Love The Hobbit? Then you’ll love these 12 songs inspired by The Hobbit!
It’s December, and you know what that means! It’s time for the last installment of The Hobbit Movie series. Although I was quite disappointed in the second film, I enjoyed the first and am looking forward to seeing the last installment.
In honor of the The Hobbit movie series concluding, I’ve put together a list of songs inspired by The Hobbit or Lord of the Rings. Most of these songs are quite old, because I guess people cared more about singing about books back then? I’m not sure. But at any rate, many of these are amazing songs!
12 Epic Songs Inspired by The Hobbit
These 12 songs inspired by The Hobbit are some of the best songs in the world singing about everyone’s favorite fantasy series!
The Battle of Evermore by Led Zepplin
According to popular legend, this song is either about the fall of Lucifer from heaven or about the battle of the Pelennor Fields. With clear references to “ring wraiths” and “magic runes” I tend to think it’s the latter.
The best line: “The magic runes are writ in gold to bring the balance back.”
The Necromancer by Rush
The Necromancer is a pretty blatant retelling of the journey of Frodo, Sam, and Gollum into Mordor. It talks about “Three travelers ford the river,” they turn south, journeying into the dark and forbidding lands of the Necromancer,” and the Necromancer’s “evil prism eye.” All of these are fairly obvious.
The best line: “Shreds of black cloud loom in overcast skies. The Necromancer keeps watch with his magic prism eyes.”
Ramble On by Led Zeppelin
Apparently, the main writer for Led Zeppelin was LOTR crazy. Robert Plant was reported to be the biggest LOTR fan in the group. In Ramble On, we get much more blatant references to LOTR than in many of the other LZ songs. Lines like, “But Gollum, and the evil one crept up,” and “t’was in the darkest depths of Mordor” pretty heavily reference the books.
The best line: “Sometimes I grow so tired, but I know I’ve got one thing I got to do.”
Nimrodel / The Procession / The White Rider by Camel
Aside from an incredibly confused title, this song has several references to LOTR. This song is basically an ode to Gandalf with lines like, “Through the skies, his white horse flies” and “The wizard of them all, came back from his fall, this time wearing white.” This is one of my favorite songs inspired by The Hobbit on this list.
The best line: “He has a certain air, as if he’s never there.”
The Lords of the Ring by Styx
This song is written like a fan gush to the series in general. Some of the strongest referencing lines include: “And though the legend was pure fantasy we still need the hope it brings” and “All hail to the Lords of the Ring to the magic and mystery it brings.”
The best line: All hail to the Lords of the Ring, to the magic and mystery they bring, to the music in their story.”
Mirror Mirror by Blind Guardian
Blind Guardian actually has an entire album dedicated to Middle Earth called “Nightfall in Middle Earth,” but my favorite song is Mirror Mirror as it is a reference to the bowl of future-predicting water that Galadriel had. Some of my favorite lines include: “Gone’s the wisdom of a thousand years” and “Shall I leave my friends alone
Hidden in my twilight hall.”
The best line: “I’ve seen the end of all; be aware the storm gets closer.”
Rivendell by Rush
This song is somewhat obviously an ode to Rivendell itself, the happy elven place. Some of my favorite lines from this song are: “A place you can escape the world
Where the dark lord cannot go” and “it feels so good to see the smiles of friends who never left your mind.”
The best line: “Darkness gives way to light a new way. Stop here for a while until the world, the world calls you away.”
Helm’s Deep by Doomsword
There is nothing subtle about this reference. This song is simply a retelling of the events of the battle for Helm’s Deep. There are a lot of actual names and places listed in the lyrics, including “Isengard banners and signs now shine” and “King Theoden awaits for a last ride on his horse.”
The best line: “Imminent dawn carries hope on Helm’s deep; will the horn resound?”
The Eternal Lands of Fire by Summoning
Just like Blind Guardian, Summoning actually created and entire album dedicated to The Lord of the Rings titled “Lugburz” which means dark tower in Black Speech. The Eternal Lands of Fire could be a reference to Mordor, where Sauron lives, or perhaps Mt. Doom. The lyrics to this song are so garbled, I can’t tell what they are saying. If you have any idea, let me know!
Nenya (Songs of the Quendi) by Sally Oldfield
This song is rather strange because the only lyrics are “Three rings for the elven kings.” She sings this over and over throughout the song. It’s rather unusual to have so few lyrics, but the overall effect is quite interesting. This line obviously is a reference to the ring poem where it states that the elves received three rings.
The best line: “Three rings for the elven kings.”
Bo Hansson Sagan Om Ringen
Bo Hansson is a Swedish singer/songwriter who created an entire album dedicated to LOTR back in 1996. As far as I can tell, none of the songs actually have lyrics. You can listen to the full album above, which has a melodic, ethereal feel- just like LOTR should and has everything you want for songs inspired by The Hobbit.
No Quarter by Led Zeppelin
According to some sources, the song, No Quarter is based on the epic battle at the end of The Hobbit. Apparently, Led Zeppelin was Hobbit crazy.
Several of the lines reference the battle, including: “The dogs of doom are howling more” (a possible reference to Mt. Doom) and “they’re wearing steel that’s bright and true” (a possible reference to Bilbo’s mithril shirt. However, this song could also simply be referencing Norse mythology, but LOTR pulled heavily from that universe so the stretch isn’t that far.
The best line: “They carry news that must get through to build a dream for me and you.”
Do you have any other songs inspired by The Hobbit to add to this list?
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I’ll have to show this to my husband–he LOVES The Hobbit
Ah-mazing. I knew of a few of these since I <3 LoTR, but will definitely be marking this page so that I can come back and listen to the ones that are new to me!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mly9hMH23VM
this song by Sabaton is inspired by the lord of the rings (clear indications towards sauron mordor and the hobbits). made in 2007.
That’s really cool!
Don’t forget ‘I See Fire’ by Ed Sheeran! 😀
I’m sure there are quite a few I missed! Thanks for sharing, Rosie!
Bo Hansson’s Sagan om Ringen is from 1970.
Is it? That’s good to know!
Thanks for sharing (StumbleUpon)