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  Bowel Cancer, Goodbye Farewell, Music   Comments Off on Goodbye Farewell by Carol Hodge   8 September 2020

Carol Hodge – Goodbye Farewell:


The opening track on the Goodbye Farewell 4-track EP is the stunning version of the song recorded by Carol Hodge. I was so pleased and honoured when Carol responded to my request with such a positive yes, and I think similar to many people who have now heard her track I was utterly blown away by it. The email from Carol came through late on a Sunday night, so my first listen was on my phone and I was totally mesmerised. It’s a beautiful and very moving rendition of the track. I am so grateful to Carol for all her support.

The Goodbye Farewell EP has four versions of the song recorded by different artists. Carol Hodge, KirbyWalsh, Steve Webster and Jason Bradley / Mike Dlugozima. Every one involved gave up their time to be involved in the project, and the end result is quite brilliant. All profits raised are donated to Bowel Cancer UK. The EP is available on CD and download exclusively from rivers2cross.com.

How To Buy “Goodbye Farewell”

I’ve been following Carol for a couple of years, and I was really privileged in 2019 to see her at Matt and Ali Saunders intimate house gig, where Carol and Julia Othmer performed wonderful intimate sets in their living room. Carol has recently released her brilliant second solo album called Savage Pure. Check out her website https://www.carolhodge.co.uk, where you can buy the album and lots of other merchandise.

I began writing Goodbye Farewell at the beginning of 2020. My mum, who had died of bowel cancer in 2016, was the inspiration. I got a bit stuck, so decided to leave the song until another time. In June Kelly Smith died of bowel cancer aged just 31, and at that point I picked up the song again and finished it off and with Kelly’s mum’s blessing I’ve dedicated it to her. The song lyrics are not specific to my experience though, and are about having to say goodbye to someone.

Kelly featured in my charity book released last year called The Record. She’d told me her story, and she was always helping others and raising awareness about bowel cancer, and trying to prevent others going through what she was. She also wrote the quite wonderful foreword for the book. Kelly was one of life’s brightest shining lights, a beautiful soul inside and out, and an amazing inspiration to many x

To order Goodbye Farewell

Bowel cancer claims 16,000 lives in the UK, and is the second biggest cancer killer. However if caught early at stage 1 it is very treatable, and the five year survival rate is over 90%. When detected at the late stage 4 the five year survival rate drops dramatically to 7%. This shows how crucial early diagnosis is to getting a better outcome. Knowing the symptoms is so important.