Poems and Songs of Middle Earth is a studio album of spoken-word poetry by the English author J. R. R. Tolkien and art songs composed by the English musician Donald Swann. On the first half of the album, Tolkien recites seven poems from or related to his fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings (1954–55). The second half is a performance of Swann's song cycle The Road Goes Ever On, which sets selections from Tolkien's verse to music. The vocalist William Elvin sings The Road Goes Ever On to Swann's piano accompaniment. Caedmon Records issued the album on 18 October 1967 in the United States, and then on 28 March 1968 in the United Kingdom. Its release coincided with the publication of The Road Goes Ever On as a book of sheet music with commentary and illustration by Tolkien.

Poems and Songs of Middle Earth became the first commercially available audio recording of Tolkien's voice after the success of The Lord of the Rings, as well as the earliest album of music inspired by his fictional Middle-earth. While most of the poetry and lyrics are in English, the album also features Tolkien's constructed languages as recited by the author himself or sung by Elvin under his guidance. Its recordings of two Elvish languages—Quenya and Sindarin—provided early insight into the intended qualities of these languages when spoken aloud. The packaging of the original LP record carried a cover illustration by Pauline Baynes and liner notes written by the poet W. H. Auden. Caedmon reissued the album on cassette tape in 1972 and again in 1977 as part of a box set compilation of Tolkien's audiobooks. The album was out of print by the 21st century.

Background

In 1965, Donald Swann composed a song cycle titled The Road Goes Ever On, setting various texts by Tolkien to music. Swann requested Tolkien's permission to perform and publish the song cycle, as a derivative work based on Tolkien's copyrighted writings; Tolkien, impressed by Swann's work, approved. The author's British publisher, Allen & Unwin, reached a copyright licensing agreement with Swann in early to mid-January 1966. Allen & Unwin and Tolkien's American publisher Houghton Mifflin made plans to print The Road Goes Ever On as a book of sheet music, with the potential for a recording of the music to be issued simultaneously with the book. Although there was interest in producing a record of the song cycle, an early inquiry to the music publisher and record company Chappell & Co. was rejected. A representative of Chappell indicated that the song cycle would be too short to fill an entire long-playing ("LP") record, and a shorter record was deemed difficult to market in the United States. Shortly thereafter, the Allen & Unwin employee Joy Hill pitched the idea of an LP featuring Swann performing his song cycle on one side and Swann's stage partner, Michael Flanders, reading selections from Tolkien's writings on the other.; ; .

Swann met the baritone vocalist William Elvin through Hill's introduction, and the two began collaborating on live performances of Swann's The Road Goes Ever On. Swann felt Elvin's voice befit the material. Moreover, both he and Tolkien were struck by the coincidental aptness of the singer's surname, Elvin. Swann called attention to "the unbelievably suitable name", while Tolkien remarked that it was "a good omen". By May 1966, Swann prepared a demo version of his song cycle to send to prospective record companies, and he was also preparing for concert performances and an upcoming radio appearance.

At a meeting that December Tolkien and Swann worked out a finalized structure for the LP, with Tolkien to read his own writings rather than Flanders. Up to that time, Tolkien's voice had only been recorded twice for commercially released records, both times circa April 1930, more than a decade before the publication of The Lord of the Rings. These two records were English lessons with Arthur Lloyd James, released by the London-based company Linguaphone. Tolkien's segments on these educational records were brief, running just over six minutes total. He had also been recorded prior to 1967 on a handful of occasions in other contexts.

Austin Olney of Houghton Mifflin proposed partnering with Caedmon Records to release the envisioned album. Caedmon, a New York–based record label with offices in London at the time, specialized in spoken word records related to literature. Arriving decades before the mainstream advent of the audiobook, Caedmon "answered the question on many readers' minds", said in the words of historian Matthew Rubery: "What did authors sound like?" Since its founding in 1952, Caedmon had already pressed records by many of the preeminent authors of 20th century literature, among them Albert Camus, T. S. Eliot, William Faulkner, Langston Hughes, James Joyce, Thomas Mann, Sylvia Plath, Gertrude Stein, Wallace Stevens, and W. B. Yeats. Accordingly, the label was closely associated with esteemed literary fiction and the high-minded literary community. Given the hostile literary reception to Tolkien, the fantasy author and critic Lin Carter professed surprise when he discovered that so staid and literary a firm as Caedmon Records offers a disc whereon the good Professor [Tolkien] may be heard reading some of the poems from [The Lord of the Rings] in his own language!"

Recording

In March 1967, Swann wrote to Tolkien for advice on vocal coaching for Elvin, as both performers strove to maintain faithfulness in the pronunciation of words from Tolkien's constructed languages. Tolkien provided phonetic notes tailored to Swann and Elvin's voices. In April, Rayner Unwin wrote to Tolkien to inform him that arrangements had been made to release the LP through Caedmon, as well as for Tolkien to be recorded at his home by employees of the record label. A representative from Caedmon sent Tolkien a tape recorder to keep and use for practice in May, and the author conveyed in a letter to Unwin that he had been practicing recording himself.

According to a discography at the Donald Swann Website, Swann and Elvin recorded the songs from The Road Goes Ever On on 12 June 1967. Tolkien recorded his spoken readings on 15 June 1967. Caedmon sent the producer Howard Sackler and an engineer with equipment to record at Tolkien's home on Sandfield Road in Oxford. Recording took place after 4 p.m.—later than Tolkien preferred. An earlier arrival by Caedmon's team was not possible, as their schedule required them to travel that day from London, but a Caedmon representative assured Tolkien that the process of recording at home would be unobtrusive. Afterwards, Tolkien reported to Swann that he enjoyed the recording session, and commended the "helpful and appreciative" disposition of the recording team. While recording his poem "The Sea-Bell", Tolkien spotted an error in the published text that had gone unnoticed before.

Contents

The first side of the LP contains spoken-word recitals by Tolkien. He read six poems taken from his collection The Adventures of Tom Bombadil (1962) and his fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings (1954–55). The second half contains about 20 seconds of additional reading by Tolkien, followed by Swann's song-cycle The Road Goes Ever On, which sets seven of Tolkien's poems to music with vocals by Elvin and piano accompaniment played by Swann himself. Tolkien contributed the melody for one of the songs, "Namárië", in a style evocative of Gregorian chant. Swann's compositions are influenced by English folk music, complementing the traditional style of Tolkien's verse. A critic for the English Journal compared most of the compositions to lieder, while noting a resemblance between "Errantry" and the patter songs of Gilbert and Sullivan.

Packaging and liner notes

The illustration on the LP sleeve's cover—a "triptych" view of a Middle-earth landscape designed by Pauline Baynes—had previously appeared on the slipcase of the deluxe three-volume edition of The Lord of the Rings published by Allen & Unwin in 1964 (but printed in 1963). Describing the album cover, Valerie Anand identifies Orodruin, or Mount Doom, "in the far distance and a dramatic castle as a landmark in the middle distance, leading the eye onwards, as it were."

The poet W. H. Auden contributed introductory liner notes for the LP sleeve's reverse side. Auden agreed to do so in August 1967, pleasing Tolkien immensely. The two writers had expressed their mutual admiration in correspondence early that year, spurred by the publication of Tolkien's poem "For W. H. A." in a special issue of the literary magazine Shenandoah dedicated to Auden in honor of his 60th birthday. Auden thanked Tolkien for the poem and expressed his further admiration of "The Sea-Bell", one of the poems Tolkien had recorded for the album. In his essay, Auden lauds Tolkien's verse, calling the poems' metres "as exciting as they are various", and claims the author's fantasy works

Enthusiastic though Auden was for the recordings of Elvish poetry, his essay expresses disappointment that the album lacked readings from the poetry of Rohan, a kingdom of Men in The Lord of the Rings.

Release history +Release history for Poems and Songs of Middle Earth Release date Description Region Format Label

First pressing. US

Caedmon Records TC 1231(TC 91231) (providing the exact date of the first pressing without specifying region); (confirming the 1st US pressing was an Autumn 1967 release). 28 March 1968 First UK pressing. UK September 1971 Reissue through English retailer Record Specialities and Henry Stave, Ltd.; identical to the first pressings. ; . 1972 First pressing on cassette. US/UK

CDL 51231 1977 Reissue – The J.R.R. Tolkien Soundbook versions. Either sold individually, or as part of the complete Soundbook box sets SBR 101 / 4×CS: SBC 101). Vinyl LP TC 1231 Cassette tape CDL 51231

Caedmon Records first released Poems and Songs of Middle Earth on 18 October 1967 as a vinyl LP. The first press, limited to the United States, preceded the 31 October publication of The Road Goes Ever On in that country. The original list price was $5.95 (, adjusting for inflation). Ahead of the album's appearance in the British market, Caedmon shipped Tolkien three copies of the record from New York. The LP was released in the UK on 28 March 1968. (providing the exact date of the second pressing without specifying region); (confirming the 1st UK pressing was a Spring 1968 release). The track listing on the LP packaging erroneously omits the sixth track on side A, "The Sea-Bell", even though that track is present on the record itself.

In late 1971 the retailer Record Specialities reissued the LP, keeping the original Caedmon catalog number. The reissued LP came as part of the first batch of the retailer's new "Caedmon series", in which it would re-release several albums from the label's back catalog each month at a discounted price of £1.99 (). The following year, Caedmon issued the album on cassette tape for the first time. As late as 1985, Caedmon continued to sell tapes of the album, which it marketed alongside audiobooks of works by Tolkien and other authors of fantasy fiction. Poems and Songs of Middle Earth was out of print by the year 2000, but copies remained in circulation via public libraries.