For space is wide and good friends are too few.
Bonds of blood and bonds of steel
Bonds of god-fire and of need,
Bonds that only we to feel
Bonds of word and bonds of deed,
Bonds we took – and knew the cost
Bonds we swore without mistake
Bonds that give more than we lost,
Bonds that grant more than they take
“Oathbreakers,” from a novel by Mercedes Lackey, sung by Leslie Fish and…other people. I’m not sure the YouTube description is actually accurate, so I’ll leave it at that.
Seventh sons and golden ball daughters
Can take their own lives to hand
I have been to the city of Marrow
And I have come out again.
Fear not the wind of wasting
Its howling is not for you
It’s only an echo now within
The hearts of those just passing through
Couldn’t tell you what it’s about, exactly, but I like it. “City of Marrow,” by S.J. Tucker. Lyrics and chords available here.
Come from the forest and sit ‘round the fire
Come from the fields and enter our hall
Come drink from the guest-cup
Come join in our circle
Come and be welcome ye bards one and all.
“Come and Be Welcome,” by Em Holbert, sung by Heather Dale
I couldn’t find any original songs by Holbert sung by her, but according to a YouTube comment she’s planning an album for 2016, so that’s something to look forward to.
Absinthe in an open wound,
I am ashes on the wind,
I am Snow White stained and fallen,
Drop your guard and let me in
And I’ll be you.
“I Am (The Doppelganger’s Song),” by Seanan McGuire, performed by Vixy & Tony with Betsy Tinney on violin
Chords and lyrics available here
My amber cage had an amber lock
and the girl had an amber key
and a manticore was bound and sold
in the city in the trees.
This is just so pretty. “Manticore’s Lullaby,” by S. J. Tucker. Chords and lyrics available here.
“In the Halls of Our Fathers”, or “Thorin’s Farewell” which was it’s working title, is a song I wrote shortly after Easter, and I’ve been editing and revising it ever since. Only now am I happy with how the lyrics turned out. This is actually the very first recording I have ever done of it, done in one take with no editing (which is rather rare for me, as I usually do several takes with a lot of editing before I’m happy with it), so it’s practically a live version. I guess I’m just really eager to share it with you all! ^_^
The picture is of two wonderful cosplayers I had the pleasure of meeting at HobbitCon and is taken by Felix (http://revelio.deviantart.com/). You can find the whole photo shoot here:
http://bittersuites.tumblr.com/post/82818914778/the-clouds-burst-the-end-of-durins-lineThorin: http://a-very-important-dwarf.tumblr.com/
Bilbo: http://misterbilbo.tumblr.com/Lyrics
In the Halls of Our Fathers
(Thorin’s Farewell)Lift your gaze
For someone so small
You had a bravery
That baffled us all
And in your reluctance
You found in your heart
The kindness to see through
A rough-cut facadeAnd the road lay before you
So frightful and new
But you joined our company
As one of a few
To share an adventure
And through the world roam
To the Halls of our Fathers
Our homeLift you head
For all you have learned
You found your courage
When everything burned
In our darkest hour
To this ragged crew
Your heart remained loyal
And your spirit trueAnd the road lies behind you
The world lies ahead
Through woodland and mountain
And battle it lead
Together we stand now
Midst pillars of yore
In the Halls of our Fathers
Once moreLift your hand
And let it clasp mine
I need your forgiveness
Before it is time
Thief I once called you
But you are my friend
And the last to embrace me
Here at the endFor my road has ended
So bid me farewell
And remember me kindly
In stories you’ll tell
And lay me to rest
When my last breath has passed
In the Halls of our Fathers
At lastYeah, I’m sorry, but there is no way I’m not reblogging this after seeing the trailer …
The young man sat above the town in the glow of a setting sun
With his head held cradled in his hands, his back against a stone
Saying “Why have I so little time in this wretched place to stand?
“When I can’t take the girl I love back home to the Borderland”
“The Borderlands,” by Danny Carnahan and Chris Casswell
If I didn’t deeply trust the guy who first played this for me and told me it wasn’t originally a filk song, I wouldn’t have believed him. It’s incredibly beautiful and about…time travel? Parallel universes? Fairies? Unclear. Judge for yourself.
Cosplaying Maryden Halewell (the tavern bard from Dragon Age Inquisition) makes me want to sing ALL the songs, but some of them don’t have melodies, which means I have to make melodies for them myself. 😉
This one is The Girl in Red Crossing. Hope you like it! ^_^
Has aught been heard of the Fulgory
Bird in the isles to the west of Man?
For hither the gilded galleys of men
have sailed since the world began.
With painted sails and mariners’ songs
We come with trumpets and brazen gongs
To procure that for which His Majesty longs,
The remarkable Fulgory Bird.
“The Fulgory Bird,” by Karen and Chris Weber, based on a verse in The Drawing of the Dark, by Tim Powers
Remember when I wrote Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell fanfiction in the form of a hymn to the Raven King? Well I’ve sung it now. Please excuse the fact that hARMONISING WITH RECORDINGS OF MYSELF IS REALLY DIFFICULT and I HAVE NO PROPER MIC and of course my AUDACITY SKILLS ARE ATROCIOUS
Apart from that, what do you think?