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Twice Twenty by Dreamflower	7 Review(s)
Queen Galadriel	Reviewed Chapter: 19 on 2/24/2007
Ah, and I agree with you about the poem! Very charming! It is difficult to sing, but you've made me want to learn it by heart and finally finish setting it to music (I started several months ago but didn't stick with it). I love these reflections, and I can just hear little Pip's sweet, piping voice singing those words. God bless, Galadriel Author Reply: You are composing a musical setting for it? Wow, I can't get over your talents! I always hear it to the tune that Donald Swann created for it, in The Road Goes Ever On. It's a rather complex composition, but the main melody is rather simple.

Gryffinjack	Reviewed Chapter: 19 on 10/18/2005
sigh How beautiful! I am so glad you gave that lad a clear, beautiful singing voice with which to express what is really inside him. Merry does have the full measure of it - Pippin does pour his whole heart into the music. I think that's why he is fidgeting all the rest of the time, trying to get out all of his joy and emotion for life, which he can only really get out by singing, laughing, or crying. And again we see how perceptive he is, relating this song to elves, even though he didn't know that it really did come from them. Once again, we see that only Frodo really understands. He is the only one who is truly swept away by the music and feels like he, too, is on that journey. Sam and Merry both think of the more practical things, like how Pippin can remember words to such a long song but not where he put his jacket or how the Gaffer called it a bunch of foolishness. They both really enjoy Pippin's singing, yes, but they are not quite able to really understand this elven tune sung in a voice that falls just short of being elvish in quality. Only Pippin and Frodo can truly appreciate the song and its turn of phrase. Author Reply: Thank you so much! I am so sorry I didn't see this review when it first came out, for really it is very insightful into the way that I see the four hobbits. Your reading it in chronological order is really bringing out a lot of things I had forgotten or overlooked. Well, of course, I was very much influenced by Billy Boyd's lovely voice in the films. Merry does not fully understand all that music means to Pippin, for he likes music well enough, but he's not especially gifted, and dislikes the idea of performing as much as Pippin likes it, LOL! But he does know that all Pippin's excess energy is absorbed by his music, which is why he will ask Pippin to sing or to play when he gets fidgety. Pippin has only Bilbo's tales and words to guide him, but even though this particular song is more or less nonsense in a manner of speaking, its beauty and the lilt of its language conveys the feel of Elvish to both Pippin--who senses it intuitively, and Frodo, who actually knows something of Elves.

Pearl Took	Reviewed Chapter: 19 on 9/26/2005
Bravo!! Bravo!! Bravo!! This touches the soul. Author Reply: What a lovely thing to say! Thank you! I think, though, most of the credit goes to JRRT, for writing such a sweet and haunting piece as "Errantry".

Kitty	Reviewed Chapter: 19 on 9/25/2005
Idly, Merry wondered how it was that a lad who could forget from one moment to the next what he had done with his jacket, or who had given him a message, never seemed to forget the words of a song, no matter how long or complicated. grin A very good question! Well, it is probably because Pippin is very interested in songs, but not interested at all in jackets and the like! Author Reply: Quite probably.grin And my Pip is a bit hyper, and that is one thing about that--songs are easily memorized.

Armariel	Reviewed Chapter: 19 on 9/23/2005
An enchanting little piece. The image of Pippin singing this (which is new to me) is wonderfully beautiful and somehow haunting. Both sad and happy at the same time. Author Reply: It is a wonderful piece, exactly as you describe it, as well as being utterly charming. It is, of course, far longer than the portions I quote here. If you can get your hands on The Tolkien Reader it's in the section "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil" which is all poems by JRRT. The conceit is that these were poems either written or translated by Bilbo, save one, which was supposedly by Frodo. Also, if you know music, you might try to get a copy of The Road Goes Ever On which was a collaboration between JRRT and a composer named Donald Swann. The pieces, written for piano and voice, are full of arty embellishments, which don't sound very Middle-earthy to me. But the underlying melodies are very nice. "Errantry" is one of those included, and I always "hear" it to that tune.

Baggins Babe	Reviewed Chapter: 19 on 9/22/2005
This was so evocative - what a strange and beautiful song, and so indicative of Tolkien's love of language, and the hobbits' delight in word games. I have been trying to get my hands on a copy of 'The Adventures of Tom Bombadil' for ages! We wantsss it, precioussss! :-)) I made the mistake of reading Bilbo's Last Song in the library while I was shelf-tidying once, and turned into a soggy puddle! Author Reply: It is a strange and beautiful song. It just glides along, the sound of the words more evocative than their actual meaning. It seems to me that other poets and writers sometimes use onomatopiea (sp?) instead of real words, but JRRT knows how to make real words sound like onomaopiea, if you know what I mean... Just get hold of The Tolkien Reader. It's never been out of print, and TAoTB is included in that. It's easily available in paperback. I want Bilbo's Last Song myself, and it's on my list. Unfortunately that is not available in paperback.

Larner	Reviewed Chapter: 19 on 9/21/2005
My single copy of The Adventures of Tom Bombadil is before me, alongside Bilbo's Last Song and The Biography of J.R.R. Tolkien. This and The Cat are two of my favorites from it, and loved how in both life and story the one led into the Lay of Earendil Bilbo sang in the Hall of Fire. Tolkien was a master of the use of language. Author Reply: He was indeed. Of course, language was his life, not only his vocation but his avocation. I've always loved "Errantry", and hear it in my head to the tune that Donald Swann created for "The Road Goes Ever On". Without the arty embellishments it's a very appropriate melody for such a song, very meandering and neither too bouncy or too slow.

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