We don't want any more visitors, well-wishers or distant relations!
GANDALF: And what about very old friends?
The final song, it...
It's a big thing in all of the movies.
We started The Hobbit with Neil Finn.
[SINGING] Far over The misty mountain's rise
And we had Ed Sheeran for film two.
[SINGING] And I see fire
Inside the mountain
HEDGES: When Peter and Fran were looking for a final song...
...for The Battle of the Five Armies, it's that very powerful emotive seeds of:
"Okay, well, this time it's the last goodbye."
JACKSON: The song at the end of the film...
...it has to close out The Hobbit trilogy...
...but it also is, for us, the handing over from The Hobbit...
...to The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
But it has a double meaning in that it is the end of six movies.
- Bilbo Baggins. - My dear Gandalf!
Early on in the process of thinking about how we play this film out...
...we wanted to do the vignettes, the beautiful drawings on the end titles...
...as we did at the end of Return of the King.
And so, of course, it had to be Alan Lee and John Howe...
...because they know those characters better than anyone.
There seems to be an abundance of hair and beards.
This is one of the better-looking Dwarves, I think.
And it's also my last drawing.
Too much mascara.
HOWE: So this is the official card...
...as it will appear in the movies.
"End title song" performed by somebody.
What this song required...
...was somebody who could bridge...
...the end of The Hobbit with the beginning of The Lord of the Rings.
Someone who is kind of woven into the fabric of The Lord of the Rings.
And they used "Edge of Night."
Billy singing "Edge of Night" over the very first trailer...
"for The Battle of the Five Armies.
Emotionally, I think it resonated with a lot of the fans...
...reprising that song that Pippin sings in The Return of the King...
...when Denethor calls upon him to give him a song.
Can you sing, Master Hobbit?
BOYENS: Billy actually... People don't know this.
He's a very good songwriter in and of his own right.
Billy's got a band called Beecake.
A great band, great singer. And so he's got musical ability.
[SINGS] Home is behind
BOYENS: The melody that was created that Pippin sings in The Lord of the Rings...
...Billy came up with the basis of that melody the night before we shot it.
[SINGING] Mist and shadows
Cloud and shade
All shall fade
BOYENS: So he's very musical, and he has a beautiful voice.
So Billy Boyd became a very obvious choice.
We wanted Billy to do it because it is...
For us, it was the handing over from The Hobbit to The Fellowship of the Ring...
...of which he's a very significant part of the trilogy that's about to come.
Where are we going?
Is that a close-up? ls that too close? Is that...? ls that...?
BOYENS: Billy came down, began working on it with Fran.
WALSH: It's quite a personal thought, it's coming from Bilbo...
...speaking to the experiences of the character...
...and yet at the same time the song, it is our fate as well as his.
We knew that it was going to be the voice of Bilbo, finally...
...to end these films on.
[SINGING] Night is now falling
So ends this day
How do we build that? How do we talk about...?
Bilbo talking about his fallen friends and...
But then talk about the road and have the Shire in there...
...and have the world of Tolkien, you know?
So that's what we're trying to work out today.
My involvement was...
It was just a case of... They got a bit stuck with the lyrics and...
Ha-ha-ha. So I went racing over to the house where we normally work, Fran and I.
That space was taken up by Peter...
...who was busy watching footage being played down on screens.
So we ended up writing the lyrics in the bathroom...
...which acoustically, actually, is great.
It's got a great sound.
And then Billy came in here with me to do the demo recording, essentially.
[SINGING] We came all this way
GALLAGHER: We spent about two weeks...
...maybe, here in this room.
To bid you farewell
GALLAGHER: And we recorded, on average...
...like a new version of the song every day.
Maybe twice a day sometimes. It was great. It was great fun.
- I'll just get into the shot while we're here. - Oh.
The very first day that he came in here...
...before we recorded a note of music...
...I was suffering from a bad back.
And he said, "Oh. I'll show you some yoga moves."
Ha-ha-ha. Come on, lie down on the floor with me."
I'm like, "Great."
Immediately my back starts to feel better, and I was just like, "This is gonna be great."
Ha-ha-ha. This is gonna be a great two weeks.
WOMAN: Yeah. Look super relaxed, super candid. I love it.
Great. Not tired at all. Here, close-up. Ah.
GALLAGHER: Howard Shore suggested Victoria Kelly...
...to orchestrate and arrange the song.
She's, I think, the finest film composer in this country.
He'll be doing it musically as I'm doing it mouthally.
- Yes. - Mouthally, is that a word?
The musical language of the song is very personal.
It has that beautiful folkie, Celtic flavor...
...and we'll be reinforcing that with beautiful Celtic instruments.
BOYD [SINGING OVER SPEAKERS]: Night is now falling
GALLAGHER: We went to Auckland...
...to Neil Finn's studio, Roundhead. Beautiful studio.
So ends this day
I really love the song. Great singing.
Beautiful, yeah. Very affecting. It's great.
I'm just at the moment, just laying down some very, very sparse piano textures...
...so just little notes...
...that can just be left to ring, so we've got that lovely kind of resonant sound...
...just filling in texture in the background.
A lovely resonance.
It's difficult because we're trying to get a kind of Hobbit-y sound, Shire...
...but yet still keep the world of Middle-earth and...
You know, it's difficult how you get the notes right.
But I think Victoria's done a lovely job...
...of bringing in the right instruments and great players...
...and I think we're really getting there, you know?
Then it was time to record the strings...
...and the other instruments at Abbey Road.
We had about 60 players play Victoria's arrangement...
...which was beautiful.
- So singing time. Yeah. - Shall we do a little...? Yeah.
GALLAGHER: After that, we were ready to record Billy's vocal performance.
We took Billy into the ADR room in Park Road Post...
...where we recorded the dialogue throughout the three films.
It is mine to protect.
GALLAGHER: And we did a lot of recording in the ADR room.
Because Billy was about to hop on a plane the next day...
...we didn't have a chance to redo it.
So we needed to make sure we had it all covered.
So Billy did five or six takes of the song all the way through.
[SINGING] I saw the light fade from the sky
On the wind I heard a sigh
I bid you all
A very fond farewell
- Aww. - That was lovely.
Nailed it. Done.
WOMAN: No. - No. Not nailed it.
Everyone, stay where you are.
[LAUGHS]
GALLAGHER: And then we did something that I don't think I've ever done before...
...or seen done before in a recording studio.
Okay. "By silver streams that run down to the sea."
WOMAN: Yeah, I just want you doing "to the sea."
- Oh, just "to the sea"? - Yeah.
BOYD: It's just that one line? I was getting carried away.
[SINGS] To the sea
We went in on pretty much every single line...
...and just recorded different versions of every line, every word.
Another one? Thank you.
GALLAGHER: And sometimes down to syllables.
WOMAN: That's it. That'll do it. That's good.
GALLAGHER: Just so we had flexibility in terms of putting together...
...the performance that was right for the song.
[SINGING] The road is now calling
And I must away
GALLAGHER: The time he'd spent doing ADR with Peter and Fran...
...on The Lord of the Rings as an actor served him well.
And another one, please.
GALLAGHER: Billy was used to doing a fair amount of takes and giving options...
...because it's all about having flexibility.
- I'm trying to do it as a sort of dreamy image. - WOMAN: Right.
[SINGING] Under cloud, beneath the stars
Over snow
That was just next level because he was in there in front of a microphone singing...
...for close to nine hours straight.
And that's amazing.
[SINGING] I cannot tell
Another one please.
It was close to 430 takes.
BOYD: Four-hundred-thirty takes. WOMAN: Oh, my God. Yeah.
Right. Time for the second verse. Here we go.
[ALL LAUGHING]
BOYD [SINGING OVER SPEAKERS]: Night is now falling
BOYD: It's important that we somehow touch...
...on not only The Battle of the Five Armies but also the themes of Tolkien.
It was about home...
...the need for Bilbo to turn for home.
His understanding that in doing so, he's leaving behind...
...everything that he shared with these people.
And that's how I think we felt...
...with the audiences who've lived through these...
...and followed these films for the last 14 years.
Hello.
JACKSON: It is the final farewell to the fans...
...and so, really, the song is as much written for the fans...
...who have been so supportive of us as it is through anything.
Fran knew that this was about saying goodbye.
Understanding that your part in that story... That your part in that journey is done.
And that you have to separate, you have to say goodbye.
GALLAGHER: It's a goodbye from Middle-earth.
It's a goodbye from the people who created Middle-earth.
WOMAN: Bye. - Ha-ha-ha.
Quite an emotional thing.
- "I bid you a fond very..." Sort of farewell. - Yeah.
- For a lot of us, this has been quite a journey. BOYD: Yeah, really.
COBBIN: You know what I mean? - Hey.
And that's been the struggle of this song...
...is trying to incorporate all of that...
...into verse, bridge, pre-chorus and chorus. You know what I mean?
- What a responsibility. - Yeah, right. Yeah.
[SINGING] We came all this way
But now comes the day
To bid you farewell
BOYD: I feel good.