About a minute into this NPR interview, Billy Boyd and fellow Beecake guitarist Billy Johnston perform a wonderful acoustic rendition of The Last Goodbye.
Boyd also spoke extensively with NPR’s Rachel Martin about the process behind the closing song for The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, as well as The Edge of Night from Return of the King.
MARTIN: What a beautiful song.
BOYD: Thank you very much. Thank you.
MARTIN: It is a significant end of a big chapter. I mean, your own role in these films came to a close for you several years ago. But to write this song must feel significant to you.
BOYD: Yeah, it feels – I think that’s the right word – significant. And in some ways, it feels like there couldn’t have been a better thing for me to sort of hear because it feels like there will never be closure in this sort of Tolkien world. You know? But I feel very honored that they would ask me.
MARTIN: Is there a place you go or a thing you had to do to get back in the state of mind because this song definitely evokes some of the images and the feeling of those films.
BOYD: The whole thing sort of fell into place. An flying back to New Zealand was a major part of that. To be back in New Zealand, which pretty much is Middle Earth to me, you know? It’s the only history I have of New Zealand is to travel to the top of a mountain with a wizard, you know? And to destroy a ring.
MARTIN: For you that’s totally normal.
BOYD: Yeah. So whenever I’m in New Zealand, you know, I’m always looking for, you know, some kind of dwarves to help me and a wizard to help me through the journey, you know? So to be back in New Zealand brought back so many memories that I got back into that world very easily and very quickly.
Join us in Los Angeles in February at The One Last Party
We’re hosting a Party of Special Magnificence next February — a toast to all SIX movies, both LOTR trilogy and The Hobbit.
