@@annafdd "NOW ITS ME, OR YOU!" He gleams like a star, and the sound of his horn's like a raging storm Proudly the high lord challenges doom "LORD OF SLAVES!" he cries
I'm sorry, Lexie -- I hate to accuse anyone, and especially a producer of excellent content like yourself, of being untruthful; but I don't believe you _do_ hate to end on a bad pun.
The band currently known as "Rhapsody of Fire" (formerly just 'Rhapsody') has songs clearly influenced by Tolkien, though they put their own spin on the stories. I mention them partly for that but MOSTLY because they also worked with Christopher Lee who did some spoken word for one album, but then followed up with him SINGING with them in collaboration. Seriously, look that one up! It's the song "The Magic of the Wizard's Dream". The original track was in "Symphony of Enchanted Lands II" but they released a single version as well The single version features Christopher MUCH more strongly.
@@captainboots I was wondering why ROF and Christopher’s own music wasn’t mentioned. I was already panicking wondering when Blind Guardian would be mentioned 😅
Blind Guardian was the soundtrack of my late teens and early 20s. But i have to say, "Clamavi de profundis" just NAILED the feeling of "Yeah, that's how i now imagine these songs to have been sung in the story".
Lament for Boromir broke my heart. Lament for the Rohirrim threw me into an abyss of existential horror. But the greatest surprise for me was the March of the Ents!
@@annafdd My favourite is "the battle of Sauron and Finrod Felagund". A duel between two of the greatest magic users in the history of arda... and it's basically a rap battle. They perfectly captured how Finrod gains strenght from invoking all the achievements, knowledge and wisdom of his people, his realm in Nargothrond and finally the blessed land of Valinor... only to realize too late that mentioning Valinor, the realm he and his people can no longer return to, was a mistake which Sauron quickly exploits.
Lexi, you are truly gifted. Your sense of intelligence, humor, research skills, and storytelling ability is akin to my own, and certainly greater than mine. Your essays are a source of joy for people like us.
Mirror mirror on the wall True hope lies beyond the coast You're a damned kind can't you see That the winds will change Mirror mirror on the wall True hope lies beyond the coast You're a damned kind can't you see That tomorrow bears insanity
@@GirlNextGondor When I was 15 I thought I was an anomaly, then I realized how common it actually is. Now, Tolkien and the other metals, those in the shape of bars and disks, that's rarer.
Than you lexi . I have always thought. God thinks in numbers ( science or something) and music is like math on some level. We also have the angelic choir .. also got anointed David because of his music. I hear there was a secret cord that David played and it pleased the Lord. I agree with Tolkien and strings..
Their most famous song(wow) "Stairway to Heaven" is about Galadriel, and this is canon. Heck, my favorite song, "Battle of Evermore" is openly Tolkien and contains the lyric, "The Ringwraiths are out in black"
"¡Están llevando los hobbits a Isengard!" - Google Translate This is a topic that I've been wanting to see someone cover in a video for a long, long time! You would be glad to know that Melodicka Bros did a metal cover of They're Taking the Hobbits to Isengard and it''s just as delightful as that sounds. More than a few black metal bands have gotten their names from Black Speech, but despite being a metalhead I'm not that into black metal and find that fact more interesting than the actual bands haha. PS Jess of the Shire has two excellent videos titled 'The Lord of the Rings Musical: What HAPPENED??' and 'Tolkien's Magical Music- A Deep Dive' that I would highly recommend watching.
Aye, indeed do the songs of Clamvi de Profundus stir the heart... every other time I listen to one of their songs. I wake up three days later, and have grown a long beard down to my knees. And I'm armed in chain mail and with an ax in my hand, and I'm lying on a dead Dragon in a treasure hoard. It was fun at first, but now it's getting annoying.
Between you and Steven Gibb I have found myself well down the Hobbit hole of dungeon synth and metal as I reread the Silmarillion and adjacent texts for the second time this year. Thanks as always. Best content creator on UA-cam.
@@Heike-- "Way back then"!!! Have I been dated??? 😄😂 FYI: The best head banging tune on that album is "Easy Living"! A heavy metal band could make it a hit today!
Ah, Glenn Yarbrough, a vibrato only surpassed by Tinfang Warble himself. ;) As a child of parents who played tons of ‘70s singer-songwriters’ music (and who grew up watching The Hobbit and Return of the King) I have a special fondness for the Rankin-Bass stuff even today.
Tolkien evidently did know about the Ballad of Bilbo Baggins. In Hammond and Scull's J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide (Chronology volume), in the entry for 20 June 1968: "Joy Hill writes to Tolkien, sending a copy of a letter from the Performing Lights Society about 'The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins' which Tolkien has evidently asked to have investigated." I don't think we have any info beyond that.
In case people aren't aware, Nightfall in Middle-earth also has a couple bonus tracks ('Doom' and 'The Tides of War') that aren't available on streaming, but you can listen to them on UA-cam. The Tides of War is one of the best songs on the album imo
what? blind guardian is my all time favourite band with nime being my all time fave. i remember buying the casette tape more than 2 decades ago. first time i've heard of these. what? how? edit: ok i had heard doom before, at least. still shocked tho. thx.
Someday, I am going to make a recording of The Fall of Gil-galad to the tune "Vexilla Regis" (The Royal Banners Forward Go). It's a beautifully mournful tune (it's a hymn sung in Holy Week) and I believe Tolkien would have known it. Both The Fall of Gil-galad and Vexilla Regis are in long metre (88.88), Tolkien himself used a similar style of music in his song, so I think my idea is reasonable.
Tolkien was my gateway into metal, so many hours as a 14 yo trying to figure out Nightfall's lyrics after having only read The Lord Of The Rings. Fun times! Now I listen (at work) to LOTR and Silmarillion yearly. Loved the video, and my spotify got 4 new albums to listen through. Thank you!
For me, Nightfall In Middle Earth by Blind Guardian is one of the best power metal albums ever made and is hands down the best use of Tolkien's work in music. Better than Zeppelin, better than Howard Shore, better than Rankin&Bass.
There's a prog rock/metal band called "Ainur" that is really neat. (Although most of their albums from spotify are purged, you can find some of their songs on youtube) The songs "The Fall of Gondolin" "Kinslaying (The First)" "Spirit of Fire" and "The Great Battle (Or The War of Wrath)" are really really good and I would recommend it to anyone interested in music about The Silmarillion.
I love this so much. I've been trying to put my finger on the connection between Tolkien and prog rock for quite a while now. Why are their adherents so convergent? Intelligence, I assume.
Couldn't help but cheer at my screen a little bit when it was finally time to talk about _Nightfall in Middle-Earth._ ... Yeah I definitely have to go listen to it again now
The Tolkien Ensemble's version of The Song of Nimrodel (which Legolas sings/translates to the Fellowship when they first enter Lothórien) is the best I've heard, and Legolas' Song to the Sea is appropriately haunting. Five out of five stars, will listen again.
Oh nice! New songs to the list! As a Czech, I recently got to enjoy an illustrated album with atmospheric instrumentals and thematic songs on Middle-Earth places and currently we are getting a cycle on Children of Húrin from the fan scene. There was even a songbook and regularly updated website and one group does sort of lovely amateur musicals for cons. I once found a gramophone of a guy singing Earendil to accordion. I always like seeing people inspired by Middle-Earth to draw, sing, play, paint, shoot, larp, write and compose poetry etc. It really does have an impact on people.
Also, the track that opens my Tolkien UA-cam playlist is the Oath of Fëanor by Philip Menzies, which is a bit of an amateur recording but has the best Quenya translation and is both ominous and stirring. VANDA SINA CARILMË Fírië mahtuvalme sena fai ré-metta, Rúþë tenn' Ambar-metta! Á hlarë vandalma Eru Ilúvatar! Mi Oiolossë á hlarë ar ná astarmo Ar á enyalë vandalma, Manwë Vardayë!
The bit of Lay of Leithian rock opera where Finrod duelling with Sauron describes dawn over the forests of Nargothrond (popularly known as the Aaaaaaaa song) break my heart every damn time. It is one thing to read about Finrod bringing the songbirds into Tol-n-Gauroth, and another to experience it. It’s a pity that among their compositions, Clamavi De Profundis’ Duel of Finrod and Sauron is not the best.
I'm a big fan of Paul Cornfield Godfrey's work, as inaccessibly long as it might be... This year I started my own musical settings of Tolkien: adapting his 'Noel' (rediscovered in my hometown in 2013) into a christmas carol, and making my own 'Narrative Songs' out of the books - technically Operettas, with classical/folk/historical musical scenes from the books linked by light narration and drama, starting with the diagetic music of the Dwarves. Rereading the books with this in mind I've been struck by how much music is infused into the drama even when Tolkien doesn't give us verses, in some of the places you'd least expect. Take Helm’s Deep, where the Uruk-hai advance up the valley with 'harsh singing', the great horn of helm is answered by the horns of Erkenbrand from all around the hills, and the warriors, women and children of the Westfold sing a song of victory. I'm on the fence about whether to create composite texts to include songs like this in what is to be a quite a brisk representation of The Lord of the Rings in 3 acts. For some of my ambitions, I'm relying on certain inclusions in the Collected Poems released later this year. Fingers crossed the estate will one day let me release some of this.
Shout-out for the three Elven Oratory albums by Lind Erebros. They are mostly orchestral (and sung in Quenya/Sindarin!) but there are some metal tracks as well. Strong recommend for anyone into the First Age. They are still available for purchase at least in iTunes and for listening here in YT.
Terrific video! I saw Blind Guardian in 2015 and they played most of Nightfall in Middle Earth-truly life changing! Grateful as a metalhead to have you exposing more people to these bands!
That's a killer album. It's too bad that Hansi can't hit the high notes anymore. I'd love to see them play "The Curse of Fëanor" live, but alas, it's not going to happen. Even "Mirror Mirror" is currently beyond him (he sings down an octave for large parts of the song).
For me, The Lord of the Rings was the reason i first found music i could connect with when i stumbled upon Blind Guardians Song "The Lord of the Rings" on UA-cam, which was the followed by me listening to their album "Nightfall in Middle Earth". Up until that point if you had asked me what music i listen to i would have told you that i don't do that. Since then i have seen them Live multiple times and discovered various other Metal Bands i thoroughly enjoy. So for me Tolkien and Music are very closely linked and i still like to listen to musical renditions of Tolkiens various poems from LoTR and the Silmarillion.
Great! Have you seen Steven Gibb's video on Tolkien's influence on Blind Guardian's music? It is very long and has great detail. Steven himself is a musician. If you haven't seen it, check it out and subscribe.🙏🏻😁👍
Nightfall in Middle Earth is epic. I went to Blind Guardian two weeks ago in Tilburg and they played quite a few songs from it, Nightfall and Mirror Mirror, as usual, but also Into the Storm and Time Stands Still. In addition they played their older "Lord of the Rings" song, so there was a lot of Middle Earth at the concert. Everyone chanting along makes the songs twice as epic. Going to see them again at Graspop coming Saturday, one of the most fun bands to see live.
For me, the music I most associate with Tolkien is not music about his writings, it’s music that I imagine them listening to. When I was a kid, it was “medieval folk rock” - think _Songs From the Wood_. Now, it’s simply medieval music with a big heaping helping of English rural music from 1800-1940s.
Could you help point me to the English rural music? I've been trying to find some for hobbit vibes, but I've had very little luck. All I can find is Irish.
As a musician who has probably spent way too much of my time with all these works, this video was a lovely walk through one of my favourite topics. Loved your explanation on diegesis and non-diegesis! The way it's used in the peter jackson movies are some of my favourite examples. A lot of scenes depicting the ring's temptation actually have lyrics that feel as if the ring is talking to the people in question, which makes it super interesting to analyse. If you know it's there, you could make an argument that these scenes really walk the line between diegesis and non-diegesis.
I often wonder if in the professor's wildest dreams he would have imagined that his Legendarium's influence would grow so far beyond just literature, even reaching metal music of all things. I got into the Legendarium when I was 11 and I started my metal journey three years later. Now I'm 35 and I'll be visiting England for the first time in a couple of months, so I'll make to sure to go to the pub that's considered Iron Maiden's birthplace and I'll pay my respects to Tolkien's grave. Thank you, Odin!
I can't help but wonder not just how Tolkien might react to the scope of his influence, but also if and how he might judge it. For comparison, the Iron Maiden song "To Tame a Land" was originally going to be named "Dune," but after asking for permission, the band was notified that "Frank Herbert doesn't like rock bands, particularly heavy rock bands, and especially bands like Iron Maiden." I hate to be a pessimist (especially since I personally love all this music from the Rankin-Bass interpretations to Nimoy's ballad to Nightwish, etc.), but Tolkien might be happier /not/ having known some of this, ha ha! (That being said, I'm sure that with his academic background and the periods that interested him, he would have a much greater appreciation and understanding of artistic influence than many other modern artists who wish to completely control every possible aspect and derivation of their work.)
Your topics are often the most fascinating, Lexi. 😀 I've heard a great deal of Tolkien related/inspired music having been born in the 70s but, with songs like Orome, Silmaril, Aule & Yavanna, and more, I'm impressed with the German singer/songwriter Oonagh. I can't understand German all that well but, it doesn't appear to matter much with her stuff.
having just come back from Wacken I have to emphasize how powerful and downright magical it is to hear literally tens of thousands of people singing along to Blind Guardian's Middle Earth inspired songs
I love that your Tolkienian pronunciation is always meticulously on point, and yet you managed to stumble over the correct combination of phonemes and stresses for 'Birmingham' 😜
WOW... Yet again, this channel makes some interesting connections that I had never considered, but now find worth consideration in a depth that is almost unique... (Except for Zepp, of course, which I was exposed to even before the LOTR). Cheers!
So glad you referenced Blind Guardian! Love them! And their Lord of the Rings songs! (Didn’t know Nightwish did those songs too! They’re cool as well!)
I think heavy metal's fascination with Tolkien can also be explained by the Christian morality of his work, interestingly enough. Heavy metal has taken the Romanticist leanings of popular music so far that it has circled back to de-centering the human and seeking something like religion (in a sense), for good or ill. Heavy metal is VERY taken with traditional images of good and evil, and the Tolkien mythos slots into this well. 2nd-wave black metal bands used black speech because the aestheticization of evil was their goal, and Tolkien had so successfully communicated absolute evil that, along with reaching for Christian images like Satan, Hell, etc., they reached for his images as well. (The exception to this might be Burzum, as Varg seems to simply willfully ignore the Christian underpinnings of Middle Earth, viewing it as some kind of pagan work instead.) But also, black metal especially is interested in the sublime, which meshes with the sense of ancientness, weight, and austere beauty we find in Middle Earth. So you also see Christian or nature-oriented black metal bands using Elvish languages (for example). Great video! Though the realization that Tolkien may have known about The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins gave me psychic damage lol...
I can absolutely confirm the comment on Nighfall in Middle Earth. It was one of the first few metal albums I listened to as a teen, and got me absolutely hooked. While I'm not a big fan of Blind Guardian anymore, I can't hear or read the words 'time stands still' without adding 'at the iron hill' in my head.
Excellent video!!! You're always passionate in your videos, but I can definitely feel it in this one when you're doing the deep dive into metal inspired by Tolkien! I haven't explored metal much myself, but you've inspired me to go through some of these groups and albums 👀 You really can find Tolkien influence in music genres everywhere! I'm a kpop fan myself, and Lord of the Rings references unexpectedly pop up every so often there too haha.
Much to my surprise, I found that I quite liked "The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins" when I first heard it. I've heard the story about the LOTR movie The Beatles wanted to make. If it was going to be at all similar to the other films The Beatles made, I'm not surprised Tolkien rejected the idea. One of these days I will have to listen to some of these Tolkien songs and albums. But it won't be the metal ones because as a matter of personal taste I really dislike metal. Even knowing this though, I have had people tell me I have to listen to "Midnight in Middle-Earth" and I did see Steven's video on the album so I'll probably make an exception for that one.
At the intersection of metal and progressive/new agey experimental noise sits dungeon synth, which also has a lot of Tolkien influences work. Start with Thangorodrim.
Fascinating. I know me and my siblings have been using Glen Yarbrough's song "Frodo of the Nine Fingers" (from the cartoon LoTR) as an inside joke for over 30 years!
One of my favourite crust punk bands, Ekkia, take their name from the Encircling Sea. Granted, their lyrical content has nothing to do with Middle-Earth (I think, my Spanish is lousy,) but I love how it seeps across languages and genres.
It is worth mentioning that both Tolkiens work and heavy metal grew out of the midlands in England and were both at least to some extent were a rejection of the industrialisation of the area. Also always worth mentioning Galadriel by Barclay James Harvest. Good stuff GNG. Thanks.
Ooh yeh there's that sort of ... pastoralism? I don't know if that's the right word for it. Which adds another dimension to black metal's particular interest in Tolkien. There's definitely an anti-industrial tendency in black metal.
@@anonymouswitness3835 I think pastoralism is a good word for Tolkiens attitude. I am no fan of metal, and despite living in Norway for nearly fifteen years am definitely not a black metal fan. But I’ll take your word on its inherent pastoralism.
This is AMAZING. I like your point of why maybe the stage versions haven't been great. Though I heard great things about the latest staging... I admit I'm slightly surprised the NIghtwish given the nod as I usually think of them being known more for literary nod when it comes to Dragonlance. Also, I love the "band instead of murder" world you've proposed.
@@GirlNextGondorFinrod on backing vocals. They have a track with Luthien as guest vocalist, and opinions on that are divided between those who find it spellbinding and those who fall asleep to it, plus a substantial minority who just want to buy the record for their metalhead boyfriend.
Imagine in Morgoth and Sauron formed a band instead of setting their sights on world domination! They could have even brought on Saruman for vocals (Christopher Lee made metal albums in his 80s btw).
While the Lord of the Rings Musical (A. R. Rahman, Värttinä, and Christopher Nightingale) have people who've hated it or loved it and most found it not quite pure canon, musically I found the music very theatrically descriptive of the mood across the books for at least the characters they covered. There is a guy who arranged his very metal interpretation of Howard Shore's work, but, I can't find it in my favorites or likes. It was really good.
The Fate of us all
Lies deep in the dark
WHEN TIME STANDS STILL AT THE IRON HILL
Lord of all Noldor
A star in the night, a bearer of hope
Rides into his glorious battle alone
@@GirlNextGondor Farewell to the valiant warlord.
I stand alone
None by my side
I DARE YOU
COWARD
COME OUT
@@annafdd "NOW ITS ME, OR YOU!"
He gleams like a star,
and the sound of his horn's
like a raging storm
Proudly the high lord challenges doom
"LORD OF SLAVES!" he cries
Where there's a whip
There's a way!
We don't wanna go to war today, but the lord of the lash says, "Nay, nay, nay!"
WE’RE GONNA MARCH ALL DAY,
ALL DAY, ALL DAAAAAAAAAAYY!!!
I sing this every time when I watch that part of Return of the King. No one gets it. :)
LoL, how I love that song 🎵
I'm sorry, Lexie -- I hate to accuse anyone, and especially a producer of excellent content like yourself, of being untruthful; but I don't believe you _do_ hate to end on a bad pun.
Uh oh. I've been found out.
The band currently known as "Rhapsody of Fire" (formerly just 'Rhapsody') has songs clearly influenced by Tolkien, though they put their own spin on the stories. I mention them partly for that but MOSTLY because they also worked with Christopher Lee who did some spoken word for one album, but then followed up with him SINGING with them in collaboration. Seriously, look that one up! It's the song "The Magic of the Wizard's Dream". The original track was in "Symphony of Enchanted Lands II" but they released a single version as well The single version features Christopher MUCH more strongly.
@@captainboots I was wondering why ROF and Christopher’s own music wasn’t mentioned. I was already panicking wondering when Blind Guardian would be mentioned 😅
Nightfall in Middle Earth is still one of my all time favorite albums of all time
As a string player, I feel very honored by Tolkien's comment that string players are wizards.
"Heavy Mithril"... you never fail to impress. Amazing!!!
I can't take credit for the term I'm afraid 😂 but it fit perfectly. Glad you enjoyed!
Nightfall On Middle Earth is simply awesome. An entire album dedicated to the war of the Silmarils
Sadly blocked on Spotify - I suppose for copyright reasons. :(
Blind Guardian was the soundtrack of my late teens and early 20s.
But i have to say, "Clamavi de profundis" just NAILED the feeling of "Yeah, that's how i now imagine these songs to have been sung in the story".
Lament for Boromir broke my heart. Lament for the Rohirrim threw me into an abyss of existential horror. But the greatest surprise for me was the March of the Ents!
@@annafdd My favourite is "the battle of Sauron and Finrod Felagund".
A duel between two of the greatest magic users in the history of arda... and it's basically a rap battle.
They perfectly captured how Finrod gains strenght from invoking all the achievements, knowledge and wisdom of his people, his realm in Nargothrond and finally the blessed land of Valinor... only to realize too late that mentioning Valinor, the realm he and his people can no longer return to, was a mistake which Sauron quickly exploits.
I listen to them all the time
Lexi, you are truly gifted. Your sense of intelligence, humor, research skills, and storytelling ability is akin to my own, and certainly greater than mine. Your essays are a source of joy for people like us.
I get a weird of joy out of you having to listen to everything from opera to gorgoroth for the research of this video
Babe, wake up! Gandalf's shredding out a bitchin' guitar solo!
Mirror mirror on the wall
True hope lies beyond the coast
You're a damned kind can't you see
That the winds will change
Mirror mirror on the wall
True hope lies beyond the coast
You're a damned kind can't you see
That tomorrow bears insanity
Summoning got me to actually sit down and read Tolkien after having only ever watched the movies and read the Hobbit. 🤘
Summoning 👍
Summoning is brilliant. I often have Bauglir on loop 😁
Oh yes, 2 of my favorite things in life, Tolkien and metal, and all in one video. You certainly know how to deliver.
It's amazing how often those 2 interests overlap 🤣 though maybe not surprising!
@@GirlNextGondor When I was 15 I thought I was an anomaly, then I realized how common it actually is. Now, Tolkien and the other metals, those in the shape of bars and disks, that's rarer.
@@GirlNextGondor Us metalheads love things that are epic and/or dark, and Middle Earth has those in abundance!
The peak of Tolkien music is clearly Nimoy's Ballad of Bilbo's Baggins
10/10 most lore accurate tolkien adaptation
Truly an epic masterpiece...
I love that song.
I see you haven't heard the "Elbereth Gilthoniel" sea shanty.
i miss the 2 minutes 19 seconds ago, when i didn't know about... this.
Than you lexi . I have always thought. God thinks in numbers ( science or something) and music is like math on some level.
We also have the angelic choir .. also got anointed David because of his music.
I hear there was a secret cord that David played and it pleased the Lord.
I agree with Tolkien and strings..
"There's a feeling I get when I look to the West
And my spirit is crying for leaving."
Led Zeppelin were clearly fans.
Their most famous song(wow) "Stairway to Heaven" is about Galadriel, and this is canon. Heck, my favorite song, "Battle of Evermore" is openly Tolkien and contains the lyric, "The Ringwraiths are out in black"
"¡Están llevando los hobbits a Isengard!" - Google Translate
This is a topic that I've been wanting to see someone cover in a video for a long, long time! You would be glad to know that Melodicka Bros did a metal cover of They're Taking the Hobbits to Isengard and it''s just as delightful as that sounds. More than a few black metal bands have gotten their names from Black Speech, but despite being a metalhead I'm not that into black metal and find that fact more interesting than the actual bands haha. PS Jess of the Shire has two excellent videos titled 'The Lord of the Rings Musical: What HAPPENED??' and 'Tolkien's Magical Music- A Deep Dive' that I would highly recommend watching.
"God help you if you can't distinguish from doom metal from black metal, or industrial from death-thrash"
She gets us! 🤘
God bless you and your work young lady next Gondor❤❤❤ respect form Croatia-Europe ❤❤❤
Thank you! 😃
Nightwish did so much Symphonic Metal about Tolkien, Elvenpath was my jam in the 2000s! :D
And Wishmaster is full of references.
@@ecthelion1735 Wishmaster is about Dragonlance, not LotR.
@@MadAtreides1 It's a bit of a mishmash:
>oh Elbereth
>oh Lorien
>Grey Havens my destiny
Aye, indeed do the songs of Clamvi de Profundus stir the heart... every other time I listen to one of their songs. I wake up three days later, and have grown a long beard down to my knees. And I'm armed in chain mail and with an ax in my hand, and I'm lying on a dead Dragon in a treasure hoard. It was fun at first, but now it's getting annoying.
Between you and Steven Gibb I have found myself well down the Hobbit hole of dungeon synth and metal as I reread the Silmarillion and adjacent texts for the second time this year. Thanks as always. Best content creator on UA-cam.
The album "Demons and Wizards" (by Uriah Heep) was released in 1972. One song on it that reminded me of LOTR is "The Wizard".
It never fails to impress me the deep cultural impact Tolkien made all the way back then. He's still going strong a half century later.
@@Heike-- "Way back then"!!! Have I been dated??? 😄😂 FYI: The best head banging tune on that album is "Easy Living"! A heavy metal band could make it a hit today!
Ah, Glenn Yarbrough, a vibrato only surpassed by Tinfang Warble himself. ;) As a child of parents who played tons of ‘70s singer-songwriters’ music (and who grew up watching The Hobbit and Return of the King) I have a special fondness for the Rankin-Bass stuff even today.
I remain to this day very taken by the adaptations of many LotR songs in the BBC radio play of the early 80s.
I informally refer to Ramble On as "Gollum Stole my Woman"
Tolkien evidently did know about the Ballad of Bilbo Baggins. In Hammond and Scull's J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide (Chronology volume), in the entry for 20 June 1968: "Joy Hill writes to Tolkien, sending a copy of a letter from the Performing Lights Society about 'The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins' which Tolkien has evidently asked to have investigated." I don't think we have any info beyond that.
In case people aren't aware, Nightfall in Middle-earth also has a couple bonus tracks ('Doom' and 'The Tides of War') that aren't available on streaming, but you can listen to them on UA-cam. The Tides of War is one of the best songs on the album imo
what? blind guardian is my all time favourite band with nime being my all time fave. i remember buying the casette tape more than 2 decades ago. first time i've heard of these. what? how?
edit: ok i had heard doom before, at least. still shocked tho. thx.
@@onatgz they are bonus songs that came out only like 4 years ago when the album got rereleased
"I'm more rock and roll than you've ever been. Don't believe me? Ask Led Zeppelin."
I just love how ERB paid tribute to this.
And then for a moment they insert a clearly Led Zeppelin-derived riff
Legendary. The best GRRM diss ever.
Someday, I am going to make a recording of The Fall of Gil-galad to the tune "Vexilla Regis" (The Royal Banners Forward Go). It's a beautifully mournful tune (it's a hymn sung in Holy Week) and I believe Tolkien would have known it. Both The Fall of Gil-galad and Vexilla Regis are in long metre (88.88), Tolkien himself used a similar style of music in his song, so I think my idea is reasonable.
Tolkien was my gateway into metal, so many hours as a 14 yo trying to figure out Nightfall's lyrics after having only read The Lord Of The Rings. Fun times! Now I listen (at work) to LOTR and Silmarillion yearly.
Loved the video, and my spotify got 4 new albums to listen through. Thank you!
For me, Nightfall In Middle Earth by Blind Guardian is one of the best power metal albums ever made and is hands down the best use of Tolkien's work in music. Better than Zeppelin, better than Howard Shore, better than Rankin&Bass.
Love you including my favorite band Rush!!!
🤘
Rush is fantastic.
There's a prog rock/metal band called "Ainur" that is really neat. (Although most of their albums from spotify are purged, you can find some of their songs on youtube) The songs "The Fall of Gondolin" "Kinslaying (The First)" "Spirit of Fire" and "The Great Battle (Or The War of Wrath)" are really really good and I would recommend it to anyone interested in music about The Silmarillion.
Best...handle...ever
I love this so much. I've been trying to put my finger on the connection between Tolkien and prog rock for quite a while now. Why are their adherents so convergent? Intelligence, I assume.
As a metalhead, I have to say... the Rankin Bass flicks have some bangin' takes on Tolkien's lyrics. (Along with a few annoying ones too, I suppose.)
Where there's a whip there's a way!
Couldn't help but cheer at my screen a little bit when it was finally time to talk about _Nightfall in Middle-Earth._
... Yeah I definitely have to go listen to it again now
The Tolkien Ensemble's version of The Song of Nimrodel (which Legolas sings/translates to the Fellowship when they first enter Lothórien) is the best I've heard, and Legolas' Song to the Sea is appropriately haunting. Five out of five stars, will listen again.
Oh nice! New songs to the list!
As a Czech, I recently got to enjoy an illustrated album with atmospheric instrumentals and thematic songs on Middle-Earth places and currently we are getting a cycle on Children of Húrin from the fan scene. There was even a songbook and regularly updated website and one group does sort of lovely amateur musicals for cons. I once found a gramophone of a guy singing Earendil to accordion. I always like seeing people inspired by Middle-Earth to draw, sing, play, paint, shoot, larp, write and compose poetry etc. It really does have an impact on people.
I SWEEEEAAAAR REVEEEENGE
FILLED WITH ANGER AFLAMED OUR HEARTS
FULL OF HATE
FULL OF PRIDE
AHHHHH WE SCREEAAM FOR REVEEENGE
Also, the track that opens my Tolkien UA-cam playlist is the Oath of Fëanor by Philip Menzies, which is a bit of an amateur recording but has the best Quenya translation and is both ominous and stirring.
VANDA SINA CARILMË
Fírië mahtuvalme sena fai ré-metta,
Rúþë tenn' Ambar-metta!
Á hlarë vandalma
Eru Ilúvatar!
Mi Oiolossë á hlarë ar ná astarmo
Ar á enyalë vandalma, Manwë Vardayë!
You had me worried till the very end that you somehow missed Blind Guardian. Great video and thanks for recommendation
If you want to see a long, detailed video on Blind Guardian and Tolkien's influence on their music, check out Steven Gibb's video on the topic. 😁👍
The bit of Lay of Leithian rock opera where Finrod duelling with Sauron describes dawn over the forests of Nargothrond (popularly known as the Aaaaaaaa song) break my heart every damn time. It is one thing to read about Finrod bringing the songbirds into Tol-n-Gauroth, and another to experience it. It’s a pity that among their compositions, Clamavi De Profundis’ Duel of Finrod and Sauron is not the best.
As soon as I saw the title of this video, I wondered if you'd mention Nightfall in Middle Earth. Epic album!
if you go to Udio and search "Aran Umbarwa" and "Zagûl Maugar" you can hear some weirdly well made songs sanged in actual tolkien languages.
First like👍
🍻!
I'm a big fan of Paul Cornfield Godfrey's work, as inaccessibly long as it might be...
This year I started my own musical settings of Tolkien: adapting his 'Noel' (rediscovered in my hometown in 2013) into a christmas carol, and making my own 'Narrative Songs' out of the books - technically Operettas, with classical/folk/historical musical scenes from the books linked by light narration and drama, starting with the diagetic music of the Dwarves. Rereading the books with this in mind I've been struck by how much music is infused into the drama even when Tolkien doesn't give us verses, in some of the places you'd least expect. Take Helm’s Deep, where the Uruk-hai advance up the valley with 'harsh singing', the great horn of helm is answered by the horns of Erkenbrand from all around the hills, and the warriors, women and children of the Westfold sing a song of victory. I'm on the fence about whether to create composite texts to include songs like this in what is to be a quite a brisk representation of The Lord of the Rings in 3 acts. For some of my ambitions, I'm relying on certain inclusions in the Collected Poems released later this year. Fingers crossed the estate will one day let me release some of this.
I’ve noticed that your videos are very rewatch able on top of being interesting. Keep up the good work!
_We are following the will of the One_
_Through the dark age and into the storm_
_Lamina!_
Shout-out for the three Elven Oratory albums by Lind Erebros. They are mostly orchestral (and sung in Quenya/Sindarin!) but there are some metal tracks as well. Strong recommend for anyone into the First Age. They are still available for purchase at least in iTunes and for listening here in YT.
Terrific video! I saw Blind Guardian in 2015 and they played most of Nightfall in Middle Earth-truly life changing! Grateful as a metalhead to have you exposing more people to these bands!
That's a killer album. It's too bad that Hansi can't hit the high notes anymore. I'd love to see them play "The Curse of Fëanor" live, but alas, it's not going to happen. Even "Mirror Mirror" is currently beyond him (he sings down an octave for large parts of the song).
If you haven't seen Steven Gibb's video on Blind Guardian's music, you should check it out.😁👍
For me, The Lord of the Rings was the reason i first found music i could connect with when i stumbled upon Blind Guardians Song "The Lord of the Rings" on UA-cam, which was the followed by me listening to their album "Nightfall in Middle Earth". Up until that point if you had asked me what music i listen to i would have told you that i don't do that.
Since then i have seen them Live multiple times and discovered various other Metal Bands i thoroughly enjoy.
So for me Tolkien and Music are very closely linked and i still like to listen to musical renditions of Tolkiens various poems from LoTR and the Silmarillion.
Great! Have you seen Steven Gibb's video on Tolkien's influence on Blind Guardian's music? It is very long and has great detail. Steven himself is a musician. If you haven't seen it, check it out and subscribe.🙏🏻😁👍
Nightfall in Middle Earth is epic. I went to Blind Guardian two weeks ago in Tilburg and they played quite a few songs from it, Nightfall and Mirror Mirror, as usual, but also Into the Storm and Time Stands Still. In addition they played their older "Lord of the Rings" song, so there was a lot of Middle Earth at the concert. Everyone chanting along makes the songs twice as epic.
Going to see them again at Graspop coming Saturday, one of the most fun bands to see live.
WE ALL SHALL FOLLOW DOOM
Not a topic I thought I would be particularly interested in, but I’m halfway through and I’m diligently taking notes.
I ran out of ink.😅
Please do...this video badly needs a list of all music mentioned within.
May we cause a great echo in the algorithm
For me, the music I most associate with Tolkien is not music about his writings, it’s music that I imagine them listening to. When I was a kid, it was “medieval folk rock” - think _Songs From the Wood_. Now, it’s simply medieval music with a big heaping helping of English rural music from 1800-1940s.
Could you help point me to the English rural music? I've been trying to find some for hobbit vibes, but I've had very little luck. All I can find is Irish.
The credits artwork is A+. Bravo 👏
Rebirth of Gorgoroth🔥🤘🏼🔥
As a musician who has probably spent way too much of my time with all these works, this video was a lovely walk through one of my favourite topics. Loved your explanation on diegesis and non-diegesis! The way it's used in the peter jackson movies are some of my favourite examples. A lot of scenes depicting the ring's temptation actually have lyrics that feel as if the ring is talking to the people in question, which makes it super interesting to analyse. If you know it's there, you could make an argument that these scenes really walk the line between diegesis and non-diegesis.
I often wonder if in the professor's wildest dreams he would have imagined that his Legendarium's influence would grow so far beyond just literature, even reaching metal music of all things. I got into the Legendarium when I was 11 and I started my metal journey three years later. Now I'm 35 and I'll be visiting England for the first time in a couple of months, so I'll make to sure to go to the pub that's considered Iron Maiden's birthplace and I'll pay my respects to Tolkien's grave. Thank you, Odin!
Music, poetry, and the fine efforts of Rob Ingles added much to things we have of the master.
I can't help but wonder not just how Tolkien might react to the scope of his influence, but also if and how he might judge it. For comparison, the Iron Maiden song "To Tame a Land" was originally going to be named "Dune," but after asking for permission, the band was notified that "Frank Herbert doesn't like rock bands, particularly heavy rock bands, and especially bands like Iron Maiden." I hate to be a pessimist (especially since I personally love all this music from the Rankin-Bass interpretations to Nimoy's ballad to Nightwish, etc.), but Tolkien might be happier /not/ having known some of this, ha ha!
(That being said, I'm sure that with his academic background and the periods that interested him, he would have a much greater appreciation and understanding of artistic influence than many other modern artists who wish to completely control every possible aspect and derivation of their work.)
Your topics are often the most fascinating, Lexi. 😀 I've heard a great deal of Tolkien related/inspired music having been born in the 70s but, with songs like Orome, Silmaril, Aule & Yavanna, and more, I'm impressed with the German singer/songwriter Oonagh. I can't understand German all that well but, it doesn't appear to matter much with her stuff.
How fitting. I was just listening to *Foe Hammer* by *Exmotus*
having just come back from Wacken I have to emphasize how powerful and downright magical it is to hear literally tens of thousands of people singing along to Blind Guardian's Middle Earth inspired songs
I love that your Tolkienian pronunciation is always meticulously on point, and yet you managed to stumble over the correct combination of phonemes and stresses for 'Birmingham' 😜
WOW... Yet again, this channel makes some interesting connections that I had never considered, but now find worth consideration in a depth that is almost unique... (Except for Zepp, of course, which I was exposed to even before the LOTR).
Cheers!
So glad you referenced Blind Guardian! Love them! And their Lord of the Rings songs! (Didn’t know Nightwish did those songs too! They’re cool as well!)
I think heavy metal's fascination with Tolkien can also be explained by the Christian morality of his work, interestingly enough. Heavy metal has taken the Romanticist leanings of popular music so far that it has circled back to de-centering the human and seeking something like religion (in a sense), for good or ill. Heavy metal is VERY taken with traditional images of good and evil, and the Tolkien mythos slots into this well.
2nd-wave black metal bands used black speech because the aestheticization of evil was their goal, and Tolkien had so successfully communicated absolute evil that, along with reaching for Christian images like Satan, Hell, etc., they reached for his images as well. (The exception to this might be Burzum, as Varg seems to simply willfully ignore the Christian underpinnings of Middle Earth, viewing it as some kind of pagan work instead.)
But also, black metal especially is interested in the sublime, which meshes with the sense of ancientness, weight, and austere beauty we find in Middle Earth. So you also see Christian or nature-oriented black metal bands using Elvish languages (for example).
Great video! Though the realization that Tolkien may have known about The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins gave me psychic damage lol...
I can absolutely confirm the comment on Nighfall in Middle Earth. It was one of the first few metal albums I listened to as a teen, and got me absolutely hooked. While I'm not a big fan of Blind Guardian anymore, I can't hear or read the words 'time stands still' without adding 'at the iron hill' in my head.
Excellent video!!! You're always passionate in your videos, but I can definitely feel it in this one when you're doing the deep dive into metal inspired by Tolkien! I haven't explored metal much myself, but you've inspired me to go through some of these groups and albums 👀
You really can find Tolkien influence in music genres everywhere! I'm a kpop fan myself, and Lord of the Rings references unexpectedly pop up every so often there too haha.
Much to my surprise, I found that I quite liked "The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins" when I first heard it.
I've heard the story about the LOTR movie The Beatles wanted to make. If it was going to be at all similar to the other films The Beatles made, I'm not surprised Tolkien rejected the idea.
One of these days I will have to listen to some of these Tolkien songs and albums. But it won't be the metal ones because as a matter of personal taste I really dislike metal. Even knowing this though, I have had people tell me I have to listen to "Midnight in Middle-Earth" and I did see Steven's video on the album so I'll probably make an exception for that one.
At the intersection of metal and progressive/new agey experimental noise sits dungeon synth, which also has a lot of Tolkien influences work. Start with Thangorodrim.
You missed the band Cirith Ungol.
I like to think that this video ended on a high note.
If you’re into dwarves, ‘Wind Rose’ is the band for you 👍 Excellent 😃
Moar Rush digressions please.
This was great Lexi. Had no idea I needed this content. You really do produce the most amazing video essays
Fascinating.
I know me and my siblings have been using Glen Yarbrough's song "Frodo of the Nine Fingers" (from the cartoon LoTR) as an inside joke for over 30 years!
Throat singing dwarves.
One of my favourite crust punk bands, Ekkia, take their name from the Encircling Sea. Granted, their lyrical content has nothing to do with Middle-Earth (I think, my Spanish is lousy,) but I love how it seeps across languages and genres.
It is worth mentioning that both Tolkiens work and heavy metal grew out of the midlands in England and were both at least to some extent were a rejection of the industrialisation of the area. Also always worth mentioning Galadriel by Barclay James Harvest. Good stuff GNG. Thanks.
Ooh yeh there's that sort of ... pastoralism? I don't know if that's the right word for it. Which adds another dimension to black metal's particular interest in Tolkien. There's definitely an anti-industrial tendency in black metal.
@@anonymouswitness3835 I think pastoralism is a good word for Tolkiens attitude. I am no fan of metal, and despite living in Norway for nearly fifteen years am definitely not a black metal fan. But I’ll take your word on its inherent pastoralism.
SUMMONING
SUMMONING
This was awesome! Thank you so much. I'm gonna go listen to blind guardian now
20:52 Hey, I’m a Beatles fan myself, and even I think that was a very bad idea.
Yup,if we’ve learned anything it’s that the Beatles are NOT character actors so luckily it didn’t happen
❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
Before watching: will you mention Steve Peregrine Took?
Oh, my cup doth runneth over...and floods the entire house!
Sorry about that 🤣
That’s surely the best way to honor Beleriand.
Your indepth research of the artists that wrote the songs akin to LotR story is impressive , and appreciated .
You know, them Romulans, they are all Space Elves! 🚀
Nice work thanks
This is AMAZING. I like your point of why maybe the stage versions haven't been great. Though I heard great things about the latest staging... I admit I'm slightly surprised the NIghtwish given the nod as I usually think of them being known more for literary nod when it comes to Dragonlance. Also, I love the "band instead of murder" world you've proposed.
They still get kicked out of Aman, but the lack of murder means they succeed in convincing Daeron to join on their sophomore album. 🤣
@@GirlNextGondor headcanon accepted.
@@GirlNextGondorFinrod on backing vocals. They have a track with Luthien as guest vocalist, and opinions on that are divided between those who find it spellbinding and those who fall asleep to it, plus a substantial minority who just want to buy the record for their metalhead boyfriend.
Imagine in Morgoth and Sauron formed a band instead of setting their sights on world domination! They could have even brought on Saruman for vocals (Christopher Lee made metal albums in his 80s btw).
The Eldar are probably praising you from Aman! You've done it again!!
Excited for this one! Thanks Lexi!
While the Lord of the Rings Musical (A. R. Rahman, Värttinä, and Christopher Nightingale) have people who've hated it or loved it and most found it not quite pure canon, musically I found the music very theatrically descriptive of the mood across the books for at least the characters they covered. There is a guy who arranged his very metal interpretation of Howard Shore's work, but, I can't find it in my favorites or likes. It was really good.
I found the man in question, SBeast.
Now, if someone out there would do this for Michael Moorcock...