Anne’s Reviews > The Hobbit, or There and Back Again > Status Update

Haha I remember when I read this the first time I was confused why they suddenly just started singing in a book, it was my first time reading something like that and I was thrown off (granted I was a kid but still)

You say that like it’s a bad thing. 😅

Ha ha ha, you sound like a Zoomer! Remember, there was life before recording technology -- so people sang more often and more communally!

[Name Redacted] wrote: "Ha ha ha, you sound like a Zoomer! Remember, there was life before recording technology -- so people sang more often and more communally!"

I'm almost 50! If think this shit is annoying, then I'm definitely not blaming the kids. lol

Colin wrote: "You say that like it’s a bad thing. 😅"

Right?
This is the last one I have to get through, so it's happening come hell or highwater.

Tym wrote: "Haha I remember when I read this the first time I was confused why they suddenly just started singing in a book, it was my first time reading something like that and I was thrown off (granted I was..."

I wish I'd read this when I was a kid. I think I would have had so much more patience for it. The older I get, the less forgiving I am of books that meander.

Hahahahaha... I feel your pain!

Rae wrote: "Hahahahaha... I feel your pain!"

Bless. I've lost track of how many times I've spaced out, so I think I'm going to have to go back and relisten to the entire middle part of this tomorrow.

Ahhhh yeeeeeee!!! THAT'S WHAT BILBO BAGGINS HATES!!!!!


There's more to comd

Sing ! It would have been revolting if they had already fucked.

At least Tom Bombadil doesn't make an appearance in this one. Probably. Last time I read it I was about 6, so apologies if there's a Tom Bomb later on and my brain has repressed it.

Brandon Smith- Scolaro wrote: "Ahhhh yeeeeeee!!! THAT'S WHAT BILBO BAGGINS HATES!!!!!


There's more to comd"

Biblo hates the singing, too?! We have so much more in common than I thought.

Théo d'Or wrote: "Sing ! It would have been revolting if they had already fucked."

I walked right into that one.
*tips hat*

Rae wrote: "At least Tom Bombadil doesn't make an appearance in this one. Probably. Last time I read it I was about 6, so apologies if there's a Tom Bomb later on and my brain has repressed it."

Instead of Tom Bomb, there's Beorn the skin changer.

Anne wrote: "Tym wrote: "Haha I remember when I read this the first time I was confused why they suddenly just started singing in a book, it was my first time reading something like that and I was thrown off (g..."

As much as I absolutely love Tolkien I do find myself impatient with his tangents and meanderings which I simply saw as charming when I was young. Who knew I’d have more patience as a child than I do as an adult?

Beorn the whut?? Maybe I haven't read this book after all, haha

Rae wrote: "Beorn the whut?? Maybe I haven't read this book after all, haha"

Yuuuup. He turns into a bear. <--among other things, I'm guessing

Tym wrote: "As much as I absolutely love Tolkien I do find myself impatient with his tangents and meanderings which I simply saw as charming when I was young. Who knew I’d have more patience as a child than I do as an adult?"

Same! I used to be able to just plod along without getting frustrated. I think part of my brain knows the clock is ticking and doesn't want to lose any time. So sad.

I listened to Andy Serkis’ audio book and loved his rendition 🤣🤣

”They’re already singing.”

You can do it!

I won’t suggest that the songs get better. They do not.

But you are almost done with Tolkien.

In the immortal words of MLK…the day before he was shot and silenced…

You’ve been to the mountaintop.

I will not apologise for Tolkien. I, too, dislike the songs. Even as a child.

We came to Tolkien very differently.

Before I learned to read (then learned to love to read), there was the Rankin Bass animated version of The Hobbit.

I was 8 years old when I saw it with my dad (who loved Tolkien). He hated the cartoon. I loved it.

So much so, that I listened to my dad’s dramatised version of The Hobbit on reel-to-reel trying to recapture what I felt watching the movie.

When I finally learned to read, I read that book first. And it was my treasure. To this day. The book remains my treasure. The Hobbit was my gateway drug into the mind expanding world of reading.

I don’t know how the songs were presented to you, but Rankin Bass put most…if not all…of them in their movie.

Worth a couple of minutes on YouTube.

Search “Down to Goblin Town Audio Restored Hobbit 1977”

You will hate it, but perhaps a slightly different take. (As much as I don’t like the songs in the animated movie, I still prefer them to Richard Marx. 🤮)

I just found this little gem on YouTube a while back…your love of the singing in Tolkien reminded me of it.

Based on a quote, not an actual Tolkien penned song, (view spoiler)[(It was hard enough for poor Sam, tired as he was; but for Frodo it was a torment, and soon a nightmare. He set his teeth and tried to stop his mind from thinking, and he struggled on. The stench of the sweating orcs about him was stifling, and he began to gasp with thirst. On, on they went, and he bent all his will to draw his breath and to make his legs keep going; and yet to what evil end he toiled and endured he did not dare to think. There was no hope of falling out unseen. Now and again the orc-driver fell back and jeered at them.

‘There now!’ he laughed, flicking at their legs. ‘Where there’s a whip there’s a will, my slugs. Hold up! I’d give you a nice freshener now, only you’ll get as much lash as your skins will carry when you come in late to your camp. Do you good. Don’t you know we’re at war?’) (hide spoiler)] and taken from Rankin Bass’ animated adaptation of Return of the King…

(I missed it on TV…my parents probably made me do a church something-or-rather now that I was no longer a child. I have never seen it.)

Ten hours (!!!) of looping goodness!

Make sure you sample the comments, too.

Forget the "Everybody Everywhere", this is the clean-up song I'm gonna use on preschoolers from now on.

Search “Updated 10 Hours Where Whip Way” from Joe Heyming (he created the original YouTube sensation… ”10 hours?! It simply can’t be done!” Joe was never one to back down from a challenge. Loop on, bro. Loop on.)

And then dig that high hat…for 10 hours without having to do anything!

Lol

Singing, you said? That's what one does after a good breakfast! 😅

lolololol!!

One of the very few things I liked about the movies was their adaptation of the song. Proper deep dwarven hymn. Could've gone with more of the instruments, especially drums, but still.

Paige wrote: "I listened to Andy Serkis’ audio book and loved his rendition 🤣🤣"

I'm listening to Rob Inglis and he's good. No complaints about his singing abilities...lol

Dave wrote: "”They’re already singing.”

You can do it!

I won’t suggest that the songs get better. They do not.

But you are almost done with Tolkien.

In the immortal words of MLK…the day before he was shot a..."

You're killing me. Actually, Tolkien is killing me and then you're coming back to run over my corpse with your bicycle.

Marquise wrote: "Singing, you said? That's what one does after a good breakfast! 😅"

I'll bust out the karaoke machine after I get done with my yogurt and we'll see if this holds water.

Juho wrote: "One of the very few things I liked about the movies was their adaptation of the song. Proper deep dwarven hymn. Could've gone with more of the instruments, especially drums, but still."

Even if you're not kidding, we can still be friends. lol
I've never seen the movies.

Anne wrote: "I've never seen the movies."

You didn't miss much.

That's what EVERYONE says! I'm not even tempted.

There's not that much singing in The Hobbit, you have this!

The mountain song is one of the few things in the Hobbit trilogy that is worthy, in my opinion. You can search it and listen.

We shall see. I'm not promising anything.

Anne wrote: "We shall see. I'm not promising anything."

🤣🤣🤣

Anne wrote: "…and then you're coming back to run over my corpse with your bicycle."

Cycling over you is so pedestrian.

I will clog on your corpse. Riverdance style (which means, yes, the intimidating sweatband). “Corpse…stage left!”



Since singing is apparently verboten, I will also yodel.

Once you finish The Hobbit, I will loan you my The Complete Tolkien Companion…500+ pages of amplifying information on all things Middle-earth. Like VH1s Behind the Music…

Check out this excerpt about Tolkien’s smash hit ‘A Elbereth Gilthoniel’:

(view spoiler)[
The opening line (and title) of the beautiful Hymn sung by the Eldar of Middle-earth to Elbereth, or Varda (Q.), in her aspect as Fanuilos, the divine or demiurgic intercessary.

In the Hymn she is pictured as standing on the slopes of Mount Everwhite (Oiolossë, Q.), arms raised, listening to the cries for aid of Elves and Men.

Although the language is Sindarin, it is unlikely that this verse is of Grey-elven origin. It was the Exiles, the High-elves who dwelt among the Sindar in Lindon, in Lórien and in Rivendell, who most longed for the solace of the Vala Queen Elbereth, with whom they had once dwelt in bliss.

The style of the poem bears hallmarks of Quenya inflection, especially in the High style of the language chosen and in the reverential second person singular used throughout.

Note: compare with the High style of Quenya used in Namárië, the Lament of Galadriel in Lothlórien. (hide spoiler)]

You’re welcome. *Irish clogs a-tappin’*

Is that Donny Osmond?!

Or wait- Peter Brady?

It's Donny. I did it as a jump scare to make Dave knock it off with all the Elvish shit. Kind of like stabbing someone in the eye to get rid of hiccups.

Anne wrote: "It's Donny. I did it as a jump scare to make Dave knock it off with all the Elvish shit. Kind of like stabbing someone in the eye to get rid of hiccups."

Well played!

Anne wrote: "I did it as a jump scare to make Dave knock it off with all the Elvish shit."

I ain’t skeered.



I’m going through some intense DAT (Donny Acclimatisation Therapy). I’m almost to the stage where he and I are going to pretend make out. Maybe next Tuesday? If his parents are ok with it, that is…

Meanwhile, a gif of the King of the (Wood) Elves singing ‘Ridin’ Dirty’ in Sindarin (it might be ‘I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That)’…my Sindarin lip reading is a bit rusty 🤔) since you appear to hate the traditional Elvish fare so much…(Elves are people, too!)

🤣😂 stoppppp

Anne wrote: “stoppppp"

I think you mean…

dárrrrr (Sindarin using Anglicised alphabet)

lare- (Quenya using Anglicised alphabet…typically suffixed with a verb or noun in Quenya usage)

(Elven script)

Did you get a chance to listen to the 10-hour loop of ‘Where There’s a Whip (There’s a Way)’? Very infectious song…especially after the first 30 minutes looping.

I thought you said Watch Me Whip Nae Nae. 5 solid minutes of my life went to looking up an elven version of that song.

I actually have read The Hobbit twice. Once as for school at, like, 12 or 13. Once at about 18. Aside from the hobbit, I couldn't get into the lotr series. My middle brother, on the other hand, read the lotr and watched the movies when he was growing up. To each their own, but it's further proof that my brother is a nerd. 😂

Anne wrote: "I thought you said Watch Me Whip Nae Nae.”

I don’t even know what that is.

No self-respecting Tolkien elf would ever cover that whatever-it-is. (And elves can’t move like that. No poppin’ or twerkin’ for Elrond and Galadriel. Legolas? Maybe…but he’s young.)

”5 solid minutes of my life went to looking up an elven version of that song."

You didn’t find one, did you?

Do you know how hobbits got so much hair on the knuckles of their feet?

Rea wrote: "I actually have read The Hobbit twice. Once as for school at, like, 12 or 13. Once at about 18. Aside from the hobbit, I couldn't get into the lotr series. My middle brother, on the other hand, rea..."

Your brother is in good company. At least on Goodreads! Poor guy. Make fun of him for me, will you?

Dave wrote: "Do you know how hobbits got so much hair on the knuckles of their feet?"

I keep warning my boys it will happen to them, too!

lol

These threads get away from me, Michelle. Ha!