Rings of Power Fiona Apple - Where The Shadows Lie (music by Bear McCreary, lyrics by Tolkien)

[Jay 37,336]

Quote

Amazon Studios Unveils “Where the Shadows Lie” Featuring Fiona Apple From The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season One: Amazon Original Series Soundtrack) Available Only On Amazon Music

 

Inspired By J.R.R. Tolkien’s Iconic Ring-verse Poem

 

Written By Series Composer Bear McCreary

 

CULVER CITY, California - October 7, 2022 - Today, Amazon Studios released “Where the Shadows Lie,” a new song performed by Grammy Award-winning artist Fiona Apple from The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (Season One: Amazon Original Series Soundtrack). Available only on Amazon Music, the song was written by series composer Bear McCreary and appears in the season finale of the acclaimed new series on Prime Video.

 

Set to McCreary’s powerful and ethereal score with Apple’s haunting vocals at the forefront, “Where the Shadows Lie” is inspired by the iconic Ring-verse written by J.R.R. Tolkien in the original The Lord of the Rings trilogy. As written, the poem was composed by the Free Peoples of Middle Earth about the origins of the Rings of Power and their relationship under the power of the One Ring. The song was produced by McCreary, Apple, and Andrew Slater, and engineered by Jason LaRocca and David Way.

The instrumental version of “Where the Shadows Lie” appeared in the first episode, with the intention of using the same motif for the last episode of the show’s premiere season. McCreary put together a demo crafting together his original music with Tolkien’s words giving new life to the poem. From there, the discussion of finding the perfect voice to record the song began. “We are extremely excited to share this song with audiences around the world,” said Bob Bowen, worldwide head of music for Amazon Studios. “Fiona Apple brings her powerful and cinematic vocals to this beautiful and haunting piece of music, our series’ composer Bear wrote. Her incredible performance and interpretation of this legendary text will amaze fans.”

 

“When we heard Bear’s incredible arrangement, we knew we needed to find a singular, world-class artist to bring it to life in the richest way imaginable,” said showrunners and executive producers JD Payne and Patrick McKay. “We are immensely grateful to Fiona Apple for doing just that and more. As longtime admirers of Fiona’s work, we are thrilled and humbled to bring her voice to Middle-earth. We cannot wait for audiences to hear ‘Where the Shadows Lie,’ and discover how it ties in with the storytelling not just in Season One, but in the years to come…”

 

"The musical legacy of The Lord of the Rings brings to mind ethereal vocals carrying lyrical melodies over evocative harmonies, so it was my natural inclination to compose such a song for The Rings of Power,” said McCreary. “Based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s iconic ‘Ring Poem’ text, I wrote the song ‘Where the Shadows Lie’ as a theme for the titular Rings of Power, for the magic of mithril, for the sinister machinations of Sauron, and for his land of Mordor.”

 

He continued, “To embody all these narrative elements into one voice is no small task, and so I am especially grateful to have collaborated with legendary singer Fiona Apple. Inarguably one of the definitive musical voices of her generation, Fiona brought new depths and narrative intention to the song’s unique combination of my haunting melody and Tolkien’s ominous text. I have been inspired by her musicality for two decades, and I could not imagine an artist better suited to bring to life the mystery, majesty, and power of this song. I am thrilled audiences can finally hear ‘Where the Shadows Lie,’ a song we strategically withheld from the Season One album until now, so that it's significance would not be spoiled in the early episodes."

 

https://press.amazonstudios.com/us/en/press-release/amazon-studios-unveils-where-the-shadows-lie-featu

 

https://music.amazon.com/albums/B0BFW6LF2K?do=play&trackAsin=B0BFVY635Z&ref=dm_sh_btz1FSq0htB5qz7s2DFXU1WaA

[Bilbo 3,709]

Amazon: “we’re not a prequel, we’re doing our own thing and making it our own”

 

Also Amazon: “we are aping absolutely everything from the PJ films and making things look slightly different by using their non Union Mexican equivalents”

[Disco Stu 15,495]

12 minutes ago, Bilbo said:

mazon: “we’re not a prequel, we’re doing our own thing and making it our own”

 

Also Amazon: “we are aping absolutely everything from the PJ films and making things look slightly different by using their non Union Mexican equivalents”

 

Sorry, you're not gonna dismiss the great Fiona Apple like she's some anonymous "equivalent" of something.  She's one of the most distinct and fascinating singer/songwriters of her generation!

[Bilbo 3,709]

Just now, Disco Stu said:

 

Sorry, you're not gonna dismiss the great Fiona Apple like she's some anonymous "equivalent" of something.  She's one of the most distinct and fascinating singer/songwriters of her generation!

It was more an attack on Amazon just aping the bones of the Jackson films. 
 

Fiona Apple is great. Don’t think her voice is quite as iconic as the three singers used in the OT but I’m not attacking her here. 
 

just Amazon following another part of the Jackson blueprint. 
 

Female singer over the end credits? Check.

[jpmatlack 29]

13 minutes ago, Bilbo said:

Female singer over the end credits? Check.

I always thought it was strange how Peter Jackson so clearly just copied Titanic in this regard too. Having a female vocalist over the credits is obviously nothing but outright plagiarism…

[Monoverantus 363]

Huh. I think this wasn't supposed to release today.

1: The track will appear in the last episode, why reveal it now?

2: Bear made a post about it that was deleted almost immediately.

3: Amazon's marketing has already been quite atrocious, I wouldn't put it past them to fuck this up.

I wouldn't be surprised if it'll be deleted from the album too.

Edit: Hang on, Bear's post is back up.

[Jay 37,336]

I dunno, it's an official press released dated October 7th

Seems fine to release it now to me.

 

I wonder if this track will also be on the CD edition, which explains why the instrumental version was not listed

[Chen G. 3,948]

45 minutes ago, Bilbo said:

Amazon: “we’re not a prequel, we’re doing our own thing and making it our own”

 

Also Amazon: “we are aping absolutely everything from the PJ films and making things look slightly different by using their non Union Mexican equivalents”

 

Ahem...

 

 

And that's not even the most egregious example of this!

 

[artguy360 1,843]

Fiona Apple is a great artist with a great voice. This song has the feel of Gollum's song. It's ok, but not amazing. It's a appropriately dramatic but not a song I would choose to listen to on its own.

[TheUlyssesian 2,476]

I think its very good. Both this and Wandering Day are actually really good songs - again as has been a constant theme - way above the standard of songs in television. 

[Jay 37,336]

I agree!

 

And it's cool to already have a Fiona Apple version and a violin version to enjoy

[Nick1Ø66 4,710]

1 hour ago, Disco Stu said:

 

Sorry, you're not gonna dismiss the great Fiona Apple like she's some anonymous "equivalent" of something.  She's one of the most distinct and fascinating singer/songwriters of her generation!

 

She's great. I like her better than Enya actually.

 

That said, I'd have really liked to hear Loreena McKennitt do one of the LOTR or Hobbit film's song. I think she'd be perfect for Middle-Earth.

[Chen G. 3,948]

4 minutes ago, Nick1Ø66 said:

That said, I'd have really liked to hear Loreena McKennitt do one of the LOTR or Hobbit film's song.

 

I'd love to have had a great dramatic soprano.

[Bilbo 3,709]

1 hour ago, Chen G. said:

 

Ahem...

 

 

And that's not even the most egregious example of this!

 

This is exactly what I was getting at

[Richard Penna 3,679]

1 hour ago, artguy360 said:

Fiona Apple is a great artist with a great voice. This song has the feel of Gollum's song. It's ok, but not amazing. It's a appropriately dramatic but not a song I would choose to listen to on its own.

 

It's absolutely a Gollum's Song sort of thing, yep.

 

Very first listen, it's ok. Might have preferred a slightly softer voice.

 

What's nice about both this and This Wandering Day is both conceived with a proper orchestral approach and used cinematically, rather than the approach most songs take of finding the current popular artist and sticking a bit of orchestration beyind their voice.

[Nick1Ø66 4,710]

20 minutes ago, Bilbo said:

This is exactly what I was getting at

 

It's a Middle-Earth tradition!

 

 

[Jay 37,336]

Does this sample play for you guys?

 

[Jay 37,336]

I've listened to this song a few times now, and I love it.

 

Another banger from Bear for this show!

[TolkienSS 405]

That song is the first thing in this series of which I can say I can listen to it without feeling dissapointed.

It gets the OG sound about 75% right.

[Bilbo 3,709]

6 hours ago, Richard Penna said:

What's nice about both this and This Wandering Day is both conceived with a proper orchestral approach and used cinematically, rather than the approach most songs take of finding the current popular artist and sticking a bit of orchestration beyind their voice.

Oh misty eye of the mountain below… 🤮 

[Faleel 5,345]

Whoohoohoohoooooooohoooooo!

[JohnTheBaptist 57]

10 hours ago, Disco Stu said:

 

Sorry, you're not gonna dismiss the great Fiona Apple like she's some anonymous "equivalent" of something.  She's one of the most distinct and fascinating singer/songwriters of her generation!

Which has nothing to do with her singing ability. I listened to the sample and it's clear she has no vocal training, no breath control, and the vibrato is quite silly. All of the songs on this album have been misfires because they refuse to use professional singers. I'm sure that's not Bear McCreary's fault, but probably the Amazon marketing department interfering.

[jpmatlack 29]

1 hour ago, JohnTheBaptist said:

Which has nothing to do with her singing ability. I listened to the sample and it's clear she has no vocal training, no breath control, and the vibrato is quite silly. All of the songs on this album have been misfires because they refuse to use professional singers. I'm sure that's not Bear McCreary's fault, but probably the Amazon marketing department interfering.

I don’t care for Apple’s performance either but it’s clearly a matter of taste. 

[Incanus 5,714]

Well that was underwhelming.

[Score 770]

5 hours ago, JohnTheBaptist said:

All of the songs on this album have been misfires because they refuse to use professional singers. 

 

In the case of "This Wandering Day", I think it was done on purpose to recreate the untrained quality of singing that a harfoot would have. They let it be sung by the actress herself, and I think she exaggerated the "untrained feeling" with that intent. If you wish to hear it sung by an elf instead, check this:   

 

 

 

For "Where The Shadows Lie", I had an impression similar to yours about the sample, but I'd like to hear the whole song before judging, which I cannot do at the moment. 

 

[Jay 37,336]

As I predicted, this will be available on streaming platforms tomorrow; In New Zealand for example, it's already out!

 

Old album without the Fiona Apple track: https://music.apple.com/nz/album/the-lord-of-the-rings-the-rings-of-power/1639945898

 

New album with it: https://music.apple.com/nz/album/the-lord-of-the-rings-the-rings-of-power/1647431755

 

I wonder if the youtube version will have any unique visuals...

[Nick1Ø66 4,710]

Finally had a chance to listen to this. It's...OK. The arrangement is nice and I like Fiona Apple. It's not particularly memorable though, is it?

 

Among Middle-Earth theme songs (I guess that's a mandatory thing now), I'd place it below all the songs from LOTR, below Billy Boyd's song closing Battle of the Five Armies, below the ballads sung by one Glenn Yarbrough (as the "Minstrel of Gondor") in the animated Rankin/Bass Hobbit & Return of the King, but above the Neil Flynn and Ed Sherran train wrecks from the first two Hobbit filmseses. 

 

I'll probably never listen to it again.

[Jay 37,336]

I like it more every time I hear it!  I think the whole thing came together rather nicely

 

I do wish that it was not released or announced ahead of time, and we all heard it for the first time under the episode 8 end credits

[Nick1Ø66 4,710]

3 minutes ago, Jay said:

I do wish that it was not released or announced ahead of time, and we all heard it for the first time under the episode 8 end credits

 

That would have been wise, I think.

[Jay 37,336]

Yep

[Richard Penna 3,679]

3 hours ago, Nick1Ø66 said:

Finally had a chance to listen to this. It's...OK. The arrangement is nice and I like Fiona Apple. It's not particularly memorable though, is it?

 

Among Middle-Earth theme songs (I guess that's a mandatory thing now), I'd place it below all the songs from LOTR, below Billy Boyd's song closing Battle of the Five Armies, below the ballads sung by one Glenn Yarbrough (as the "Minstrel of Gondor") in the animated Rankin/Bass Hobbit & Return of the King, but above the Neil Flynn and Ed Sherran train wrecks from the first two Hobbit filmseses. 

 

I'll probably never listen to it again.

 

I'd agree in terms of vocals - Bear's melody is good but Apple's voice is just too close to Torrini in Gollum's Song.

 

It's definitely better than the three Hobbit songs - I do actually like Song of the Lonely Mountain, but not that much. Boyd's song is fine, singing-wise but I never 'got' the melody, and Sheeran's song was a shameful attempt to ride the populist train (on top of my not being into Ed Sheeran at all).

[Jay 37,336]

It's funny to me that a few of you have likened this song to the Gollum song from TTT, because it doesn't remind me of that song at all >shrug<

[mstrox 6,649]

Well, if you’re going to map it to one of the six post-Jackson-movie songs, Gollum’s Song is the one.  The song itself doesn’t sound anything like Gollum’s Song melodically, although tonally it does give off the vibe, at least before the second verse.

 

Not to diss the five certainly lovely performers, but Gollum’s Song also the only end credit song in the series in which the singer’s voice shows any character at all - much like Apple’s voice does in this one.

[Jay 37,336]

That's the thing Mike: I never think of Shore's scores at all, ever, when listening to this score. I just enjoy it for what it is. 

 

I'm both surprised and frustrated that almost nobody here can talk about this score without constantly comparing it to Shore's 

[Faleel 5,345]

1 hour ago, mstrox said:

Gollum’s Song also the only end credit song in the series in which the singer’s voice shows any character at all - much like Apple’s voice does in this one.

What do you mean?

[crocodile 7,999]

I like the song. It's a fairly straightforward concept but it compliments the season album really well. It would make a nice main title theme actually.

 

Karol

[mstrox 6,649]

4 hours ago, Roll the Bones said:

What do you mean?

It’s hard to quantify - an interesting character in the voice that elevates it beyond technical proficiency or even barrels through it without regard.  Based on the merits of their vocal performances in LOTR and The Hobbit, I’d never be into Enya, Lennox, Yayayaya Guy, the redhead, or Peregrine Took.  Apple, of course, is an interesting listen, and Torrini has a vocal quality that I find intriguing - like Cocorosie or a sane Bjork.

 

Somebody linked some lady up above singing the Hobbit song and it’s way too pleasant to be interesting.  I grew up listening to Lou Reed and Leonard Cohen; sometimes people hitting the notes and sounding beautiful, American Idol type shit, actually is like nails on a blackboard to me.

[artguy360 1,843]

I didn't love the Fiona Apple song during the end credits, but it works better with the episode than it does as a standalone song. It has a nice dramatic quality, but the melody is no good. Fiona Apple herself is amazing. She can manipulate her voice and lilting vocals in such unusual ways.

[Chen G. 3,948]

22 hours ago, mstrox said:

It’s hard to quantify - an interesting character in the voice that elevates it beyond technical proficiency or even barrels through it without regard.

 

To me, its the ability to actually do something with the lyrics: the way Torrini speaks the last line of Gollum's Song...that's definitely the best interperative choice in all the end-credits songs, bar none.

 

Anyone who's seen a good dramatic soprano or a great Leider singer can appreciate this: its why a pushed-up Mezzo like Waltraud Meier can be a better Isolde than most sopranos, because she makes the poetry come alive.

[DarthDementous 1,059]

Sounds like a Bond song and was honestly quite out of place in the end credits

[Richard Penna 3,679]

The only issue I have with that song and the alternative Wandering Day is really a personal taste one - I don't really go for harsher vocals, I prefer softer vocals like Megan Richards, possibly because they mesh better with the orchestra.

 

I reckon I'll listen to the orchestral version a lot more, but I do like the lyrics so there's room for both. Good to see that We'll get both on the physical and digital season album.

[TheUlyssesian 2,476]

On 15/10/2022 at 12:00 AM, artguy360 said:

I didn't love the Fiona Apple song during the end credits, but it works better with the episode than it does as a standalone song. It has a nice dramatic quality, but the melody is no good. Fiona Apple herself is amazing. She can manipulate her voice and lilting vocals in such unusual ways.

 

I actually think the melody is quite nice. It has menace in it.

[Faleel 5,345]

I have been trying to figure out what the song reminds me of, and then I remembered this (around 0:14):

 

I don't think it was what I was thinking of though.

[artguy360 1,843]

3 hours ago, TheUlyssesian said:

 

I actually think the melody is quite nice. It has menace in it.

Menace, yes. But also meandering. It takes to long to reach it's peak. The song has a dark, evil mood, but is a little meandering and overwrought.

[Romão 2,274]

I haven't watched the show (and don't really plan to), but I've liked Bear McCreary since his often great work on Battlestar Galactica, so his music is the only part of of this endeavor that interests me.

 

I like the melody and it's very much in line with other songs Bear has composed for other shows and movies, like these two examples:

 

 

 

But it shares a similar problem I also had with the use of songs in PJ's LOTR trilogy: the songs used that are not diegetic (relegated to the end credits) tend to sound too "contemporary", and not as something as would be sung by the characters and ingrained in the cultures depicted in these stories, and the ones that are indeed diegetic, I don't know, just feel off.

 

Song is a integral part of Tolkien's storytelling, but most of screen adaptations seem somewhat reluctant to fully embrace it. 

 

I( think the only Tolkien adaptation that has been able to capture a certain feeling of authenticity to the songs is the BBC Radio Drama, with Stephen Oliver composing some pieces that to me, at least, really feel like songs that would be passed from generation to generation as oral history. And the words are all Tolkien. Some examples:

 

 

 

 

[Bofur01 245]

I very much agree - I don't have tooooo much issue with the songs in LotR, but neither "This Wandering Day" nor "Where The Shadows Lie" land for me at all due to just how modern they sound, especially the latter (though I think the lyrics of "This Wandering Day" are fairly atrocious as well). 

 

Quote

I( think the only Tolkien adaptation that has been able to capture a certain feeling of authenticity to the songs is the BBC Radio Drama, with Stephen Oliver composing some pieces that to me, at least, really feel like songs that would be passed from generation to generation as oral history. And the words are all Tolkien. Some examples:

 

This I fully agree with too - I love the BBC's LotR adaptation, and Stephen Oliver's music is brilliant. 

 

P.S. I'm glad you enjoyed my "From Dark Dunharrow" edit 

[Chen G. 3,948]

8 hours ago, Romão said:

But it shares a similar problem I also had with the use of songs in PJ's LOTR trilogy: the songs used that are not diegetic (relegated to the end credits) tend to sound too "contemporary", and not as something as would be sung by the characters and ingrained in the cultures depicted in these stories

 

In the films, I know the songs were partially concieved of as a way of "depositing" the audience out of Middle Earth and back into the real world.

 

Many of them do use the thematic material of the underscore, though: Song of the Lonely Mountain, In Dreams, Gollum's Song, Into the West and Use Well the Days all do.

 

[Faleel 5,345]

What does Use Well the Days use?  Undomiel?

[Jay 37,336]

I just watched the season finale last night, and when Fiona's vocals come in just as the final image is fading out, that was pretty powerful.

 

Again I must say that I think it would have been so much better if they did not release this song on streaming sites until after the finale had aired, and it was a total surprise for those that watched the episode right away (or otherwise avoided online discourse until they saw it).  Oh well.

[scallenger 483]

I am super late to this party, but I watched Rings Of Power all in one go over the course of 2 days recently and... I actually really liked it? And Bear's score was fantastic in it! I had 0 anticipation for this show at all, so maybe it was easier for me to not be disappointed like some were?

 

Anyway, I actually REALLY like this song. Was it ever confirmed to be on the CD version? On Amazon it isn't on the tracklist but it is on the digital version. Maybe they just didn't update the site but the CD does indeed have it?