Post by teridaxxd001 on Nov 11, 2020 7:20:35 GMT
“The Man In the Moon Stayed Up Too Late” was written by J.R.R. Tolkien and originally published in Yorkshire Poetry in 1923. It was not originally intended to be connected to his legendarium at all; it was actually written to be a fictitious original version of the well-known Nursery rhyme “Hey Diddle Diddle” (whose author and time of origin are unknown). He later reprinted it in The Fellowship of the Ring, however, thus incorporating it into the legendarium. Frodo Baggins, using the assumed name “Mr. Underhill” as not to attract the attention of the Nazgul, is asked by the patrons of the Prancing Pony Inn in Bree to sing them a Shire song. In 1962, Tolkien published The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, presented as a book of Hobbit poetry. In this book, he presents an extended version of the poem and attributes none other than Bilbo Baggins as its author.
The Prancing Pony scene in Ralph Bakshi’s 1978 animated adaptation incorporates the song, though some changes are made. Most notably, the song is not heard in full. While Frodo is singing, Merry leaves the inn and starts walking around the streets, where he is surrounded by the Nazgul and faints. Outside the inn, the song is faint and muffled, then the movie briefly cuts back to Frodo’s singing before cutting back to Merry. When the Nazgul appear, the song is cut off completely in favor of the dramatic instrumental score. After Merry faints, though, the rest of Frodo’s performance is shown, with a brief sung line before an instrumental finale, which itself is cut off abruptly when Frodo falls off the table he was dancing on and accidentally slips on the Ring, rendering him invisible to the shocked crowd. The lyrics we CAN hear are also altered, with no audible references to the Man in the Moon himself. “The Man in the Moon himself came down one night to drink his fill” is changed to “That you would never believe it so pass the beer all around,” for instance.
I have seen this rendition of the song be derided and mocked by hardcore Tolkien fans as not sounding like a pub song and having stupid lyrical changes, but I have to admit that I always thought it was pretty catchy, at least what I could hear of it. Unfortunately, while the movie has an official soundtrack release, it doesn’t look like this is on it (I don’t have the soundtrack, so I can’t actually confirm), even though it contains the entire “Mithrandir” song. I wonder if an entire performance of the song was ever recorded, and who might know. All I could think of is Frodo’s voice actor, Christopher Guard, but it was so long ago I doubt he’d remember.
The Prancing Pony scene in Ralph Bakshi’s 1978 animated adaptation incorporates the song, though some changes are made. Most notably, the song is not heard in full. While Frodo is singing, Merry leaves the inn and starts walking around the streets, where he is surrounded by the Nazgul and faints. Outside the inn, the song is faint and muffled, then the movie briefly cuts back to Frodo’s singing before cutting back to Merry. When the Nazgul appear, the song is cut off completely in favor of the dramatic instrumental score. After Merry faints, though, the rest of Frodo’s performance is shown, with a brief sung line before an instrumental finale, which itself is cut off abruptly when Frodo falls off the table he was dancing on and accidentally slips on the Ring, rendering him invisible to the shocked crowd. The lyrics we CAN hear are also altered, with no audible references to the Man in the Moon himself. “The Man in the Moon himself came down one night to drink his fill” is changed to “That you would never believe it so pass the beer all around,” for instance.
I have seen this rendition of the song be derided and mocked by hardcore Tolkien fans as not sounding like a pub song and having stupid lyrical changes, but I have to admit that I always thought it was pretty catchy, at least what I could hear of it. Unfortunately, while the movie has an official soundtrack release, it doesn’t look like this is on it (I don’t have the soundtrack, so I can’t actually confirm), even though it contains the entire “Mithrandir” song. I wonder if an entire performance of the song was ever recorded, and who might know. All I could think of is Frodo’s voice actor, Christopher Guard, but it was so long ago I doubt he’d remember.
