"There is an Inn, a Merry Old Inn" sung by Frodo (Ian Holm)

There is an inn, a merry old inn
beneath an old grey hill,
And there they brew a beer so brown
That the Man in the Moon himself came down
one night to drink his fill.

The ostler has a tipsy cat
that plays a five string fiddle;
And up and down he runs his bow,
Now squeaking high, now purring low,
now saving in the middle.

The landlord keeps a little dog
that is mighty fond of jokes;
When there's good cheer among the guests,
He cocks an ear at all the jests
and laughs until he chokes.

They also keep a hornéd cow
as proud as any queen;
But music turns her head like ale,
And makes her weave her tufted tail
and dance upon the green.

And O! the rows of silver dishes
and the store of silver spoons
For Sunday there's a special pair,
And these they polish up with care
on Saturday afternoons.

The Man in the Moon was drinking deep,
and the cat began to wail;
A dish and spoon on the table danced,
The cow in the garden madly pranced,
and the little dog chased his tail.

The Man in the Moon took another mug,
and then rolled beneath his chair;
And there he dozed and dreamed of ale,
Till in the sky the stars were pale,
and dawn was in the air.

Then the ostler said to his tipsy cat:
'The white horses of the Moon,
They neigh and champ their silver bits;
But their master's been and drowned his wits,
and the Sun'll be rising soon!'

So the cat on his fiddle played hey-diddle-diddle,
a jig that would wake the dead:
He squeaked and sawed and quickened the tune,
While the landlord shook the Man in the Moon:
'It's after three!' he said.

They rolled the Man slowly up the hill
and bundled him into the Moon
While his horses galloped up in rear,
And the cow came capering like a deer,
and a dish ran up with the spoon.

Now quicker the fiddle went deedle-dum-diddle;
the dog began to roar,
The cow and the horses stood on their heads;
The guests all bounded from their beds
and danced upon the floor.

With a ping and a pong the fiddle-strings broke!
the cow jumped over the Moon,
and the little dog laughed to see such fun,
And the Saturday dish went off at a run
with the silver Sunday spoon.

The round Moon rolled behind the hill,
as the Sun raised up her head.
She hardly believed her firey eyes;
For though it was day, to her surprise
they all went back to bed!

Category:

Music

Tags:

• sir
• ian
• holm
• bilbo
• frodo
• baggins
• audiobook
• lotr
• lord
• of
• the
• rings

[MrLordoffantasy]

It`s so sad that Ian Holm is too old to play Bilbo in "The Hobbit".

[Bilbo1209]

@MrLordoffantasy Hopefully, we will see Ian as the old Bilbo Baggins narrating, reading out of his book, or just telling his story in the upcoming films !

[rawkfist208]

@Bilbo1209 That's EXACTLY what they're doing. It's going to open and close with him reading the book, to Frodo IIRC.

[Bilbo1209]

@rawkfist208 Yeah, I know !!! Amazing, isn't it ? Also the dwarves will sing this song in the film :)))

[Baybaysquirt]

Haha I love Ian Holm! This song is so awesome. I have to say I was very disappointed that so little of Tolkien's songs and poems made it into the movies, oh well

[bookworm135]

That disappointed me as well. Ian Holm rocks :D

[2054890]

@MrLordoffantasy Unless, of course, you mean the actor himself is too old. But there are stunt doubles for the jumping and springing type of stuff : ).

[2054890]

@MrLordoffantasy Actually, Ian Holm isn't to old. If you read the Lord of the Rings, Tolkien often said that Bilbo hadn't changed at all since he found the ring. So, as he looked in Lord of the Rings is how he would have looked at fifty (when he went off to the Lonely Mountain). That's why, throughout the films, Frodo kept the outward appearance of a 33 year old hobbit, even though he was fifty when he set out to Orodruin. I personally hope they use Ian Holm as Bilbo, for he is perfect.

[ariaelwen]

@ZombiLibre

No.

[Bilbo1209]

@Jianlibao hehehe :)

[ZombiLibre]

Does the nursery rhyme "Hey diddle diddle" come from this song?

[edslides]

JRRT was a fuckin madman. genius. i used to pray that someone would have the balls to tackle jrr.

ya done good, pj