# LOTR song questions (spoilers)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lotr-song-questions-spoilers/221973>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [December 31, 2003, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lotr-song-questions-spoilers/221973 "2003-12-31T18:23:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 8\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![lilbtagna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4491bb/32.png) [@lilbtagna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lilbtagna)\
**Post date:** [December 31, 2003, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lotr-song-questions-spoilers/221973/1 "2003-12-31T18:23:48Z")

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Near the beginning of ROTK, Merry and Pippin are singing a song in the Golden Hall. Is this song one of Tolkien’s that have been put into the song, or is it something the screenwriters made up for the movie? Also, does anyone know all the words to the song? I’ve only managed to remember the last couple of lines.

Thanks in advance!

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**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\
**Post date:** [December 31, 2003, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lotr-song-questions-spoilers/221973/2 "2003-12-31T19:02:10Z")

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Hey, ho! To the bottle I go  
To heal my heart and drown my woe.  
Rain may fall and wind may blow  
And though there be many miles to go  
Sweet is the sound of the falling rain  
And the brook that leaps from hills to plain  
But better than rain or rippling brook  
There’s a mug o’ beer inside this Took!

It’s a combination of verses from one of Bilbo’s walking songs and The Bath Song, plus a little tweaking from the movie writers.

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**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\
**Post date:** [December 31, 2003, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lotr-song-questions-spoilers/221973/3 "2003-12-31T19:03:48Z")

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Aw, crud! I misread your post, **lilbtagna**! I was referring, of course, to the song at the beginning of FOTR.

I’m also interested in the song you’re talking about - the lyrics said something about the Green Dragon, I believe . . .?

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**Author:** ![lilbtagna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4491bb/32.png) [@lilbtagna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lilbtagna)\
**Post date:** [December 31, 2003, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lotr-song-questions-spoilers/221973/4 "2003-12-31T20:53:45Z")

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These are the lyrics that I remember from the song:

You can keep your fancy ales,  
You can drink them by the flagon.  
But the only brew for the brave and true  
comes from the Green Dragon!

I found a couple sites online that list the lyrics of various Tolkien songs, but I don’t think any of the ones I looked at resembled those words.

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**Author:** ![BuckleberryFerry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5f9b8f/32.png) [@BuckleberryFerry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BuckleberryFerry)\
**Post date:** [December 31, 2003, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lotr-song-questions-spoilers/221973/5 "2003-12-31T22:49:48Z")

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**libtagna** , I’d hug you if it weren’t for this confounded distance! I’ve had this tune stuck in my head for over a week! Thank you for asking! What you’ve got there seems pretty right to me, but I’ve only seen it twice. I’ll have to listen more carefully next time.

Also, wasn’t there a good deal more to the song before those verses?

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**Author:** ![lilbtagna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4491bb/32.png) [@lilbtagna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lilbtagna)\
**Post date:** [January 1, 2004, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lotr-song-questions-spoilers/221973/6 "2004-01-01T07:36:19Z")

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Yeah, there was a lot more to that song while Merry and Pippin were dancing around on that tabletop, but I don’t remember much of it. I kind of know the tune and just remember bits and pieces of the song until the last few lines I typed above. I think somewhere in there they sing:

You can drink the whole town dry…

I’ve seen the movie 4 times now and _still_ don’t know all of that silly song. Maybe this can be my excuse to see the movie again…

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**Author:** ![BuckleberryFerry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5f9b8f/32.png) [@BuckleberryFerry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BuckleberryFerry)\
**Post date:** [January 1, 2004, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lotr-song-questions-spoilers/221973/7 "2004-01-01T17:23:40Z")

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Ah-HA!

from [here](http://billypip.diaryland.com/):

> [@](#):
>
> Oh you can search far and wide  
> You can drink the whole ground dry  
> But you’ll never find a beer so brown  
> As the one we drink in our home town…  
> You can keep your fancy ales  
> You can drink them by the flagon  
> But the only brew for the brave and true  
> Comes from the Green Dragon!

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**Author:** ![lilbtagna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4491bb/32.png) [@lilbtagna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lilbtagna)\
**Post date:** [January 1, 2004, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lotr-song-questions-spoilers/221973/8 "2004-01-01T18:27:51Z")

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YAY! Thank you so much, **BuckleberryFerry**! My sisters and I have been going nuts trying to figure that out.

_goes off humming the tune_
