There is no mention of guitars in the book, nor is it likely that any Hobbits played them, as a standard concert guitar would be very large indeed for a Hobbit. When looking at the instrumentation of the introduction, the use of a guitar poses some questions. The Old Walking Song (I) begins with a long plucked classical guitar introduction, with a solo violin coming in after 45 seconds, until the singer begins at 1:40. Transcription (excerpt): The Old Walking Song (I), TE CD 1, Track 1. The Tolkien Ensemble has set these three versions of the song to music, all three with the same melody and similar instrumentation, listed here in book order. For the ring, Bilbo was one tool to get back to his master as he could make sure that he raised Frodo in a way that would suit his needs – the only thing the ring did not consider is that Frodo may indeed let Gollum live, so despite Frodo ultimately succumbing to the ring, it would nevertheless be destroyed, if only by accident. Gandalf’s quote “My heart tells me that he has some part to play yet”, (LotR, 59) may refer to him knowing such thing, or at least having an inkling that something like this may be forthcoming. And indeed Frodo would have done so – if not for Gollum. It may even be possible that the ring itself had some part in making Bilbo help Frodo to become ready for his task: Just as the ring has kept Bilbo from ageing, he may have influenced his dealings with his nephew to ultimately make Frodo the one to bring the ring back to Sauron. Frodo knows Sindarin, something only very few Hobbits do and he obviously is well educated.
As such, we may not just see Bilbo’s second version as the mutterings of a tired old Hobbit, but rather as an active decision to now accept that others have handled the affairs.Īrguably Bilbo may even have prepared Frodo for this all the time, subconsciously. Indeed with him giving his old Mithril shirt to Frodo before he goes out to destroy the ring without anyone knowing, this act is pronounced even more clearly (LotR, 278). Figuratively speaking, Bilbo confirms in retrospect having passed the torch to his nephew. We may describe this new version as a musical summing-up of his part in the story to Frodo: He, as the Ring-bearer and the one who was responsible for the task of destroying it, has successfully taken over from Bilbo, who was originally responsible for the ring since the time he found it in The Hobbit. The new text only uses the first three lines of the original poem, but by this (and presumably by using the same melody) Bilbo clearly draws upon the knowledge of the original song on the part of the reader. It is best described as a textual adaption of the earlier song.
Frodo plain and simple replaced the word because his feet hurt and it fitted the occasion.īilbo’s version from Rivendell, however, is noticeably different:
This hardly qualifies as a completely new version. The first two versions are nearly identical, with the only change being the line “Pursuing it with eager feet” in Bilbo’s version, in which Frodo replaces “eager” with “weary”. The song is then again spoken by Frodo when crossing the border of the Shire and a final time by Bilbo as an old Hobbit in Rivendell. It is therefore likely that Bilbo wrote the song present in The Lord of the Rings based on his idea from when he returned in The Hobbit. After all he had sixty years of time until the events of The Lord of the Rings to find a suitable melody. This might, however, lead us back to Martin and his observation of folk singers rarely distinguishing between singing and speaking – so if Bilbo is here described “saying” what would clearly be a good walking song, there is no reason to assume that even if he did not sing it when coming home, he would not make a song out of it later on. Nothing suggests that he has invented it himself and the text clearly says that he “said” it. The origin of the song is not completely clear: One might argue that it is derived from a similar poem spoken by Bilbo at the end of The Hobbit. It is sung by Bilbo when leaving the Shire after the “long-expected party” and, with textual alterations, sung repeatedly later by Frodo. The Old Walking Song, the very first song to be encountered by the reader in The Lord of the Rings, is without doubt the most well-known song from the book, primarily because of it being the first one and thus the most likely to still get read.
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