Queen Galadriel
· 23 January 2006
· Chapter 4: Lamp in the Window
*sniff* Oh, how like our Sam! I've loved this one since first reading and listening to it, and I finally just had to save the lyrics and learn to sing and play it on the piano. But every time I try to sing it, I get teary-eyed. This one has to be my favourite...I hope someday I can write like that.
God bless,
Galadriel
Author's reply
And may He bless you too! I was just going through the songs and happened to find your reviews. This one and the one about the dance of the seasons both choke me up, for some reason.
Queen Galadriel
· 23 January 2006
· Chapter 2: The Courtship of Samwise Gamgee
*chortles* Oh my goodness! Leave it to Merry! LOL! That's priceless, Lindelea, absolutely priceless! And yes, that tune is definitely an earworm. I know I've gone around humming it for a solid week straight-no kidding! It took my brother getting in my face and yelling, "Stop...humming...that...song! Whatever it is. I'd rather hear one of your Irish lullabies!" Which is saying a lot, because he hates it when I start on "Toora Loora." LOL! *I* like this tune though. :)
God bless,
Galadriel
Author's reply
LOL!
Do you know, I just now saw this review?
Thanks for the laugh this morning. (Ah, yes, Toora Loora, one of those tunes that is difficult to leave behind once it starts.)
Queen Galadriel
· 23 January 2006
· Chapter 1: Courting Song
LOL! I love it, I love it!!! I've sat here and listened to the music all the way through three or four times now, just letting it carry me aloung with it. A lovely, teasing, rollicking tune that just won't get stuck in your head no matter how much you want it to, and that makes me want to take a brisk walk down a sunny path and sing at the top of my voice. Oh my, this is much better than my own courting song! Yeah, I have one of those too. :)
God bless,
Galadriel
Queen Galadriel
· 23 January 2006
· Chapter 13: Throw Another Log on the Fire
Oo, I love it! I can just imagine this cosy scene. And this is so funny because I wrote a song a couple of days ago by the same title! Not half as good, though. I'm always on the watch for more of these!
God bless,
Galadriel
Author's reply
Don't know why I didn't see this or your other review. Must have been having mail problems at the time.
You know what they say! GMTA. I remember once shirebound and I wrote stories with the same title, though the content was *very* different! LOL.
Inkling
· 19 January 2006
· Chapter 13: Throw Another Log on the Fire
Another lovely addition to the Songbook...makes me want to snuggle under a quilt with a good book and a cup of hot chocolate (and pretend I live in a place with real winters!)
Author's reply
Ooo, lovely images--quilt, book, cup, snuggle... might have to add another verse! *g*
Pearl Took
· 19 January 2006
· Chapter 13: Throw Another Log on the Fire
Neat! I like it a lot, Lin :)
Author's reply
Thanks!
Dreamflower
· 18 January 2006
· Chapter 13: Throw Another Log on the Fire
Oh my, Lin! This is *wonderful*! So very hobbity and cozy! And I am in awe of your "tune composing" skills! I wish I could do that!
Perhaps Pippin will have to teach this song to Menelcar someday, LOL!
Author's reply
Thanks!
This took as long as it would to write two or three chapters of a story... amazing how something so short can require so much concentration and effort.
I struggle with lyrics, though, and quite admire yours!
Author Reply: p.s. I can just hear them singing this!
Author Reply: (I meant my favourite minstrel and one of my favourite hobbits, that is.)
And while we're on the subject of Menelcar, will Freddy be meeting him while he's in Gondor?
Queen Galadriel
· 15 November 2005
· Chapter 12: The Wind Walks Wild (A Lullaby of Tookland)
Oh, Lindelea! Did you make up all those tunes too? I've written fifty-some lullabies and about seven "mock" folk songs, not counting the special songs I love to write for fanfic...and sometimes give away! :-) But none as good as any of these! Perhaps I ought to learn to do the midis and stuff and do my own LOTR songbook. It would allow everyone to hear the tunes that way. Thank you for sharing, and I hope there are more to come! Namarie, and God bless,
Galadriel
Author's reply
You've written fifty-some lullabies? Lovely! I do hope you learn to do the midis and make your own LOTR songbook.
The program I use for putting music in the computer is Noteworthy Composer. (You can find it online through google.) Though it is only about $40, it does just about everything I need it to do.
Thankfully, a friend of dh's lets me stash the midi files in a corner of his website. Someday I hope to have a working website of my own, though.
God bless you too.
Inkling
· 17 March 2005
· Chapter 6: Coney Pie
And last but not least, this one was delightful…the title alone is priceless!
Well, this was fun...I’ve never reviewed songs before! I’m always in awe of people who can do things I can’t…like writing music, or poetry…or just writing quickly and copiously!! So brava, my dear!
Inkling
· 17 March 2005
· Chapter 11: Don't Go...
Thank you for fixing the music, it's lovely.
Before I didn't notice the lack of an echo on the last verse...very poignant!
Author's reply
Goodness, such a belated answer (on my part)! But thanks.
Inkling
· 17 March 2005
· Chapter 4: Lamp in the Window
My Internet connection went down last night before I finished reviewing; two more still to go...
Well now that I've heard them all, I'd say this is still my favorite...there's just something about it that tugs at the heart. Maybe it's the idea of Sam writing it, and the memories of the Quest that it evokes...
It also seems the most Celtic, and I'm always a sucker for Irish tunes.
Inkling
· 17 March 2005
· Chapter 3: Dance of the Seasons
OK, I couldn't leave these first songs forlorn after reviewing the last six! I forgot to mention the other night how much I loved this one...both words and music, though I found them even harder to fit together than "The Wind Walks Wild." Maybe you should record yourself singing this one!
I must say I'm puzzled by your comment: "One of these days I'm going to have to finish revising that draft and post it on SoA..." So, you're saying "Jewels" is a 53-chapter draft??
Inkling
· 17 March 2005
· Chapter 12: The Wind Walks Wild (A Lullaby of Tookland)
Very haunting. You're right, it was a bit tricky to fit words to music but I finally got the hang of it. I loved the first line. Also, oddly enough, I loved this: "...the rustling of the wind in the wood, as it finds its way round the limbs and through the leaves..."
Author's reply
Thanks! The melody is actually an echo of a song I learned long ago, while canoe-camping in the wilderness on the border of Minnesota and Canada. The only bit I remember from that song was "Tuck a cloud up under my chin. Lord, blow the moon out, please!"
Inkling
· 17 March 2005
· Chapter 11: Don't Go...
Alas, I couldn't get the music to work on this one. But the lyrics were lovely and sad--even if you do think they need work--especially the final "He'll go racing no more."
Author's reply
Thanks for the "heads up". I fixed the broken link to the midi file.
I'm glad you liked the lyrics. They didn't flow as smoothly as I wanted them to... but such is life. Hope you enjoy the "fixed" version.
Inkling
· 17 March 2005
· Chapter 10: On Your Way Home
I liked the tune of this one...made me think of hobbits at a country dance, though I guess that wasn't the intention. So this must be from "The Rebel"...which someday I hope to find time to read!
Author's reply
I think you'll like "The Rebel"; the song is actually from the sequel to "Rebel", called "A Small and Passing Thing". One good thing about "Rebel" is it's fairly short. (Around here we like to joke about "A Lo-o-o-o-ong and Passing Thing"... but of course it's worth all the moments it takes to read it! LOL)
Author Reply: p.s.
Your thought of a country dance isn't so far off the mark. In such societies, it was common to take an already-familiar tune and set new words to it. That way your audience already had half their work done, if you were leading a sing-along, for they only had to learn new words!
Inkling
· 17 March 2005
· Chapter 9: The Ballad of Elendil and Isildur
Very interesting idea...the lullaby of a country under the Shadow. One would hope the lullabies became happier in later years!
Inkling
· 17 March 2005
· Chapter 8: Marching Song of Gondor
LOL! I can just hear Merry and Pippin singing this!
Inkling
· 17 March 2005
· Chapter 7: Picnic Song
All these little songs deserve their own reviews...this was charming and oh so hobbity!
Author's reply
And I do appreciate the reviews, a spot of brightness for a grey morn!
Good heavens Lin, is there no end to your talent? Not only do you appear to be the most prolific fanfic writer on the planet, but you compose songs too??
I was just browsing through your story list when I stumbled across this…so far I’ve listened to the first six songs and they are just delightful! They seem so very right for the Shire…and now I know what the Springle Ring sounds like! I think my favorite so far is “Lamp in the Window,” but they’re all wonderful.
I got a kick out of your note about ear worms; made me think of the babel fish in Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy—you put one in your ear, then you can understand all the languages of the universe. And yes, “The Courtship of Samwise Gamgee” is stuck in my head now!
Author's reply
Well, hobbits seem to sing a lot.
Oh yes, I could use a babel fish. Wouldn't it be fun?
Just so long as the hobbit songs don't resemble Vogon poetry...
I really like the way #10 rolls along, rather like a wagon on a hilly road. #11 is a very sad song, written suring the time we were saying goodbye to my writing partner (our dog).
But you're right, I keep coming back to "Lamp in the Window" and the four-seasons song. Those both sprang from "Jewels". One of these days I'm going to have to finish revising that draft and post it on SoA... Sorry, you caught me talking to myself again (mumble, mumble).
Thanks!
Author Reply: "during" not "suring"
It must be time for bed. Anyhow, thanks again.
RogerGamgee
· 28 December 2004
· Chapter 12: The Wind Walks Wild (A Lullaby of Tookland)
That was absolutely beautiful, Lindelea. I remember hearing Pippin's song in Denethor's hall (ROTK), and being amazed that Billy Boyd himself wrote the melody that was used in that scene. Trust the Tooks to be such geniuses of music!
Roger Gamgee
Author's reply
Thank you!
Billy Boyd wrote that haunting melody? My goodness!
Hobbit Lass21
· 26 December 2004
· Chapter 2: The Courtship of Samwise Gamgee
I love hobbit songs!! *dances around room to music, singing the words*
HL21
Author's reply
Somehow I can just see you dancing! A beta-reader once told me this tune was an "ear-worm"! Very apt phrase; "Sam's Courtship" is one of those songs that will eat itself into your brain and reside there for some time if you listen to it too long!
Thanks!
Tooklander
· 9 August 2004
· Chapter 10: On Your Way Home
These songs are all incredible. Thank you for these wonderful masterpieces that I will continue to treasure for a long time to come.
Author's reply
Thank you for your kind words! Music and hobbits go together so well, I think.
Aiko-chan
· 16 December 2003
· Chapter 10: On Your Way Home
eek! this is delightful. i especially liked "coney pie." oh my, what an original and fun idea. i just love it!
Miriel
· 4 September 2003
· Chapter 5: The Springle-Ring
What a perfect little Spirngle Ring tune! Perfect.
Author's reply
Thanks! Sorry to be so late in getting back to you. How are things going?
Miriel
· 4 September 2003
· Chapter 2: The Courtship of Samwise Gamgee
How funny! "Handsome Merry Brandybuck" indeed! Hilarious! I love the music!