Talk:Bilbo's Last Song

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[edit] When did Swann write this song?

This page has the following text:

After Tolkien's death in 1973 Hill showed the poem to Donald Swann, who liked the poem so much that he set it to music and included it in the second edition of The Road Goes Ever On in 1978.

If you listen to the CD accompanying the third edition of The Road Goes Ever On song cycle, Swann himself has a spoken introduction to this song that tells this story.

And that matches the story on this page of the Donald Swann website [1] as well.

So I think this version of history is extremely probable.

But then, how can we explain that this page of the Donald Swann website [2] lists "Bilbo's Last Song" as something he performed in concert on his tour of Dec 1966 - April 1967?

I suspect that the Swann website is in error (since this page seems to contradict the other page) but I submit this mystery to you Tolkien experts for explanation.... Lawrence King 08:26, 24 January 2006 (UTC)

It must be an error on the website. Tolkien gave the poem to Joy Hill on 09/03/1970... the exact date he wrote it is unknown, but generally assumed to be around that time. Even supposing that the poem existed in 1966 the likelihood that Swann would have seen it (before Hill did - despite Swann's own statement that she showed it to him), set it to music, and been performing it... well there is no likelihood, it just isn't credible. If nothing else, that likely would have prevented Hill from getting it copyrighted in 1974. Whoever set up the website for Swann must have made a mistake. --CBD _☎ ^✉ 23:53, 24 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Films

There is a reference, I'm fairly sure. Who volunteers to watch all theee (r six if necessary) films to confirm/deny? Rich Farmbrough 09:23 13 March 2006 (UTC).

I don't see any reference to the text in RotK -- both versions. Pauline Baynes' pictures are possibly referenced, some of the film's epilogue scenes closely resemble the pictures, but as both are based on ROTK's last chapter's text this probably is due to both poem/pictures and film having their base in the book. -- Jordi·✆ 12:38, 13 March 2006 (UTC)