Far Over the Misty Mountains Cold

Far over the Misty Mountains cold,
To dungeons deep and caverns old,
We must away, ere break of day,
To seek our pale enchanted gold.

The dwarves of yore made mighty spells,
While hammers fell like ringing bells,
In places deep, where dark things sleep,
In hollow halls beneath the fells.

For ancient king and elvish lord
There many a gleaming golden hoard
They shaped and wrought, and light they caught,
To hide in gems on hilt of sword.

On silver necklaces they strung
The flowering stars, on crowns they hung
The dragon-fire, on twisted wire
They meshed the light of moon and sun.

Far over the Misty Mountains cold,
To dungeons deep and caverns old,
We must away, ere break of day,
To claim our long-forgotten gold.

Goblets they carved there for themselves,
And harps of gold, where no man delves
There lay they long, and many a song
Was sung unheard by men or elves.

The pines were roaring on the heights,
The wind was moaning in the night,
The fire was red, it flaming spread,
The trees like torches blazed with light.

The bells were ringing in the dale,
And men looked up with faces pale.
The dragon's ire, more fierce than fire,
Laid low their towers and houses frail.

The mountain smoked beneath the moon.
The dwarves, they heard the tramp of doom.
They fled the hall to dying fall
Beneath his feet, beneath the moon.

Far over the Misty Mountains grim,
To dungeons deep and caverns dim,
We must away, ere break of day,
To win our harps and gold from him!

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Far
• Over
• Misty
• Mountains
• Cold
• Song
• Tolkien
• Poem
• Hobbit
• Gregorian
• Plainchant
• Chant
• Hymn

[diademchi]

Amazing! I would love to get the PDF if you are willing to publish it. Same goes for the regular mp3.

[benstox]

@diademchi Thank you. Yes, you're welcome to them. Message me your e-mail address and I can send them.

[amhlaidgh]

Thank you. I have often felt that the Dwarves' love of gold and hearth took on a nearly religious cast. This expresses that sentiment quite well. Also very nice that you didn't fall into the trap of making it sing-song like many renditions do.

I wish I had a better knowledge of Plainchant to recognize the tones.

[benstox]

@amhlaidgh Glad you enjoyed it. Actually, a friend recently gave me a 'cheat sheet' that he had used as an organist in a French seminary, outlining the musical characteristics of the 8 tones. It's quite interesting in that it also gives short one- or two-word descriptors for the feeling of each of them. Mode I for instance is called "grave paix" and Mode VIII is "perfectus pleinitude". It's helped to keep the modes distinct in my head. If you want I can send it to you as an excel spreadsheet.

[polycarp256]

I prefer Thorin's version.

[benstox]

@pnstewart Just to clarify: of course I did not write the text. Everyone knows this poem. It's one of the most famous songs in Tolkien. Someone asked me however, "Where did the music originate from?" For fun I wrote this admittedly pretentious melody to sing Tolkien's poem to. Please read things on the internet carefully before you call someone a liar.

[AbstinentUser]

This is great! I prefer this version much more to the one that was in the movie trailer. It was too "hollywoodized" for me. Benstox' version is much more how I imagined it to be when I first read to book. :)

[givebackrankflv]

Tolkien, who was Tridentine rite supporting Catholic, would probably have loved this. Shame about all the movie trailer fanboys disliking this version.

[amhlaidgh]

@benstox I would love that. My email is maelcaedmon [at] yahoo [dot] com

[Yondur1]

watch out for that flaming guys...

[lordalastor99]

a different sounding version of this same song is sung by the Dwarves in The Hobbit movie.

[littledemonangel16]

Awesome. It may not be done by the dwarves but still this one gives me a better image of the land and the tale.