I have been talking about this poem with Travis on and off for the last couple of years.
I thought it’d be a great poem for Halloween but I missed my opportunity during October.
I thought I’d put it up anyway because I think it’s great and I recently got my hands on the sound recording of Tolkien reading it- which is the way I first heard it. It was an old cassette at my local library named- The Songs and Poems of Middle Earth. If you can find it you’ll be overjoyed by Tolkien reading and singing many of his works.
jrr-tolkien-recites-the-mewlips
I’m not exactly sure when the recording was made but it certainly is mono.
Tolkien’s voice is very rich and suits the material so well- as you’d expect. He seems like he’s about to break into some elvish dialect at any moment. His pronounciations are wonderful and it appears that his knowledge of languages and the evolution of languages give him some special insight into the richness and aural pleasure of vocal. Though a master of the written word I think he’d be equally at home in the oral tradition. Something like a Gondorian at home among the Rohirrim.
Enjoy and comment.
J.R.R. Tolkien Recites "The Mewlips" [1:30m]:
Play Now |
Play in Popup |
Download
By Matthew
I’ve just had a good experience.
When I was in my early teens a friend of mine who was a Tolkien fan told me about a Lord of the Rings series on the radio. He’d taped a few episodes and I loved listening to them. It was dramitised with great voice actors like Sir Michael Horden, John Le Messurier, Ian Holm and other voices that were familiar from Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
I’d been keeping my eye out for it through all the LOTR hype and merchandising sorrounding the Peter Jackson movies and I did find it- 13 cd’s full, over 14 hours of story. The thing was was that it was priced at $200! I wasn’t going to pay that.
But yesterday I was looking in a bookshop’s bargain table and what did I find? You guessed it, a pile of about 20 copies of the “Collector’s Edition” of the cd set for $20. I am very happy now and have listened to the first two discs. I highly recommend this production for any fan of LOTR. Its a more engaging way of enjoying the story than the movies as all the action is happening in your mind. I’m all for that. Do yourself a favour.
If anyone wants me to get them a set if its still there I’ll do that too.
Here’s a link with some other people’s reviews.
Oh, and an important point- Sam doesn’t sound like a comic relief yokel.
Lovecraft/Tolkien/Potter/Lots-of-other-fascinating-subjects scholar and somtimes Hog’s Head commenter Amy H. Sturgis has some updates that will be of interest for Hog’s Head readers:
Hi friends!
As you may know, I’ve begun narrating contemporary science fiction stories for the UK audio science fiction magazine StarShipSofa (http://www.starshipsofa.com). (You can hear my narration of Elizabeth Bear’s “And the Deep Blue Sea” at http://www.starshipsofa.com/podcast/StarShipSofa_Elizabeth_Bear_And_The_Deep_Blue_Sea.mp3 and other narrations will go up soon.)
As of today, I’ve also begun contributing an audio “article” for StarShipSofa’s “Aural Delights” Wednesday program, in which I give my commentary about a science fiction topic. These will run once a month. My first is available on today’s show at http://www.starshipsofa.com/podcast/Terry_Bisson_Bears_Discover_Fire_mp3.mp3 and it begins approximately 10 minutes into the podcast. If you listen, I hope you enjoy!
Have a great day!
Amy
revgeorge on 
R. Ross on 
Lily Luna on 
Arabella Figg on 
Loading ...
Rowling invokes Tolkien, talks literature and politics
February 13, 2008by Travis
Rowling rarely mentions Tolkien, but I’ve found in the process of writing my book that she has far more in common with him than I had previously realized. Chalk it up to the Cauldron of Story (which is precisely what I do, actually….) In the recent interview for El Pais, translated (with [...]