The Road Goes Ever On (song)

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This article is about walking songs from The Lord of the Rings. For the song cycle, book, and recorded music, see The Road Goes Ever On.

The Road Goes Ever On is a term that encompasses several walking songs that J. R. R. Tolkien wrote for his Middle-earth legendarium. Within the stories, the original song was composed by Bilbo Baggins and recorded in The Hobbit. Different versions of it also appear in The Lord of the Rings, along with some similar walking songs.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Contents

[edit] The Hobbit

The original version of the song is recited by Bilbo in the last chapter of The Hobbit, at the end of his journey back to the Shire. Coming to the top of a rise he sees his home in the distance, and stops and says the following:

Roads go ever ever on,
Over rock and under tree,
By caves where never sun has shone,
By streams that never find the sea;
Over snow by winter sown,
And through the merry flowers of June,
Over grass and over stone,
And under mountains of the moon.
Roads go ever ever on
Under cloud and under star,
Yet feet that wandering have gone
Turn at last to home afar.
Eyes that fire and sword have seen
And horror in the halls of stone
Look at last on meadows green
And trees and hills they long have known.

[edit] The Lord of the Rings

There are three versions of this walking song in The Lord of the Rings.

The first version is sung by Bilbo when he leaves the Shire. He has given up the One Ring, leaving it for Frodo to deal with, and is setting off on adventures with dwarves once again.

The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.

The second version is spoken aloud, slowly, by Frodo, as he and his companions leave the Shire on their own adventure. The hobbits have paused at the borders of the Shire and are looking beyond to lands that some of them have never seen before.

The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with weary feet,
Until it joins some larger way,
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.

The third version is spoken by Bilbo in Rivendell after the hobbits have returned from their journey. Bilbo is now an old, sleepy hobbit, who murmurs the verse and then falls asleep.

The Road goes ever on and on
Out from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
Let others follow it who can!
Let them a journey new begin,
But I at last with weary feet
Will turn towards the lighted inn,
My evening-rest and sleep to meet.

Earlier, when leaving the Shire, Frodo tells the other hobbits Bilbo's thoughts on 'The Road': "He used often to say there was only one Road; that it was like a great river: its springs were at every doorstep, and every path was its tributary. 'It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door,' he used to say. 'You step into the Road, and if you don't keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off.'".

[edit] Other walking songs

Similar changes in mood and words are seen in two versions of another walking song that uses the same metre and is also found in The Lord of the Rings.

The first version, in the chapter 'Three is Company', is sung by the hobbits when they are walking through The Shire, just before they meet a company of elves. Three stanzas are given in the text, with the first stanza starting "Upon the hearth the fire is red...". The following extract is from the second stanza of the song.

Still round the corner there may wait
A new road or a secret gate,
And though we pass them by today,
Tomorrow we may come this way
And take the hidden paths that run
Towards the Moon or to the Sun.

It is this part of the song that is reprised with different words later in the book. This new version is sung softly by Frodo as he and Sam walk in the Shire a few years after they have returned, and as Frodo prepares to meet Elrond and others and journey to the Grey Havens to take ship into the West.

Still round the corner there may wait
A new road or a secret gate,
And though I oft have passed them by,
A day will come at last when I
Shall take the hidden paths that run
West of the Moon, East of the Sun.

The final line of the verse is a variant on the phrase "East of the Sun and West of the Moon", which is used in fairy-stories and similar tales to refer to an other world that is fantastically difficult to reach — in this case Aman, which can only be reached by the Straight Road. An example of the use of this phrase is East of the Sun and West of the Moon, a fairy-story found in The Blue Fairy Book, a collection compiled by Andrew Lang.

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Musical arrangements

The words of these songs have been set to music several times:

Each of these settings is unrelated to the other musically.

 v • d • e J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium
Published during his lifetime: The Hobbit • The Lord of the Rings • The Adventures of Tom Bombadil • The Road Goes Ever On
Posthumous publications: The Silmarillion • Unfinished Tales • The History of Middle-earth (12 volumes) • Bilbo's Last Song • The Children of Húrin • The History of The Hobbit
Lists of articles: By category • By name • Writings • Characters • Peoples • Rivers • Realms • Ages
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