Mid-Week Music #25 - Milo Murphy's Law Theme Song

Well now, before I get to the song of this week's MWM, there's another song I must mention--the Very Sorry Song. Yes, I missed this past week's MWM. I'm very sorry. It's complicated--part of the reason was that I could not think of a song. I could have done just a random song, but all the random songs I know are connected to this week's song.

The point is, I did have help picking this week's Music, from my younger sister, Kaitlyn, whose birthday is today! I told her she could choose the song for her birthday, and this was her first and only choice. She didn't have a second thought, just said it: "I wanna do the one where Doofenshmirtz and that guy with the white beard sing Milo!" That would be the second video, you see.

If you've read my blog since October at least, you're probably familiar with the show Milo Murphy's Law. I did a Halloween post all about it. It's a wonderful show, and I tell all about it in that post. In short, Milo Murphy is followed by a cyclone of calamity wherever he goes, and it causes many, many adventures for both him and his friends. There's also a lot of time travel involved. And a crossover, coming this April.

Oddly enough, though, just the other day I was finishing up rereading The Hobbit, by J. R. R. Tolkien. Gandalf's words to Bilbo at the end return to my mind as I'm writing this post.

"You don't really suppose, do you, that all your adventures and escapes were managed by mere luck, just for your sole benefit? You are a very fine person, Mr. Baggins, and I am very fond of you; but you are only a little fellow in a wide world after all!"

Somehow, that seems to fit perfectly here. Milo has indeed had a great many adventures and escapes. And he does seem a very fine person, and I am very fond of him and all his friends. But the idea that all of this is no more than random chance, bad or good luck, seems a mighty big stretch. In the words of a fellow blogger, "If Murphy's Law is that anything that CAN go wrong WILL go wrong, Milo Murphy's Law is that EVERYTHING THAT COULD POSSIBLY be important WILL be important. The tiniest details could end up being vital to saving the world."

We know, of course, that every single detail has been planned, because it is a story. Even in the context of the story, I don't doubt that Clara's right--everything that could possibly be important will be important, eventually, and Milo's 'luck', good or bad, is all to a purpose. And that's rather how it is in real life too. It's a story, just as much as Milo Murphy's Law. And nothing is without a purpose.

So Kaitlyn, here's hoping that your birthday's exceptional, and every day; that your life, no matter what sort of 'luck' you have, is never boring even for a minute. Here's your song, the Milo Murphy's Law theme song. Happy Birthday!

That's the normal theme song. And goodness gracious, that background is packed with details. Now, I also have a second version, which has two special guest singers. It's not really as good, but it is definitely funny. Here are Cavendish and Dakota--er, I mean, Major Monogram and Heinz Doofenshmirtz.

(Sorry, the original video seems to have disappeared, and this one is cut short.)

**

Look at that sun, look at that sky

Look at my sweatervest, I look so fly

Look at that mailbox, look at that tree

It's about as beautiful as it can be

Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh

Today is gonna be exceptional

Never boring, even for a minute

It's my world and we're all living in it

Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh

(We're all living in it)

Whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh

Never boring, even for a minute

It's my world and we're all living in it

**

*

Mid-Week Music #15 - Gandalf's Reflection

Tonight's MWM may, to some of you, be familiar. If you've read J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, that is. Just like I'm doing currently. And just as my younger brothers and sisters are about to do as well. Then again, it may be familiar to you if you've seen MWM #6. It's another (and, in my own opinion, somewhat better) version of the first part of this song. Not to say that this first part is bad: quite the opposite. It's a fun little piece.

However, it's the second part I really like. My dad always says it captures the mystery and eeriness and solemnity of the dwarves; that you could really see them singing there, wreathed in the smoke-rings from Gandalf's pipe. I definitely agree: it gives me chills every time. Such songs as this always capture the imagination, in humans as well as hobbits, and conjure up images in the mind better than any wizard. And that is important to me.

Still not convinced? Here's a third opinion, worded far better than mine.

"As they sang the hobbit felt the love of beautiful things made by hands and by cunning and by magic moving through him, a fierce and jealous love, the desire of the hearts of dwarves. Then something Tookish woke up inside him, and he wished to go and see the great mountains, and hear the pine-trees and the waterfalls, and explore the caves, and wear a sword instead of a walking-stick. He looked out of the window. The stars were out in a dark sky above the trees. He thought of the jewels of the dwarves shining in dark caverns. Suddenly in the wood beyond The Water a flame leapt up--probably somebody lighting a wood-fire--and he thought of plundering dragons settling on his quiet Hill and kindling it all to flames. He shuddered; and very quickly he was plain Mr. Baggins of Bag-End, Under-Hill, again."

 ~ J. R. R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, Chapter I, An Unexpected Party. 

***

Dwarves (sung):
Chip the glasses, crack the plates
That's what Bilbo Baggins hates
That's what Bilbo Baggins hates
So carefully, carefully with the plates!

Blunt the knives and bend the forks
Smash the bottles, burn the corks
That's what Bilbo Baggins hates
So carefully, carefully with
The
Plates

**

Far o'er the Misty Mountains cold
To dungeons deep and caverns old
We must away ere break of day
To seek the pale enchanted gold


**

Gandalf (spoken):
The dwarves of yore made mighty spells
While hammers fell like ringing bells
In places deep, where dark things sleep
In hollow halls beneath the fells

Goblets they carved there for themselves
And harps of gold where no man delves
There lay they long, and many a song
Was sung unheard by men or elves

For ancient king and elvish lord
There many a gleaming golden hoard
They shaped and wrought, and light they caught
To hide in gems on hilt of sword

On silver necklaces they strung
The flow'ring stars, on crowns they hung
The dragon-fire, in twisted wire
They meshed the light of moon and sun

*

The pines were roaring on the height
The winds were moaning in the night
The fire was red, it flaming spread
The trees like torches blazed with light

The bells were ringing in the dale
The men looked up with faces pale
The dragon's ire, more fierce than fire
Laid low their towers and houses frail

The mountain smoked beneath the moon
The dwarves, they heard the tramp of doom
They fled their hall to dying fall
Beneath his feet, beneath the moon

**

Dwarves (sung):
We must away ere break of day
To win our harps and gold from him

Delays and Dragons

Hi there. So... I said in the last post that I was going to try to catch up on my posting. It looks like today is not going to be that day. It's getting late, and I know Mommy will need my help with supper-related things. Therefore, I will probably be posting something either tomorrow or on Thursday or the following days.

But there is some good news: I finally put something on my Writing Projects Page! I wrote something up, and there it is now! It will likely get updated at different points along the way. Scratch that--it will definitely be getting updated along the way. Now then...

Oop, yep, I am definitely getting called in there to help with things. So I will be going now. Here's a random picture, so you can laugh while you wait.

Funniest thing ever.

Gotta go. Bye!

Mid-Week Music #6 - That's What Bilbo Baggins Hates!

Today, I've been quite busy, what with schoolwork, writing projects, and sundry other things. But I think I can manage a Mid-Week Music post.

If I really think about it, there could be lots of reasons to post this particular song: I've recently read that part of the Hobbit, I watched a TV show featuring Martin Freeman aka Bilbo Baggins last night, I know most of the lyrics by heart and it's a fun song. But honestly, the real reason is because I'm very busy, and feel like muttering 'confusticate and bebother' right about now. I'm beginning to realize how Bilbo felt, and--yep, there's Mommy calling me to come help with supper!

So, without further ado, here is "Blunt the Knives", alternatively known as "That's What Bilbo Baggins Hates!"

Bilbo:
And can you not do that? You'll blunt them!

Bofur:
Ooh! D'you hear that, lads? He says we'll blunt the knives!

Kili:
Blunt the knives, bend the forks

Fili:
Smash the bottles and burn the corks

All:
Chip the glasses and crack the plates...
That's what Bilbo Baggins hates!

(instruments join in)

Cut the cloth, tread on the fat
Leave the bones on the bedroom mat
Pour the milk on the pantry floor...
Splash the wine on every door!

Dump the crocks in a boiling bowl
Pound them up with a thumping pole
And when you've finished, if any are whole...
Send them down the hall to roll!

***

That's what Bilbo Baggins hates!


PS: My deepest and most profound apologies for the serious note on which the video ends. Thorin no longer has any conception of timing. Or being on time, for that matter.

Birthday of the Fellowship

I remember, a few years ago, I decided I wanted to read the Hobbit on my own. I think it must've been the year between the first and second Hobbit movies. So every afternoon for a few days, I sat in the closet in Daddy's library with the door shut, and I read. Out loud. I did every voice, in an odd mixture of movie, radio, and Rankin-Bass video. "Misty Mountains" in particular was quite... interesting. I used bits and pieces from each version of the song, and spoke the rest.

I think I'd gotten them out of the Misty Mountains by the time I stopped. I might have even reached Mirkwood. I don't really know. But I plan on going from Hobbiton to the Lonely Mountain and back again, all the way to the end. You guessed it: I'm starting to reread The Hobbit again, this very day. And I'll proceed from that on to Lord of the Rings. Until, "Well, I'm back."

If you could see me right now, you'd see me wearing a green medieval-looking shirt, leggings of the same colour, and a white puffy shirt. I even put a gold ring on a chain.

Why all this hubbub about Tolkien, you ask? I reply, saying; didn't you read the title? Today is the birthday of Fellowship of the Ring!

The Hobbits and Gandalf at a birthday party (from the book we're throwing a birthday party for, oddly enough)

Its 63rd, to be precise. On July 29th, 1954, J. R. R. Tolkien's Fellowship of the Ring was released for the first time. Thus, all this. Of course, it wasn't the first book about hobbits old Tolkien had written, as I'm sure you know. The Hobbit, about a certain Bilbo Baggins and his adventures with dwarves, came out 17 years earlier.

These books have had numerous adaptations, including full-length movies, TV specials, radio dramas, and even a graphic novel. They have influenced many, many artists in their work. Musicians, for example.

Yet more so, the works of Tolkien have influenced storytellers. Sometimes, they are inspired to show his stories in other ways, such as film. Sometimes, it is in the way they tell their own tales. I remember someone once said "Most modern fantasy just rearranges the furniture in Tolkien's attic." Modern fantasy as in that which has been written after July 29th, 1954. I myself have been greatly inspired by it, as you may guess once my writings are up here as well.

Even those funny little things I talked about on Wednesday--the Silmaril Awards--were named after his Silmarillion, and his characters present the award, in each one as is most fitting. Sam Gamgee for Most Loyal Friend, Gandalf for Wisest Counselor, Tom Bombadil for Strangest Character, and so on. And each presentation is shown by way of a story. Each person will write exactly how the ceremony goes. And occasionally, there is some little adventure along with it--though it rarely is the sort that makes one late for dinner.

The work of Mr. Tolkien and the words of his characters have changed us. Not only in how we tell tales, but us, too. The way we act, the way we think about certain things. I, for one, can no longer walk down the road without thinking about how river-like it is, and where one might get swept off to if one doesn't keep his feet. And there are many other ways, as well. But in particular, it has changed the way we think about the tale we live in ourselves.

   'But I suppose it's often that way [said Sam]. The brave things in the old tales and songs, Mr. Frodo: adventures, as I used to call them. I used to think that they were things the wonderful folk of the stories went out and looked for, because they wanted them, because they were exciting and life was a bit dull, a kind of a sport, as you might say. But that's not the way of it with the tales that really mattered, or the ones that stay in the mind. Folk seem to have been just landed in them, usually--their paths were laid out that way, as you put it. But I expect they had lots of chances, like us, of turning back, only they didn't. And if they had, we shouldn't know, because they'd have been forgotten. We hear about those as just went on--and not all to a good end, mind you; at least not to what folk inside a story and not out call a good end. You know, coming home, and finding things all right, though not quite the same--like old Mr. Bilbo. But those aren't always the best tales to hear, though they may be the best tales to get landed in! I wonder what sort of a tale we've fallen into?'

After these tales of a time "Between the Dawn of Faerie and the Dominion of Men", of the crownless again becoming king, and of hobbits that have gone There and Back Again, how could the world ever be the same?

Mid-Week Music #4 - The Dragon (MC)

Today, I am going to be giving you one of two different songs with the same name. This is the one by Michael Card, a rather talented Christian musician, if you didn't know. The song is called, The Dragon.

(My apologies that the video does not have any dragons in it. I will give you some pictures.)

A vile, enormous Dragon
With heads and horns and crowns
And a tail that swept the stars from heaven
And cruelly cast them down

He lurked before the Woman
About to bear her Son
The One Who'll rule the nations
With a rod of iron

(chorus)
And now has come our salvation
The Pow'r and the Kingdom of God
For the Dragon is defeated
By the Word and the Blood of the Lamb

Behold, a war in Heaven
Reflected here on Earth
And Michael and his angels
Fought for all their worth

That wicked, ancient serpent
Who leads the world astray
The Accuser of the brethren
Was beaten from the fray

(chorus)

By the Word and the Blood of the Lamb

Rejoice then, O ye heavens!
But woe to the earth and the sea
For he is filled, filled with fury
He knows his time is brief
Cause he knows his time is brief

(chorus)
And now has come our salvation
The Pow'r and the Kingdom of God
           *           *           *
For the Dragon is defeated
By the Word and the Blood of the Lamb
By the Word and the Blood of the Lamb


The reason I chose this song in particular is rather interesting, I believe. When I woke up today, I was thinking about dragons. I was thinking about dragons because of an event that happens around this time every year (well, since last year). This was my first time learning about it. It's called the Silmaril Awards.

I first found out about them on a blog called Scattered Scribblings. Basically, the Silmaril Awards are... like the Oscars for Fantasy. At least, that's what the creators of the thing said. There are Silmarils for many kinds of Fantasy Characters, from Wisest Councilor to Most Nefarious Villain, and everything in between. And here's the catch: characters out of Tolkien are not up for nomination. They're the ones that present the awards, you see.

And here's one of our presenters now. He doesn't seem too happy about the winner.

You may easily guess that today was the day that they gave out the award for dragons. And you'd be right. If you'd like to see how well that went, I'll give you a lift. The writer of that post sure would appreciate your popping over to see it.

So this morning I was thinking about dragons. It's as simple as that. And it rather reminds me of, of...

Of "Rushings-out, and Rescuings, 

And Savings from the Dragon's Lair,

And fighting all the Dragons there.

And sometimes when our fights begin, 

I think I'll let the Dragons win... 

And then I think perhaps I won't, 

Because they're Dragons, and I don't."