The British duo, Flanders and Swann, were the actor and singer Michael Flanders (1922-1975) and the composer, pianist and linguist Donald Swann (1923-1994) who collaborated in writing and performing comic songs. A chance meeting in 1948 led to a musical partnership writing songs and light opera that have been sung by performers such as Ian Wallace and Joyce Grenfell. In December 1956, Flanders and Swann performed their own two-man revue "At The Drop Of A Hat", which opened on New Year's Eve. Over the course of 11 years, Flanders and Swann gave nearly 2,000 live performances. Although their performing partnership ended in 1967, they remained friends afterwards and collaborated on occasional projects. Songs of Flanders and Swann brings together 41 classic songs and represents a definitive collection.

In this song book the composer Donald Swann gives Tolkien characters Bilbo, Treebeard, Sam Gamgee and Tom Bombadil tunes for their ballads of the road.

Professor Tolkien approved of this and added a tune of his own, decorated the book in his own hand and added a glossary of Elvish terms and lore that appears nowhere else.