"May It Be" is a song by the Irish recording artist

Enya Eithne Pádraigín Ní Bhraonáin (born 17 May 1961; anglicised as Enya Patricia Brennan) known mononymously as Enya, is an Irish singer and composer. With an estimated equivalent of over 80 million albums sold worldwide, Enya is the best-selli ...

. She and

Roma Ryan Roma Shane Ryan (born 20 January 1950) is an Irish writer, poet, and lyricist, who lives in Killiney, Ireland, with her husband Nicky Ryan. She is the primary lyricist for the singer Enya, who has stated that the importance of the Ryans' cont ...

respectively composed and wrote lyrics to the song, for

Peter Jackson Sir Peter Robert Jackson (born 31 October 1961) is a New Zealand filmmaker. He is best known as the director, writer, and producer of the ''Lord of the Rings'' trilogy (2001–2003) and the ''Hobbit'' trilogy (2012–2014), both of which ar ...

's 2001 film '' The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring''. The song entered the

German Singles Chart The GfK Entertainment charts are the official charts for music, home video, and video games in Germany and are gathered and published by GfK Entertainment (formerly Media Control and Media Control GfK International), a subsidiary of GfK, on be ...

at number one in 2002, and Enya performed it at the

74th Academy Awards The 74th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), took place on March 24, 2002, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles. During the ceremony, AMPAS presented Academy Awards (commonly ...

. "May It Be" was acclaimed by music critics and received nominations for the

Academy Award for Best Original Song The Academy Award for Best Original Song is one of the awards given annually to people working in the Film industry, motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is presented to the ''songwriters'' who h ...

, the

Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song The Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song is a Golden Globe Award that was awarded for the first time in 1962 and has been awarded annually since 1965 by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. The award is presented to the songwriters of a ...

, and the

Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media The Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media (including its previous names) is the Grammy Awards awarded to songs written for films, television, video games or other visual media. Alan Menken has won five awards (out of nine nominati ...

Composition

Director

approached Enya (under the suggestion of

Howard Shore Howard Leslie Shore (born October 18, 1946) is a Canadian composer, conductor and orchestrator noted for his film scores. He has composed the scores for over 80 films, most notably the scores for ''The Lord of the Rings'' and '' The Hobbit'' fi ...

), asking if she would be interested in writing a song for ''The Lord of the Rings''.Enya Fan Studio. Enya Fan Studio, 2005. Web. 22 October 2010. Thrilled at the prospect, Enya headed to New Zealand to see the preliminary edits of the film. Enya worked on the song with

Nicky Ryan Nicholas Dominick Ryan (born 14 July 1946) is an Irish music producer, recording engineer, and manager. He is best known as the longtime business and recording partner for the singer, songwriter and musician Enya alongside his wife, poet and lyr ...

, her producer, and

, her lyricist. Nicky produced Enya's vocals and arranged the music while Roma wrote the lyrics. They recorded the song through Enya's contract with Warner Music at Aigle Studio, the Ryans' and Enya's own recording studio. The vocals were recorded at Aigle Studio in Dublin, and the orchestration was recorded in London, directed by Howard Shore and performed by the

London Voices London Voices is a London-based choral ensemble founded by Terry Edwards (1939–2022) in 1973. In its early years, it also incorporated the London Opera Chorus and London Sinfonietta Voices and Chorus. In 2004, conductor and composer Ben Parry ...

and

London Philharmonic Orchestra The London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) is a British orchestra based in London. One of five permanent symphony orchestras in London, the LPO was founded by the conductors Thomas Beecham, Sir Thomas Beecham and Malcolm Sargent in 1932 as a riv ...

. Compositionally, the piece is simple, featuring a backdrop of choir and strings. As Doug Adams commented, Enya's contributions "coexist so neatly", with Shore's

score SCORE may refer to: *SCORE (software), a music scorewriter program * SCORE (television), a weekend sports service of the defunct Financial News Network *SCORE! Educational Centers *SCORE International, an offroad racing organization *Sarawak Corrido ...

, that "neither Enya song is relegated to its own track".

Lyrics

The lyrics of this theme song include English words, as well as words in the fictional Elvish language,

Quenya Quenya ()Tolkien wrote in his "Outline of Phonology" (in '' Parma Eldalamberon'' 19, p. 74) dedicated to the phonology of Quenya: is "a sound as in English ''new''". In Quenya is a combination of consonants, ibidem., p. 81. is a constructed l ...

, created by

J.R.R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlinson ...

. While Enya wrote music, Roma Ryan studied the languages and wrote the lyrics in English and Quenya. They are intermingled with the English lyrics; "Mornië utúlië, believe and you will find your way; Mornië alantië, a promise lives within you now." ''Mornië utúlië'', translates to "Darkness has come". ''Mornië alantië'' translates as "Darkness has fallen".

Critical reception and awards

"May It Be" was nominated for the

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

, but lost to

Randy Newman Randall Stuart Newman (born November 28, 1943) is an American singer, songwriter, arranger, pianist, composer, conductor and orchestrator. He is known for his non-rhotic Southern American English, Southern-accented singing style, early America ...

's "

If I Didn't Have You If I Didn't Have You may refer to: * "If I Didn't Have You" (Disney song), written by Randy Newman and performed by John Goodman and Billy Crystal from the film ''Monsters, Inc.'' * "If I Didn't Have You" (Randy Travis song), from the album ''Gre ...

" from ''

Monsters, Inc. ''Monsters, Inc.'' (also known as ''Monsters, Incorporated'') is a 2001 American animated comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. Featuring the voices of John Goodman, Billy Crystal, Steve Buscemi, James Cobu ...

'', sung by

John Goodman John Stephen Goodman (born June 20, 1952) is an American actor. He rose to prominence in television before becoming an acclaimed and popular film actor. Goodman has received List of awards and nominations received by John Goodman, various acc ...

and

Billy Crystal William Edward Crystal (born March 14, 1948)On page 17 of his book ''700 Sundays'', Crystal displays his birth announcement, which gives his first two names as "William Edward", not "William Jacob" is an American comedian, actor, and filmmaker. ...

. It won the Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Song and the 2002

Critics' Choice Movie Award The Critics' Choice Awards (formerly known as the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award) is an awards show presented annually by the American Critics Choice Association (CCA) to honor the finest in cinematic achievement. Written ballots are ...

for Best Song. It was nominated for the 2002

, but lost to "

Until Until may refer to Music *''Until'', a 1967 album by Robin Kenyatta *''Until'', a 2008 album by One Little Plane *"Until", a song by Wilfred Sanderson *A version of the song " Anema e core" with English lyrics * "Until..." (Sting song), a 2001 s ...

" from ''

Kate & Leopold ''Kate & Leopold'' is a 2001 American romantic comedy science fiction film that tells a story of a physicist by the name of Stuart (Liev Schreiber), who accidentally pulls his great‑great‑grandfather, Leopold (Hugh Jackman), through a time po ...

''. The song received a 2003

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

nomination for Best Song Written for Visual Media. Enya performed her song at the Academy Awards on 24 March 2002. She was "absolutely" excited about the performance. For her it was the "first time to be nominated, and to get to perform, it's just wonderful, absolutely wonderful."

Release

Enya's "May It Be" has been featured on various albums. On 20 November 2001, it was released on ''The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring'' soundtrack, along with composer

's original score "The Road Goes Ever On (Part 2)". It also came out as a single in Europe on 10 December 2001 and in the United Kingdom on 21 January 2002. "May It Be" entered the

at number one. It was Enya's second consecutive single to do so, following her song " Only Time". In 2005, it was released as part of the compilation '' The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring: The Complete Recordings''. This time, the version of the song was identical as featured in the movie's ending titles. Enya also included the song on her 2009 album, '' The Very Best of Enya''.

Music video

The music video was directed by Peter Nydrle. It features clips from the film as well as Enya singing the song. The video runs for 3 minutes and 32 seconds.

Track listings

European CD single and UK cassette single # "May It Be" – 3:30 # "Isobella" – 4:27 European maxi-CD single and UK CD single # "May It Be" – 3:30 # "Isobella" – 4:27 # "The First of Autumn" – 3:08

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

External links

May It Be "May It Be" is a song by the Irish recording artist Enya. She and Roma Ryan respectively composed and wrote lyrics to the song, for Peter Jackson's 2001 film ''The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring''. The song entered the Top100 Singl ...

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:May It Be 2001 singles 2001 songs Enya songs The Lord of the Rings (film series) music Number-one singles in Germany Songs with lyrics by Roma Ryan Songs with music by Enya Warner Music Group singles WEA Records singles Macaronic songs