Rufus Wainwright has lent his voice to some timeless lyrics over the years, from modern classics by Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell to traditional songs on last year's album People rule Project. But he had never used those golden notes to sing about something so great. Lord of the Rings – So far.
Season 2 of Amazon's thrilling prequel series Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power The album features a song called “Old Tom Bombadil” written by composer Bear McCreary, on which Wainwright sings lead vocals. “I'm very selective about what I choose to sing, and I was really happy with what Bear came up with,” says the 51-year-old singer-songwriter. Rolling Stone.
As the title suggests, it is a lyrical poem about the character Tom Bombadil, who made a memorable appearance in J. R. R. Tolkien's original 1954 novel. Fellowship of the Ring But it was cut from Peter Jackson's 2001 film of the same name. In the second season of Rings of powerPlayed by Rory Kinnear, Bombadil is an interesting character in the novels, with a nonchalant attitude towards the Ring that enchants almost everyone around him in Middle-earth. He is an endlessly fascinating character for fantasy fans, and it is a pleasure to hear Wainwright sing Tolkien's words: “Old Tom Bombadil is a jolly man/His jacket is bright blue and his shoes are yellow…”
(You can listen to the song — which debuted exclusively on Amazon Music today, and will hit other streaming services tomorrow — here.)
Wainwright read and liked it. Lord of the Rings He read books as a teenager, though he admits he's more of a Narnia fan. “I enjoy all the great epics,” he says. “I'm an opera buff, and my husband and I listen to Wagner a lot. I like reading Proust, remembrance of things past“I love anything that's long and complicated and takes your attention off this scary planet.”
Since returning to Los Angeles a few years ago, he's gotten to know McCreary (“He's come to our house with his lovely family a few times, and our daughters spend time with us”), and when the composer asked him to sing about Tom Bombadil, he said yes right away.
“Bear showed me how this character that book fans love finally came to be, and he thought of my voice as the embodiment of that,” Wainwright says. “I’m thrilled. I understand that, too, in a way — because I’m a bit of a mystery. Not everyone knows who Rufus Wainwright is, for better or worse. So I think it’s a nice pairing.”
A reminder of the long tradition of folk and rock music inspired by Lord of the RingsIncluding at least three Led Zeppelin songs, Wainwright refers to his friend Robert Plant: “He came to People rule He's been on the show for a while now, and he's a big fan of my dad's.
For Wainwright, this song about the ancient history of Middle-earth fits in with his recent work exploring folk music. “The whole idea behind singing like that is that it’s something you should be able to sing without music, surrounded by friends and family around a fire or something,” he says. “It should have that kind of purity. You’re just going back to the spirit of your ancestors.”
People rule The album was a success, earning a Grammy nomination for Best Folk Album at this year’s awards ceremony. “I lost to Joni Mitchell, which is a good thing, I guess,” Wainwright jokes. He’s now preparing to send off the album in high style at a concert at New York’s Carnegie Hall on November 29. “This is the big send-off for this project,” he adds.
Then, he works on bringing Dream Mass “It’s a big, classic lament, interspersed with some Byron,” says Wainwright, who is looking forward to “some very funny people” for the role of Meryl Streep’s narrator at the Paris premiere earlier this summer. “I think I may have written my masterpiece, unfortunately,” he adds with a laugh.
