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KirbyWalsh – Goodbye Farewell:
Track 2 on the Goodbye Farewell 4-track EP is the superb version of the song recorded by James Walsh and Peter Kirby aka KirbyWalsh. When I first put out the original idea for Goodbye Farewell, James was the first person to respond, and this version was also the first to be completed. I also had a great surprise when James revealed The Alarm’s drummer Steve ‘Smiley’ Barnard had done the drums and mixed the track!
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.
I began writing Goodbye Farewell at the beginning of 2020. My mum, who had died of bowel cancer in 2016, was the initial inspiration, but I wasn’t able to write a full set of lyrics, so I 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 was able to complete it. 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 the charity book I released last year called The Record. She told me her story, and Kelly 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
- 4-track CD https://rivers2cross.com/product/goodbye-cd/
- 4-track digital download https://rivers2cross.com/product/goodbye-download/
- KirbyWalsh track on its own https://rivers2cross.com/product/goodbye-farewell-kirbywalsh/
The brilliant debut album from KirbyWalsh, You Can’t Go Back, is out now and is available to order from www.gatecrashthepartybooks.com If you enjoy their version of Goodbye Farewell then check out their album, which features 13 original songs written by James, Pete and Smiley.
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.
