The Man in the Moon Stayed Up Too Late: Difference between revisions

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'''The Man in the Moon Stayed Up Too Late''' is a [[Hobbits|Hobbit]] poem composed by [[Bilbo Baggins]].
'''The Man in the Moon Stayed Up Too Late''' is a [[Hobbits|Hobbit]] poem composed by [[Bilbo Baggins]].
==The Song==
There is an inn, a merry old inn
Beneath an old grey hill,
And there they brew a beer so brown
That the man in the moon him self came down
One night to drink his fill.
The ostler has a tipsy cat
That plays a five-stringed fiddle;
And up and down he runs his bow
Now squeaking high, now purring low,
Now sawing in the middle.
The landlord keeps a little dog
That is mighty fond of jokes;
When there's a good cheer among the guests'
He cocks his ear at all the jest
And laughs until he chokes.
They also keep a horned cow
As proud as any queen;
But music turns her head like ale,
And makes her wave her tufted tail,
And dance upon the green.
And O! the rows of silver dishes
And the stores of silver spoons
For Sunday there's a special pair,
And these they polish up with care
On Saturday afternoon.
The man in the moon was drinking deep,
And the cat began to wail;
A dish and a spoon on the table danced,
The cow in the garden madly pranced,
And the little dog chased his tail.
The man in the moon took another mug,
And rolled beneath his chair;
And he dozed and dreamed of ale,
Till in the sky the stars were pale,
And dawn was in the air.
Then the ostler said to his tipsy cat:
"The white horses on the moon,
They neigh and champ their silver bits;
But their master's gone and drowned his wits;
And the sun will be rising soon!"
So the cat on his fiddle played hay-diddle-diddle,
A jig that would wake the dead:
He squeaked and sawed and quickened the tune,
While the landlord shook the man in the moon:
"It's after three!" he said.
They rolled the man slowly up the hill,
And bundled him into the moon,
While his horses galloped up in rear,
And the cow came capering like a deer,
And a dish ran up with the spoon.
Now quicker the fiddle went deedle-dum-diddle;
The dog began to roar,
The cow and the horses stood on their heads;
The guests all bounded from their beds
And danced upon the floor.
With a ping and a pang the fiddle-strings broke!
The cow jumped over the moon,
And the little dog laughed to see such fun,
And the Saturday dish went off at a run
With the silver Sunday spoon.
The round moon rolled behind the hill,
As the sun raised up her head.
She hardly believed her fiery eyes;
For though it was day, to her surprise
They all went back to bed.


==History==
==History==

Revision as of 21:26, 24 February 2016

The Man in the Moon Stayed Up Too Late is a Hobbit poem composed by Bilbo Baggins.

History

In The Prancing Pony at Bree Frodo jumped on a table and recited "a ridiculous song" invented by Bilbo.[1]

Form

The poem is in thirteen ballad-like five-line stanzas, introducing each element in turn: "the Man in the Moon" himself, the ostler's "tipsy cat that plays a five-stringed fiddle", the little dog, the "hornéd cow".

Portrayals in adaptations

1978: The Lord of the Rings (1978 film):

Frodo sings an abridged version of the song at the Prancing Pony before falling off the table and accidentally slipping on the Ring for the first time, causing him to disappear and startle the patrons.

1981: The Lord of the Rings (1981 radio series):

Frodo sings the song in Bree. Speeding up at every line, he becomes nigh unintelligable near the end.

2002: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (video game):

Frodo sings an abridged version at the Prancing Pony. The line fragment "And there they brew a beer so brown" was changed to "And there they made a stew so brown", presumably to censor references to alcohol.

2012: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey:

In the Extended Edition of the film, Bofur sings an abridged version in Rivendell while the Company dines with the Elves, and the other Dwarves join in.

Other media

A musical version of this poem was recorded by the Tolkien Ensemble on their album A Night in Rivendell.

Inspiration

In the context of the legendarium, this song is the imagined original (by back formation) ditty that is derived to 'our time' in the simplified nursery rhyme "Hey Diddle Diddle".[source?]

The title of this version is given in The Adventures of Tom Bombadil.[2]

References

  1. ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, "At the Sign of the Prancing Pony"
  2. ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, "The Man in the Moon Stayed Up Too Late"
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