Poem:Â In western lands beneath the Sun
Tune:Â Kingsfold
Arranger:Â R. Vaughan Williams
I decided - on a whim - to do something unusual for Easter. So this is not a Shapenote tune! (Or at least not that I know of.) What it is is the tune I always hear for this particular song, and I think its folksong origins and Vaughan Williams’ harmonies fit the song, the scene and the character really well. It’s also the tune to one of my favourite hymns.Â
I’d have tried to record it acapella, but this arrangement wasn’t designed to be sung all in roughly the same octave, and I didn’t want to mess with it. So... you get the piano. I’m sorry the piano sound is Like That, I have no recording equipment except my laptop, which is doing its best. Here, in my best attempt at a rendition with piano, is the song Sam sings in the tower of Cirith Ungol.
Lyrics under the cut.











