[Gildor]

A brief search turned up nothing, though i'm sure there was something years ago.

Songs! Singing! Drunken revelry! come on, admit it, all of you who hummed along to the songs in LOTR's or skipped along the highstreet like a merry old fellow, No? No one. well you're lying!

:p

So, best songs from a fantasy book?

The obvious choice, and what inspired the thread The Bear the Bear and the Maiden fair, plus half a dozen others from aSoiaF. Rains of Castermere etc

Bombadils merry chanting is peerless, I mean come on, his boots were yellow, and he had a bright blue jacket!

And i'm sure I forgot some obvious ones. And make sure you include the book and feel free to give us the lyrics.

[Bridie]

All time favourite for me is probably The Bear and The Maiden fair.

Alison Croggons books, which are based in a bardic society, contain many songs. The Lay of Andomian and Beruldh is one of my favourites

Speak to me, fair maid!
Speak and do not go!
What sorrows have your eyes inlaid
With such black woe?

My dam is buried deep
Dark are my father's halls
And carrion fowl and wolves now keep
Their ruined walls

thats just the start, its one of those long heroic tragic lays. Its song in two parts, the first male the second female.

[Julian]

Gildor,

Just slightly off-topic (you were asking about songs in books, I know) but if you like the B-B-B combo, you might like a few quite beersy songs on an album by the American group Glass Hammer called - you'd never guess - "The Middle Earth Album"

Here's a link to the album, where you can here samples from the songs (expect some loading time, since all the song snippets are loaded automatically when you open the page):

http://www.glasshammer.com/pages/features/samplers/middle_earth_sampler.html

[Murrin]

Seeing you mention it, I just had to go find the lyrics:

The Bear and the Maiden Fair

A bear there was, a bear, a bear!
All black and brown, and covered with hair!
The bear! The bear!
Oh, come, they said, oh come to the fair!
The fair? Said he, but I'm a bear!
All black, and brown, and covered with hair!

And Down the road from here to there.
From here! To There!
Three boys, a goat, and a dancing bear!
[He] danced and spun, all the way to the Fair!
The Fair! The Fair!

Oh, sweet she was, and pure, and fair!
The maid with honey in her hair!
Her hair! Her hair!
The maid with honey in her hair!

[The bear,] smelled the scent on the summer air.
The bear! The bear!
All black and brown and covered with hair.
He smelled the scent on the summer air!
He sniffed and roared and smelled it there!
Honey on the summer air!

Oh, I'm a maid, and I'm pure and fair!
I'll never dance with a hairy bear!
A bear! A bear!
I'll never dance with a hairy bear!
He lifted her high into the air!
The bear! The bear!

I called for a knight, but you're a bear!
A bear! A bear!
All black and brown and covered with hair!
She kicked and wailed, the maid so fair,
But he licked the honey from her hair,
Her hair! Her hair!

Then she sighed and squealed and kicked the air!
My bear! She sang. My bear so fair!
And off they went, from here to there,
The bear, the bear, and the maiden fair.



(And the scene it's used in is great, too.)

[Corporal Blues]

Being a big music fan, and knowing some musicians, and through them knowing how hard it is to write a song, even for someone who is making a career out of it, I always get a little dismayed when a writer of books trys to become a writer of songs (they truly are different practices). That being said:

I feel like Tolkein is the master of songs in fantasy books. Whenever I see songs in other books, I just kinda sigh, then skim it because I assume it wont be as good as Tolkein's songs.

Martin does a fair job, but I feel like The Bear and the Maiden Fair, and I mean no disrespect to GRRM, reads like a lame Dr. Seuss story.

Tom Bombadil's song is my all time fave.

[algernoninc]

I think they were reciting, not singing - but the one book where poetry really had its place and where it was done beautifully was "Initiate Brother" - the oriental themed duology by Sean Russell. The chracters were composing haiku's every other page it seemed, but i never felt they were out of place or out of synch with the rest of the story. In "Swan's War" there's also a strong lyrical athmosphere, but it's been some years since i read it, and i don't remember much about the songs.

[Wayne Batson]

Have you ever player the PS2 RPG game called Bard? HILARIOUS game that pokes fun at all the Fantasy cliches. In the first town your main character enters a pub and must endure a drunken quartet's Beer Song.

Later on, these little goblin things sing a song called, "It's bad luck to be you."

Too funny.