Batman TV Series Zep song title reference

[The Rover]

In the 1966 second season of the Batman TV series, in the episode "The Devil's Fingers" (with Liberace), three Scottish Highland ladies break into Wayne Manor and pull a jewelry heist. Then, one of the ladies says: "Now let's see what else we can pick up in handsome Wayne Manor... then it's over the hills and far away."

Edited December 28, 2014 by The Rover

[Sathington Willoughby]

http://forums.ledzeppelin.com/index.php?/topic/7955-finding-led-zeppelin-in-unrelated-places/

[slave to zep]

In the 1966 second season of the Batman TV series, in the episode "The Devil's Fingers" (with Liberace), three Scottish Highland ladies break into Wayne Manor and pull a jewelry heist. Then, one of the ladies says: "Now let's see what else we can pick up in handsome Wayne Manor... then it's over the hills and far away."

but that was 1966 ..... can't be a Zeppelin reference as such .....

[The Rover]

but that was 1966 ..... can't be a Zeppelin reference as such .....

Only in reverse, could it be a reference. But more to the point, because it was "Scottish Highlanders" that said the quote, then I would guess that this is a colloquial saying of Scotland, and that is most likely how Robert came to use it as the title of the song used in the HOTH album. Which is to say, I doubt the 1966 Batman episode was the inspiration for the song title...

[SteveAJones]

I doubt the 1966 Batman episode was the inspiration for the song title.

Many of Plant's lyrics at the time were inspired by the J.R.R. Tolkien book The Hobbit. I submit to you Tolkien inspired the song title.

Over Old Hills and Far Away is the title of a poem written by J.R.R. Tolkien in 1915 and published in The Book of Lost Tales Part One.

Over Old Hills And Far Away

"It was early and still in the night of June,

And few were the stars, and far was the moon,

The drowsy trees drooping, and silently creeping

Shadows woke under them while they were sleeping.

I stole to the window with stealthy tread

Leaving my white and unpressed bed;

And something alluring, aloof and queer,

Like perfume of flowers from the shores of the mere

That in Elvenhome lies, and in starlit rains

Twinkles and flashes, came up to the panes

Of my high lattice-window. Or was it a sound?

I listened and marveled with eyes on the ground.

For there came from afar a filtered note

Enchanting sweet, now clear, now remote,

As clear as a star in a pool by the reeds,

As faint as the glimmer of dew on the weeds.

Then I left the window and followed the call

Down the creaking stairs and across the hall

Out through a door that swung tall and grey,

And over the lawn, and away, away!

It was Tinfang Warble that was dancing there,

Fluting and tossing his old white hair,

Till it sparkled like frost in a winter moon;

And the stars were about him, and blinked to his tune

Shimmering blue like sparks in a haze,

As always they shimmer and shake when he plays.

My feet only made there the ghost of a sound

On the shining white pebbles that ringed him round,

Where his little feet flashed on a circle of sand,

And the fingers were white on his flickering hand.

In the wink of a star he had leapt in the air

With his fluttering cap and his glistening hair;

And had cast his long flute right over his back,

Where it hung by a ribbon of silver and black.

His slim little body went fine as a shade,

And he slipped through the reeds like mist in the glade;

And laughed like thin silver, and piped a thin note,

As he flapped in the shadows his shadowy coat.

O! the toes of his slippers were twisted and curled,

But he danced like a wind out into the world.

He is gone, and the valley is empty and bare

Where lonely I stand and lonely I stare.

Then suddenly out in the meadows beyond,

Then back in the reeds by the shimmering pond,

Then afar from a copse were the mosses are thick

A few little notes came a trillaping quick.

I leapt o’er the stream and I sped from the glade,

For Tinfang Warble it was that played;

I must follow the hoot of his twilight flute

Over reed, over rush, under branch, over root,

And over dim fields, and through rustling grasses

That murmur and nod as the old elf passes,

Over old hills and far away

Where the harps of the Elvenfolk softly play."

— J.R.R. Tolkien

[The Rover]

Many of Plant's lyrics at the time were inspired by the J.R.R. Tolkien book The Hobbit. I submit to you Tolkien inspired the song title.

Over Old Hills and Far Away is the title of a poem written by J.R.R. Tolkien in 1915 and published in The Book of Lost Tales Part One.

Yes, I would agree that any Tolkien reference would be the one to look for as the most likely R.P. influence.

Thanks SAJones

Edited December 31, 2014 by The Rover