for the 1914 fairy tale East of the Sun and West of the Moon , whose title Tolkien uses in one of his walking songs for Aman, the desired other world.

"The Road Goes Ever On" is a title that encompasses several walking songs that J. R. R. Tolkien wrote for his Middle-earth legendarium. Within the stories, the original song was composed by Bilbo Baggins and recorded in The Hobbit . Different versions of it also appear in The Lord of the Rings , along with some similar walking songs.

Contents

Scholars have noted that Tolkien's road is a plain enough symbol for life and its possibilities, and that Middle-earth is a world of such roads, as both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings begin and end at the door of Bag End, Bilbo's home. They have observed, too, that if "the lighted inn" on the road means death, then the road is life, and both the song and the novels can be read as speaking of the process of psychological individuation. The walking song gives its name to Donald Swann's 1967 song-cycle The Road Goes Ever On , where it is the first in the list. All the versions of the song have been set to music by the Tolkien Ensemble.

Tolkien's versions

In The Hobbit

The original version of the song is recited by Bilbo in chapter 19 of The Hobbit , at the end of his journey back to the Shire. Coming to the top of a rise he sees his home in the distance, and stops and says the following: [T 1]

Roads go ever ever on,
Over rock and under tree,
By caves where never sun has shone,
By streams that never find the sea;
Over snow by winter sown,
And through the merry flowers of June,
Over grass and over stone,
And under mountains in the moon.

Roads go ever ever on
Under cloud and under star,
Yet feet that wandering have gone
Turn at last to home afar.
Eyes that fire and sword have seen
And horror in the halls of stone
Look at last on meadows green
And trees and hills they long have known.

In The Lord of the Rings

"The door where it began": the house of Bilbo and later Frodo Baggins at Bag End, Hobbiton (as filmed in New Zealand) Hobbiton, New Zealand.jpg
"The door where it began": the house of Bilbo and later Frodo Baggins at Bag End, Hobbiton (as filmed in New Zealand)

There are three versions of "The Road Goes Ever On" in The Lord of the Rings . The first is in The Fellowship of the Ring , Book 1, Chapter 1. The song is sung by Bilbo when he leaves the Shire. He has given up the One Ring, leaving it for Frodo to deal with, and is setting off to visit Rivendell, so that he may finish writing his book. [T 2]

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 eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.

The second version appears in Book 1, Chapter 3. It is identical to the first, except for changing the word "eager" to "weary" in the fifth line. It is spoken aloud, slowly, by Frodo, as he and his companions arrive at a familiar road – the Stock Road – on their journey to leave the Shire. [T 3]

The third version appears in The Return of the King , Book 6, Chapter 6. It is spoken by Bilbo in Rivendell after the hobbits have returned from their journey. Bilbo is now an old, sleepy hobbit, who murmurs the verse and then falls asleep. [T 4]

The Road goes ever on and on
Out from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
Let others follow it who can!
Let them a journey new begin,
But I at last with weary feet
Will turn towards the lighted inn,
My evening-rest and sleep to meet.

The scholar of humanities Brian Rosebury quotes Frodo's recollection to the other hobbits of Bilbo's thoughts on 'The Road': "He used often to say there was only one Road; that it was like a great river: its springs were at every doorstep, and every path was its tributary. 'It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door,' he used to say. 'You step into the Road, and if you don't keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to.'" Rosebury comments that the "homespun symbolism" here is plain enough, that "the Road stands for life, or rather for its possibilities, indeed probabilities, of adventure, commitment, and danger; for the fear of losing oneself, and the hope of homecoming". [2] He observes further that Middle-earth is distinctly "a world of roads", as seen in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, both of which "begin and end at the door of Bag-End". [2]

The Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey contrasts the versions of the "Old Walking Song" sung by Bilbo and Frodo. Bilbo follows the "Road ... with eager feet", hoping to reach the peace of Rivendell, to retire and take his ease; whereas Frodo sings "with weary feet", hoping somehow to reach Mordor bearing the Ring, and to try to destroy it in the Cracks of Doom: very different destinations and errands. Shippey points out that "if 'the lighted inn' on the road means death, then 'the Road' must mean life", and the poem and the novel could be speaking of the process of psychological individuation. [3]

A different walking song

Since the Downfall of Numenor and the Changing of the World, "the hidden paths that run / West of the Moon, East of the Sun" have been the only way to reach Elvenhome, Valinor. Downfall of Numenor.svg
Since the Downfall of Númenor and the Changing of the World, "the hidden paths that run / West of the Moon, East of the Sun" have been the only way to reach Elvenhome, Valinor.

Similar changes in mood and words are seen in two versions of "A Walking Song", in the same metre and similarly at the start and end of The Lord of the Rings .

The first version, in the chapter "Three is Company", is sung by the hobbits when they are walking through The Shire, just before they meet a company of elves. Three stanzas are given in the text, with the first stanza starting "Upon the hearth the fire is red...". The following extract is from the second stanza of the song. [T 3]

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.

It is this part of the song that is reprised with different words later in the book. This new version is sung softly by Frodo as he and Sam walk in the Shire a few years after they have returned, and as Frodo prepares to meet Elrond and others and journey to the Grey Havens to take ship into the West.

Still round the corner there may wait
A new road or a secret gate,
And though I oft have passed them by,
A day will come at last when I
Shall take the hidden paths that run
West of the Moon, East of the Sun.

The final line of the verse is a variant on the phrase "East of the Sun and West of the Moon", which is used in fairy-stories like the Norwegian tale of that name for another world that is fantastically difficult to reach – in this case Aman, which can only be reached by the Straight Road, accessible only to elves since the world was remade. [1]

Musical arrangements

Classical music

The Danish Tolkien Ensemble has set all the versions of "The Road Goes Ever On" to music. The Tolkien Ensemble (cropped).jpg
The Danish Tolkien Ensemble has set all the versions of "The Road Goes Ever On" to music.

The title song and several others were set to music by Donald Swann as part of the book and recording The Road Goes Ever On , named for this song. [T 5] The entire song cycle has been set to music in 1984 by the composer Johan de Meij; another setting of the cycle is by the American composer Craig Russell, in 1995. [4] All the songs have been set to music by The Tolkien Ensemble across their four Tolkien albums, starting with An Evening in Rivendell , as part of the now completed project of setting all poems in The Lord of the Rings to music. [5] The UC Berkeley Alumni Chorus commissioned the American composer Gwyneth Walker to set the poem to music in 2006, which she did in several musically unrelated ways. [6]

Film, radio, and musical theatre

A musical version of some sections of this song by Glenn Yarbrough can be heard in Rankin/Bass's 1977 animated movie version of The Hobbit. A full song, Roads, was written for the film; it can be heard on the soundtrack and story LP. The same melody was used in Rankin/Bass's 1980 animated version of The Return of the King. [7] The song can be heard in the 1981 BBC radio version, sung by Bilbo (John Le Mesurier) to a tune by Stephen Oliver. [8]

A musical version of some sections of the song can be heard in the 2001 movie The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring , composed by Howard Shore. It is sung by Gandalf (Ian McKellen) in the opening scene, and also by Bilbo (Ian Holm) as he leaves Bag End. Gandalf's singing can be heard on the track "Bag End" on Complete Recordings of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and Bilbo's on "Keep It Secret, Keep It Safe". [9]

Large parts of the song were included in Billy Boyd's "The Last Goodbye" on the soundtrack and in the credits of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. [10] [11]

An unrelated song, composed by Shore, called "The Road Goes Ever On..." ("Pt. 1" [12] and "Pt. 2" [13] ) is both the thirty-fifth and thirty-seventh track of the Complete Recordings. It is a version of the track "The Breaking of the Fellowship [14] " from the 2001 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and features the song "In Dreams" sung by Edward Ross and James Wilson. It plays faintly during the ending credits, following "May It Be".

The 2006 Lord of the Rings stage musical includes a song, "The Road Goes On", whose lyrics are loosely based on this poem. [15]

Related Research Articles

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<i>Bilbos Last Song</i> 1973 poem by J.R.R. Tolkien

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A Elbereth Gilthoniel is an Elvish hymn to Varda in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. It is the longest piece of Sindarin in The Lord of the Rings. It is not translated in the main text where it is first presented.

"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.

"The Council of Elrond" is the second chapter of Book 2 of J. R. R. Tolkien's bestselling fantasy work, The Lord of the Rings, which was published in 1954–1955. It is the longest chapter in that book at some 15,000 words, and critical for explaining the power and threat of the One Ring, for introducing the final members of the Fellowship of the Ring, and for defining the planned quest to destroy it. Contrary to the maxim "Show, don't tell", the chapter consists mainly of people talking; the action is, as in an earlier chapter "The Shadow of the Past", narrated, largely by the Wizard Gandalf, in flashback. The chapter parallels the far simpler Beorn chapter in The Hobbit, which similarly presents a culture-clash of modern with ancient. The Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey calls the chapter "a largely unappreciated tour de force". The Episcopal priest Fleming Rutledge writes that the chapter brings the hidden narrative of Christianity in The Lord of the Rings close to the surface.

Meriadoc Brandybuck, usually called Merry, is a Hobbit, a fictional character from J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium, featured throughout his most famous work, The Lord of the Rings. Merry is described as one of the closest friends of Frodo Baggins, the main protagonist. Merry and his friend and cousin, Pippin, are members of the Fellowship of the Ring. They become separated from the rest of the group and spend much of The Two Towers making their own decisions. By the time of The Return of the King, Merry has enlisted in the army of Rohan as an esquire to King Théoden, in whose service he fights during the War of the Ring. After the war, he returns home, where he and Pippin lead the Scouring of the Shire, ridding it of Saruman's influence.

Peregrin Took, commonly known simply as Pippin, is a fictional character from J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings. He is closely tied with his friend and cousin, Merry Brandybuck, and the two are together during most of the story. Pippin and Merry are introduced as a pair of young hobbits of the Shire who become ensnared in their friend Frodo Baggins's quest to destroy the One Ring. Pippin joins the Fellowship of the Ring. He and Merry become separated from the rest of the group at the breaking of the Fellowship and spend much of The Two Towers with their own storyline. Impetuous and curious, Pippin enlists as a soldier in the army of Gondor and fights in the Battle of the Morannon. With the other hobbits, he returns home, helps to lead the Scouring of the Shire, and becomes Thain, or hereditary leader of the land.

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.

<i>The Fellowship of the Ring</i> 1954 part of novel by J. R. R. Tolkien

The Fellowship of the Ring is the first of three volumes of the epic novel The Lord of the Rings by the English author J. R. R. Tolkien. It is followed by The Two Towers and The Return of the King. The action takes place in the fictional universe of Middle-earth. The book was first published on 29 July 1954 in the United Kingdom. The volume consists of a foreword, in which the author discusses his writing of The Lord of the Rings, a prologue titled "Concerning Hobbits, and other matters", and the main narrative in Book I and Book II.

The poetry in The Lord of the Rings consists of the poems and songs written by J. R. R. Tolkien, interspersed with the prose of his high fantasy novel of Middle-earth, The Lord of the Rings. The book contains over 60 pieces of verse of many kinds; some poems related to the book were published separately. Seven of Tolkien's songs, all but one from The Lord of the Rings, were made into a song-cycle, The Road Goes Ever On, set to music by Donald Swann. All the poems in The Lord of the Rings were set to music and published on CDs by The Tolkien Ensemble.

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.

"The Shadow of the Past" is the second chapter of J. R. R. Tolkien's bestselling fantasy work, The Lord of the Rings, which was published in 1954–1955. Tolkien called it "the crucial chapter"; the Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey labelled it "the vital chapter". This is because it represents both the moment that Tolkien devised the central plot of the book, and the point in the story where the protagonist, Frodo Baggins, and the reader realise that there will be a quest to destroy the Ring. A sketch of it was among the first parts of the book to be written, early in 1938; later that year, it was one of three chapters of the book that he drafted. In 1944, he returned to the chapter, adding descriptions of Gollum, the Ring, and the hunt for Gollum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Music of Middle-earth</span> Music in J. R. R. Tolkiens Middle-earth fiction

The music of Middle-earth consists of the music mentioned by J. R. R. Tolkien in his Middle-earth books, the music written by other artists to accompany performances of his work, whether individual songs or adaptations of his books for theatre, film, radio, and games, and music more generally inspired by his books.

J. R. R. Tolkien used frame stories throughout his Middle-earth writings, especially his legendarium, to make the works resemble a genuine mythology written and edited by many hands over a long period of time. He described in detail how his fictional characters wrote their books and transmitted them to others, and showed how later in-universe editors annotated the material.

Tolkien's poetry is extremely varied, including both the poems and songs of Middle-earth, and other verses written throughout his life. Over 60 poems are embedded in the text of The Lord of the Rings; there are others in The Hobbit and The Adventures of Tom Bombadil; and many more in his Middle-earth legendarium and other manuscripts which remained unpublished in his lifetime. Some 240 poems, depending on how they are counted, are in his Collected Poems, but that total excludes many of the poems embedded in his novels. Some are translations; others imitate different styles of medieval verse, including the elegiac, while others again are humorous or nonsensical. He stated that the poems embedded in his novels all had a dramatic purpose, supporting the narrative. The poems are variously in modern English, Old English, Gothic, and Tolkien's constructed languages, especially his Elvish languages, Quenya and Sindarin.

Scholars have described the narrative structure of The Lord of the Rings, a high fantasy work by J. R. R. Tolkien published in 1954–55, in a variety of ways, including as a balanced pair of outer and inner quests; a linear sequence of scenes or tableaux; a fractal arrangement of separate episodes; a Gothic cathedral-like edifice of many different elements; multiple cycles or spirals; or an elaborate medieval-style interlacing of intersecting threads of story. Also present is an elaborate symmetry between pairs of characters.

References

Primary

  1. Tolkien 1937 , ch. 19 "The Last Stage"
  2. Tolkien 1954a , book 1, ch. 1 "A Long-expected Party"
  3. 1 2 Tolkien 1954a , book 1, ch. 3 "Three is Company"
  4. Tolkien 1955 , book 6, ch. 6 "Many Partings"
  5. Tolkien & Swann 2002

Secondary

  1. 1 2 3 Shippey 2005, pp. 324–328.
  2. 1 2 Rosebury, Brian (2016). Tolkien: a Critical Assessment. London: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 25. ISBN   978-1-349-22133-2. OCLC   1083467593.
  3. Shippey 2005, pp. 210–211.
  4. Buja, Maureen (16 January 2019). "The Inspiration of Imagination – Frodo & Bilbo". Interlude. Archived from the original on 13 January 2020.
  5. The Tolkien Ensemble (1997). An Evening in Rivendell (CD). Classico.
  6. Walker, Gwyneth (2006). "The Road Goes Ever On". Gwyneth Walker. Archived from the original on 12 February 2018.
  7. diPaolo, Marc (2018). Fire and Snow: Climate Fiction from The Inklings to Game of Thrones. Albany: State University of New York Press. p. 36. ISBN   978-1-4384-7045-0. OCLC   1045630002.
  8. Oliver, Stephen (composer), Clarke, Oz; James, David; Vine, Jeremy (vocals) (1981). Music From The BBC Radio Dramatisation Of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord Of The Rings (Vinyl). London: BBC Records. REH 415.
  9. McKellen, Ian; Holm, Ian (vocals), Shore, Howard (music) (2005). The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring: The Complete Recordings (CD). Reprise.
  10. The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies - The Last Goodbye - Billy Boyd (Official Music Video) , retrieved 26 December 2022
  11. "Our final trip to Middle-earth to finish with 'The Last Goodbye' sung by Billy Boyd". 20 October 2014. Retrieved 26 December 2022.
  12. The Road Goes Ever On..., Pt. 1 , retrieved 26 December 2022
  13. The Road Goes Ever On..., Pt. 2 / "In Dreams" (feat. Edward Ross) , retrieved 26 December 2022
  14. The Breaking of the Fellowship (feat. "In Dreams") , retrieved 26 December 2022
  15. "The Road Goes On Lyrics - Lord of the Rings musical". www.allmusicals.com. Retrieved 26 December 2022.

Sources