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The Road Goes Ever On
Frodo Lives - in song and story. Come to Middle Earth and sing like the hobbits. Those charming poems and enchanting songs from J.R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings are ready for you and all the world to sing. Seven of Professor Tolkien's splendid poems have now been set to music by composer Donald Swann. His musical arrangements capture all the magic and enchantment of Middle Earth. Sing of Frodo and Sam journeying to Mount Doom! Sing of Treebeard herding the trees! And sing with Bilbo as the road goes ever on! Here are songs to delight the ear and to make the hiar grow between one's toes. The decorations on each page - in Elvish, or course - are in J.R. R. Tolkien's own hand. 1. The Road Goes Ever on; 2. Upon the Hearth the Fire Is Red; 3. In the Willow-meads of Tasarinan; 4. In Western Lands; 5. Namarie (Farewell); 6. I Sit Beside the Fire; 7. Errantry. Guitar chord symbols are included for songs 1, 2, 4, and 6.
68 pages, Paperback
First published October 31, 1967
5 people are currently reading
1033 people want to read
About the author
J.R.R. Tolkien
792 books77.6k followersJohn Ronald Reuel Tolkien: writer, artist, scholar, linguist. Known to millions around the world as the author of The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien spent most of his life teaching at the University of Oxford where he was a distinguished academic in the fields of Old and Middle English and Old Norse. His creativity, confined to his spare time, found its outlet in fantasy works, stories for children, poetry, illustration and invented languages and alphabets.
Tolkien’s most popular works, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings are set in Middle-earth, an imagined world with strangely familiar settings inhabited by ancient and extraordinary peoples. Through this secondary world Tolkien writes perceptively of universal human concerns – love and loss, courage and betrayal, humility and pride – giving his books a wide and enduring appeal.
Tolkien was an accomplished amateur artist who painted for pleasure and relaxation. He excelled at landscapes and often drew inspiration from his own stories. He illustrated many scenes from The Silmarillion, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, sometimes drawing or painting as he was writing in order to visualize the imagined scene more clearly.
Tolkien was a professor at the Universities of Leeds and Oxford for almost forty years, teaching Old and Middle English, as well as Old Norse and Gothic. His illuminating lectures on works such as the Old English epic poem, Beowulf, illustrate his deep knowledge of ancient languages and at the same time provide new insights into peoples and legends from a remote past.
Tolkien was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa, in 1892 to English parents. He came to England aged three and was brought up in and around Birmingham. He graduated from the University of Oxford in 1915 and saw active service in France during the First World War before being invalided home. After the war he pursued an academic career teaching Old and Middle English. Alongside his professional work, he invented his own languages and began to create what he called a mythology for England; it was this ‘legendarium’ that he would work on throughout his life. But his literary work did not start and end with Middle-earth, he also wrote poetry, children’s stories and fairy tales for adults. He died in 1973 and is buried in Oxford where he spent most of his adult life.
Tolkien’s most popular works, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings are set in Middle-earth, an imagined world with strangely familiar settings inhabited by ancient and extraordinary peoples. Through this secondary world Tolkien writes perceptively of universal human concerns – love and loss, courage and betrayal, humility and pride – giving his books a wide and enduring appeal.
Tolkien was an accomplished amateur artist who painted for pleasure and relaxation. He excelled at landscapes and often drew inspiration from his own stories. He illustrated many scenes from The Silmarillion, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, sometimes drawing or painting as he was writing in order to visualize the imagined scene more clearly.
Tolkien was a professor at the Universities of Leeds and Oxford for almost forty years, teaching Old and Middle English, as well as Old Norse and Gothic. His illuminating lectures on works such as the Old English epic poem, Beowulf, illustrate his deep knowledge of ancient languages and at the same time provide new insights into peoples and legends from a remote past.
Tolkien was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa, in 1892 to English parents. He came to England aged three and was brought up in and around Birmingham. He graduated from the University of Oxford in 1915 and saw active service in France during the First World War before being invalided home. After the war he pursued an academic career teaching Old and Middle English. Alongside his professional work, he invented his own languages and began to create what he called a mythology for England; it was this ‘legendarium’ that he would work on throughout his life. But his literary work did not start and end with Middle-earth, he also wrote poetry, children’s stories and fairy tales for adults. He died in 1973 and is buried in Oxford where he spent most of his adult life.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
November 3, 2022
This book is an interesting piece of Tolkien ephemera.
It contains seven poems--six from The Lord of the Rings and one from The Adventures of Tom Bombadil-- set to guitar and piano sheet music composed by Donald Swann. (You can hear them performed on the album Poems and Songs of Middle Earth which is readily available online.)
Two of the poems are in Elvish. Professor Tolkien provides them in their native Elvish alphabet, plus the English transliteration and translation. He supplies extensive notes to call out where Sindarin words are used in place of Quenyan, the “High Language”. This occurs because by the Third Age the elves of Rivendell had begun to appropriate Sindarin vocabulary as their own.
Tolkien goes on at length about the rules for which syllables to stress in the Elvish tongues both in everyday speech and in metered poetry. This book was published sixteen years prior to The History of Middle Earth and was the most in-depth examination of Tolkien's languages available during that span of time.
He also drops some obscure tidbits of Middle Earth lore:
- There is a palantir on Tower Hill which remains always fixed on Tol Eressëa and the eastern shore of Valinor.
- Galadriel was banned from returning to Valinor because of her role in the rebellion of the Noldor. This ban is not lifted until she participates in the final defeat of Sauron at Mount Doom.
I own the 1978 reprint of the first edition. There is also a 1975 print edition with an additional song ("Bilbo's Last Song"). The 1993 and 2002 limited-run editions add music for "Luthien Tinuviel".
It contains seven poems--six from The Lord of the Rings and one from The Adventures of Tom Bombadil-- set to guitar and piano sheet music composed by Donald Swann. (You can hear them performed on the album Poems and Songs of Middle Earth which is readily available online.)
Two of the poems are in Elvish. Professor Tolkien provides them in their native Elvish alphabet, plus the English transliteration and translation. He supplies extensive notes to call out where Sindarin words are used in place of Quenyan, the “High Language”. This occurs because by the Third Age the elves of Rivendell had begun to appropriate Sindarin vocabulary as their own.
Tolkien goes on at length about the rules for which syllables to stress in the Elvish tongues both in everyday speech and in metered poetry. This book was published sixteen years prior to The History of Middle Earth and was the most in-depth examination of Tolkien's languages available during that span of time.
He also drops some obscure tidbits of Middle Earth lore:
- There is a palantir on Tower Hill which remains always fixed on Tol Eressëa and the eastern shore of Valinor.
- Galadriel was banned from returning to Valinor because of her role in the rebellion of the Noldor. This ban is not lifted until she participates in the final defeat of Sauron at Mount Doom.
I own the 1978 reprint of the first edition. There is also a 1975 print edition with an additional song ("Bilbo's Last Song"). The 1993 and 2002 limited-run editions add music for "Luthien Tinuviel".
November 9, 2014
The melodies are not amazing, but my copy is a beautiful early edition from England: found in a used book store, it's like an artifact. For this small book, Professor Tolkien wrote new Middle Earth material that expanded on a song Galadrial sang. This expanded material, the composer's conversations with Tolkien in the forward, and Tolkien's visually stylized presentation of Elvish-to-English translations make this one of the most special books I own.
September 12, 2009
I'm a musician, so I was interested in what some of the many songs Tolkien has in the Trilogy might be like as real songs.
Unfortunately, the composer was one of those modern types who wrote very modern (as in unusual harmonies and intervals, etc) melodies that wouldn't have been sung by anyone in Middle Earth ...
Unfortunately, the composer was one of those modern types who wrote very modern (as in unusual harmonies and intervals, etc) melodies that wouldn't have been sung by anyone in Middle Earth ...
March 12, 2024
The Road Goes Ever On was published in 1968, during JRR Tolkien’s lifetime, in collaboration with composer Donald Swann. It’s quite the testament to Tolkien’s popularity that people wanted to hear the songs come to life. The first edition contained six poems from The Lord of the Rings and one from The Adventures of Tom Bombadil. Tolkien also included notes on the text, some illustrations, and translations of two Elvish songs “Namárië” and “A Elbereth Gilthoniel.” Twelve years later, in 1978, a second edition was published, adding a new foreword by Swann and “Bilbo’s Last Song.” In 2002, a third edition released in English, adding the classic “Lúthien Tinúviel” from The Silmarillion. That third edition quickly went out of print and remained as such until receiving a new printing in September 2023.
I am no musician, so I cannot comment very much on the quality of the songs from a technical perspective, but I can say that I was surprised by how classical they sound. It wasn’t quite what I expected. They felt fancier to me than what I would have envisioned. (Do they even have pianos in Middle-earth?) But Tolkien liked and approved, so I shall not complain.
The book is also of note for linguists, as it contains one of the longest samples of Tolkien’s Elvish language Quenya in the form of the song “Namárië”—which also appears in Tengwar (Tolkien’s script for his languages) on the front cover. There’s also the Sindarin prayer "A Elbereth Gilthoniel" with grammatical explanations. And while it’s no longer a spoiler, when it first released, The Road Goes Ever On continued information about the First Age that would not be otherwise available until after Tolkien’s death and the publication of The Silmarillion.
If you love Tolkien, you’ll like this book. If you love Tolkien and music, you’ll love it. The nine songs included in this third edition are:
1. The Road Goes Ever On – Originally sung by Bilbo in the last chapter of the Hobbit, Tolkien adds a third verse for Bilbo to sing in the closing of The Lord of the Rings. It’s a song that is about adventure, the uncertainty of the future, and the ever-flowing movement of time. A beautiful song.
2. Upon the Hearth the Fire is Red – Bilbo’s walking-song, sung by Frodo, Pippin, and Sam as they begin their journey by hiking through the Woody End. This song has an aura of adventure about it as well, saying that “Home is behind, the world ahead, And there are many paths to tread.” Frodo will repeat this song as he prepares to go to the Undying Lands, making the song a thematic journey into eternal life.
3. In the Willow-meads of Tasarinan – A song sung by Treebeard, the cadence of it as fairly hasty for an Ent, but I’ll forgive it. Treebeard sings this song as he walks through Fangorn Forest, reliving his history.
4. In Western Lands – Possibly written by Bilbo, but sung by Sam in the Tower of Cirith Ungol as he searches for Frodo. This is a song of perseverance, part of fighting what Tolkien would come to call “the long defeat.”
5. Namárië (Farewell) – Also called “Galadriel’s Lament,” this is the longest Quenya text in The Lord of the Rings. If you dig around, you can find audio of Tolkien himself singing it. Let’s just say that Tolkien was good at many things, but not everything. This is a song of Galadriel recognizing that many of the elves are leaving Middle-earth and saying goodbye to them. The song concludes: “Farewell! Maybe thou shalt find Valimar. Maybe even thou shalt find it. Farewell!”
6. I Sit beside the Fire – Sung by Bilbo in Rivendell the day before the Fellowship sets out on their quest. It’s a contemplative piece about an old hobbit recalling past adventures: “I sit beside the fire and think of people long ago and people who will see a world that I shall never know.”
7. Errantry – A poem, rather than a song, this is maybe the oddest entry but also the most delightful. It’s also a huge tonal shift from the more serious and somber songs included and made me wish that some of the more lighthearted aspects of Tolkien’s poetry had been included. The poem has a complex metre, and fits the tune of Gilbert and Sullivan’s patter song “I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General.” Tolkien called it “the most attractive” of his poems and he’s right. This one’s a banger. It was first published in the Oxford magazine in 1933 (way before The Lord of the Rings!) and revised and extended in The Adventures of Tom Bombadil.
8. Bilbo's Last Song – Originally written in Old Norse, this song was unearthed by Joy Hill, Tolkien’s secretary, as she was helping him set up a new office. Tolkien gifted Hill the poem, along with all rights to it. It was illustrated by Pauline Baynes (who illustrated many Tolkien books, not to mention The Chronicles of Narnia) and published as a poster in 1974. In 1978, it was included in the second edition of The Road Goes Ever On, before being turned into a standalone book in 1990.
9. Lúthien Tinúviel – The third edition of The Road Goes Ever On added this song to the list. It’s also called the “Song of Parting” and was Beren’s farewell to Lúthien, sung by him in the Lay of Leithian in The Silmarillion. As a farewell song it’s a fitting ending tribute for the book.
I am no musician, so I cannot comment very much on the quality of the songs from a technical perspective, but I can say that I was surprised by how classical they sound. It wasn’t quite what I expected. They felt fancier to me than what I would have envisioned. (Do they even have pianos in Middle-earth?) But Tolkien liked and approved, so I shall not complain.
The book is also of note for linguists, as it contains one of the longest samples of Tolkien’s Elvish language Quenya in the form of the song “Namárië”—which also appears in Tengwar (Tolkien’s script for his languages) on the front cover. There’s also the Sindarin prayer "A Elbereth Gilthoniel" with grammatical explanations. And while it’s no longer a spoiler, when it first released, The Road Goes Ever On continued information about the First Age that would not be otherwise available until after Tolkien’s death and the publication of The Silmarillion.
If you love Tolkien, you’ll like this book. If you love Tolkien and music, you’ll love it. The nine songs included in this third edition are:
1. The Road Goes Ever On – Originally sung by Bilbo in the last chapter of the Hobbit, Tolkien adds a third verse for Bilbo to sing in the closing of The Lord of the Rings. It’s a song that is about adventure, the uncertainty of the future, and the ever-flowing movement of time. A beautiful song.
2. Upon the Hearth the Fire is Red – Bilbo’s walking-song, sung by Frodo, Pippin, and Sam as they begin their journey by hiking through the Woody End. This song has an aura of adventure about it as well, saying that “Home is behind, the world ahead, And there are many paths to tread.” Frodo will repeat this song as he prepares to go to the Undying Lands, making the song a thematic journey into eternal life.
3. In the Willow-meads of Tasarinan – A song sung by Treebeard, the cadence of it as fairly hasty for an Ent, but I’ll forgive it. Treebeard sings this song as he walks through Fangorn Forest, reliving his history.
4. In Western Lands – Possibly written by Bilbo, but sung by Sam in the Tower of Cirith Ungol as he searches for Frodo. This is a song of perseverance, part of fighting what Tolkien would come to call “the long defeat.”
5. Namárië (Farewell) – Also called “Galadriel’s Lament,” this is the longest Quenya text in The Lord of the Rings. If you dig around, you can find audio of Tolkien himself singing it. Let’s just say that Tolkien was good at many things, but not everything. This is a song of Galadriel recognizing that many of the elves are leaving Middle-earth and saying goodbye to them. The song concludes: “Farewell! Maybe thou shalt find Valimar. Maybe even thou shalt find it. Farewell!”
6. I Sit beside the Fire – Sung by Bilbo in Rivendell the day before the Fellowship sets out on their quest. It’s a contemplative piece about an old hobbit recalling past adventures: “I sit beside the fire and think of people long ago and people who will see a world that I shall never know.”
7. Errantry – A poem, rather than a song, this is maybe the oddest entry but also the most delightful. It’s also a huge tonal shift from the more serious and somber songs included and made me wish that some of the more lighthearted aspects of Tolkien’s poetry had been included. The poem has a complex metre, and fits the tune of Gilbert and Sullivan’s patter song “I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General.” Tolkien called it “the most attractive” of his poems and he’s right. This one’s a banger. It was first published in the Oxford magazine in 1933 (way before The Lord of the Rings!) and revised and extended in The Adventures of Tom Bombadil.
8. Bilbo's Last Song – Originally written in Old Norse, this song was unearthed by Joy Hill, Tolkien’s secretary, as she was helping him set up a new office. Tolkien gifted Hill the poem, along with all rights to it. It was illustrated by Pauline Baynes (who illustrated many Tolkien books, not to mention The Chronicles of Narnia) and published as a poster in 1974. In 1978, it was included in the second edition of The Road Goes Ever On, before being turned into a standalone book in 1990.
9. Lúthien Tinúviel – The third edition of The Road Goes Ever On added this song to the list. It’s also called the “Song of Parting” and was Beren’s farewell to Lúthien, sung by him in the Lay of Leithian in The Silmarillion. As a farewell song it’s a fitting ending tribute for the book.
October 15, 2012
A collaboration between J.R.R. Tolkien and Donald Swann produced this fascinating book! This is some of Tolkien's poetry and songs set to music!! A must-have for Tolkien fans!
September 13, 2019
A beautiful edition! I really like the music composed by Donald Swann and the poems and illustrations by Tolkien.
June 1, 2018
I think the "art song" settings of the poems don't fully do justice to the depth of emotion expressed in Tolkien's work, and so I prefer many of the more recent settings of many of these. That said, it is wonderful to know that Tolkien himself approved of Swann's melodies- it takes us one step closer to hearing the music Tolkien had in mind for his amazing poems. The book is beautiful, with Tolkien's flowing Elven script appearing throughout, and it was also fantastic to read Tolkien's translations and performance notes included about the two songs involving Sindarin and Quenya lyrics.
July 26, 2024
An essential read for anyone who wants to interpret the music of J.R.R. Tolkien.
Not only are the poems set to music you can adjust to multiple instruments, it also has translations of the poems (in case you feel like making them in English) and it has the proper pronounciation of the Elvish words.
Not only are the poems set to music you can adjust to multiple instruments, it also has translations of the poems (in case you feel like making them in English) and it has the proper pronounciation of the Elvish words.
September 4, 2025
I'd love to hear them sung/played
March 6, 2013
I have the original book, as well as the vinyl record. I must admit, I got 5 stars' worth of enjoyment out of them, mostly because of the collaboration and approval of the author, for whom I have profound respect and admiration.
That said, however, the tunes lacked the kind of authentic "aged and folky" feel that you would expect from the cultures Prof Tolkien created; they have a more formal and 19th century parlor feel, and are not particularly singable or hummable.
I really much preferred the arrangements created for the BBC recordings; they were believable, accessible and hummable. You can imagine them being sung, unaccompanied, by simple folk in simple settings, and they're the ones I even find myself spontaneously singing, once in awhile. Still, I have a great affection for this collection, and treasure it for what it is.
That said, however, the tunes lacked the kind of authentic "aged and folky" feel that you would expect from the cultures Prof Tolkien created; they have a more formal and 19th century parlor feel, and are not particularly singable or hummable.
I really much preferred the arrangements created for the BBC recordings; they were believable, accessible and hummable. You can imagine them being sung, unaccompanied, by simple folk in simple settings, and they're the ones I even find myself spontaneously singing, once in awhile. Still, I have a great affection for this collection, and treasure it for what it is.
June 22, 2013
I think you would have to be a fan of Tolkien’s to really enjoy these songs. The words may make more sense if you know the context of the story of which they are a part. The music is unusual. It is not strictly piano/vocal, since the piano often does not play the melody. In parts, it is repetitive, and sometimes I felt like the song – not the road – went ever on. These are not melodies you would go away humming, but I don’t think that was the aim of the composer. Not having read the books, my assumption is that the music was meant to fit the place and time of the story, and perhaps it does. Some of the music was discordant; some ended on half rather than complete cadences; some had unusual harmonic progressions and melodies. There were several I liked but there were one or two I’d never want to play again.
April 25, 2016
Not being much of a musician, I also listened to a youtube recording of this music. The music didn't feel very middle earth. Most of the songs seemed very hymn like, or modern. I thought it somewhat fit some of the songs, but for the most part, I couldn't picture the elves or hobbits singing in this fashion. The poems were the more interesting part.
August 22, 2007
3 stars because i only read the translation parts... haven't tried playing it on the piano, since i don't play any musical instruments.
October 24, 2009
Tolkien approved adaptation to songs of poems from LOTR. Outdated (especially after Howard Shore's masterful scores) but still... Tolkien approved.
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February 4, 2010The Road Goes Ever On by J.R.R. Tolkien (2002)
September 24, 2011
I love the songs in this book--my voice teacher and I have been having so much fun with it.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews