When I saw THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY last December, I was blown away. When the film finished (why would the eagles drop them there?), I sat motionless, stunned by the majesty of what I had just watched. Then the most perfect thing happened – Neil Finn’s Song Of The Lonely Mountain began to play and what a song it was! It triumphantly joined Enya’s May It Be, Emilíana Torrini’s Gollum’s Song and Annie Lennox’s Into The West as one of the mighty ending songs of Middle-Earth.
Director and deity Peter Jackson has taken it upon himself to personally reveal the song that will appear at the end of sequel THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG and, like the titular journey of the first film, it is rather unexpected. Behold, the latest initiate into the pantheon of Tolkien singers is… Ed Sheeran!
Announced by Jackson on his Facebook page, the director had this to say:
‘We have a tradition in our Tolkien films of having a song over the closing credits. It’s very important that the song feels right for the world of the movie – and also carries the emotional resonance of the end of that particular film.
THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG is no different. The ending of this film requires a voice and sensibility that will allow an viewer to process what they have just experienced.
It’s always tricky to think of the right person to create and performance these songs. Someone who shares our passion for Tolkien, and somebody who is prepared to respect the film.
This year we are thrilled to have Ed Sheeran write and perform our closing song, “I See Fire”.
My daughter Katie, deserves total credit for bringing Ed to our movie. He was touring New Zealand earlier this year, and Katie introduced me to his music. Beautiful haunting songs, full of passion and coming from a very genuine place in his heart.
We heard that Ed was a fan of our movies, so while he was playing in Wellington, we invited him around for a tour.
He then headed off to join Taylor Swift on a concert tour. But we had exchanged e-mail addresses.
A few weeks ago, we were puzzling about who to approach about the song that had to be written and recorded very quickly. We now had a strong feeling about the tone of the song, but we needed to find the right voice.
Katie reminded us about how great Ed’s voice was, and how right it would be. Fran and I got it the second she mentioned it.
And I had his e-mail address.
I wrote to him on a Sunday morning, and asked if he was interested. He would need to fly down to NZ to see the movie, because it was critical he write from the perspective of the audience.
Within 48hrs he was in Wellington, having immediately jumped on a plane from London with his manager Stuart Camp, who was instantly supportive and helpful.
Ed watched the movie at Park Road Post, immediately went into a room, and started writing and singing. Much of what you will hear on this song was recorded that same day, with a few overdubs and tweaks the following day.
Despite having never played the violin in his life, Ed thought he might try overdubbing one himself, and Katie raced out to borrow a rather battered one from a school friend.
Pete Cobbin from Abbey Road was at Park Road mixing Howard’s musical score, and was able to mix the song with Ed.
It was a great experience, and what you will see in this video are moments captured by our behind the scenes team during the creation of the song.
But the images are only supporting Ed’s wonderful song. This is his direct emotional response to seeing THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG, written and performed on the same day he saw the movie.
I am very proud to present “I See Fire”.’
When I read this I was initially worried. I had not really listened to Sheeran before and the spontaneity of the song’s creation seemed unusual. I quickly realised I should never have doubted the great PJ. The song is real, raw emotion and the decision to write it immediately after the singer viewed the film was clearly important in creating this sound. As Sheeran’s experience of the film’s conclusion was channeled into the song, listening to it gives us a sense of the ending’s tone. It also has the word ‘desolation’ in it, which is a massive plus.
Continuing Peter Jackson’s fantastic coverage of the trilogy’s production, the song has been put to a video showing the recording process. It is wonderful that Jackson puts the time into doing all of this for the fans; as one audience member said to him at the live-streamed fan-event, there are very few directors who do so!
Listen to the song below, see the fire and, as always, let us know your thoughts:
THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG stars Martin Freeman, Ian McKellan, Richard Armitage, Orlando Bloom, Evangeline Lilly, Luke Evans and Benedict Cumberbatch as the ferocious dragon Smaug. It swoops, roars and burns its way into cinemas on 13th of December. If you’re not excited, you’re probably not alive.
Source: Peter Jackson’s Facebook
