Let Us Hear All Of Poppy's Songs In The Rings Of Power
Throughout history, societies have told each other stories through song. Often, those ditties were the only way these stories could be passed down and remembered. There were drinking songs, sea shanties, songs to pass the time, songs to walk by, and songs to lift the heart. There is something about communal singing that lets us be a part of a group, sharing in something we know and love. Songs can keep the beat that soldiers march to or traveling groups walk to. They mourn those who have passed or brighten up a day with a funny twist.
J.R.R. Tolkien was a scholar of mythology and history and liberally seasoned his writings with songs. We've heard some of them in "The Hobbit" trilogy, and even a few in "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy. Who could forget the song Aragorn sings at his coronation? Go watch it right now and try not to start crying before the line about the Hobbits bowing to no one. Tolkien's writings even inspired the legendary band Led Zeppelin to record songs based on his works, like "Misty Mountain Hop."
Prime Video's "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" has given us songs right from some of the first video glimpses we got of the series. The big one, of course, is "Wandering Day," which /Film's own Rafael Motamayor recently wrote about.
It's sung by the harfoot's resident songstress, Poppy Proudfellow (Megan Richards), bestie of Nori Brandyfoot (Markella Kavenagh), and it sets the tone for the entire series.
Drop the album, Poppy!
These harfoots, ancestors of the hobbits of legend, are big music fans, of course. Poppy may sing the most (songs from her mother, who died along with the rest of her family in a landslide), but every harfoot chants a walking song about nobody walking alone. Poppy's songs are lovely ... and a little weird, if we're going by the one from episode 7:
Old Bolgerbuck went sailing,
One autumn day so fine.
He found a hundred big ones.
I wish that they were mine.
And while he was a snailin'
Upon that autumn day,
His babe he left a-wailin'.
The stream took her away.
[As she] floated down it
So loudly she did wail
The King of the Frog Fishies
Turned her into a snail.
Old Bolgerbuck he caught her
So juicy and so sweet,
They say his little daughter
He could not help but...
You get it. He ate his kid. Gross but funny and kind of a warning song about paying attention and I guess about picking the right snails? I'm putting out a plea right now to the producers of the series. Please release a full album of Poppy songs. We do have "Wandering Day," of course, and the soundtrack to the first season that was released on Spotify has only two singers listed in addition to the work of Bear McCreary and Howard Shore's intro: Sophia Nomvete's "A Plea to the Rocks" and Megan Richards' "This Wandering Day."
Please add to this! Poppy, we will make t-shirts and merch. We'll come to your concerts in our bare feet with baskets of snails and apples. Just release the rest! I need to know what happened to Old Bolgerbuck once he figured it out!