ReMix:The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker "Rime of the Wanderin' Seafarer" 7:15

By zykO

Arranging the music of 3 songs from 2 games ( view all )...

"Dragon Roost Island", "Secret", "Title"

Primary Game: The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (Nintendo , 2003, GCN), music by Hajime Wakai, Kenta Nagata, Koji Kondo, Toru Minegishi

Posted 2010-09-25, evaluated by djpretzel


Emunator apparently convinced weed to submit this epic Zelda mix, and many blessings upon his house for doing so, because it's one of zyko's best, most heartfelt arrangements, and really captures the atmosphere and emotion that is unique to singer-songwriter, storyteller music. Taucer & I collabed for something vaguely along these lines way back when, but this is different, and you can tell the artist put a lot of time, effort, and soul into the lyrics, vocals, acoustic guitar, and accompaniment.

To coincide with this mixpost, Mr. Hawatky just released his new album of originals, A Mild Suggestive Moment, ahead of schedule; this statement holds true for all OC ReMixers, but since he's made so many great VGM mixes available for free, see if you can support him and at the same time check out his original material by plunking down five bucks (or more); knowing zyko, it's going to be creative, exploratory, & well worth your time.

Waleed writes:

"this tune was one of the last things of mine that my father heard before he passed. it was also his favorite work of mine and when i inherited his iPod, i was really moved that it turned up several times. i had originally started the idea for the project several years earlier but, in that early iteration, the track was somethin' more of an upbeat drunken sailor tavern song. by the time i got back around to the project a couple years ago for DoD, it had transformed into a more deliberate, introspective bard's tale. and yeah the title is totally a shout out to Iron Maiden!

anyway, around that same time, in October of 2008, my father became deathly ill. he was hospitalized for a cardiac arrest and all indications were that he wasn't going to make it. he miraculously survived it and would live until the following August but the jarring event was unavoidably foreshadowing.

the track itself is more or less a telling of the Wind Waker story as told by, if you can imagine it, Link rocking (out) gently in his dragon boat with an acoustic guitar. the storyteller here is actually the companion on the journey, the boat, and not Link himself.

this piece features my Taylor 314C acoustic guitar, a pocketful of rupees and a breeze..."

It's a moving context to a piece that's moving all on its own, even without the context; zyko's vocals convey both authenticity and conviction. When the melody goes a bit outside what I'm guessing is his comfortable range, it doesn't even matter, because he breaks/cracks the word-note in a way that actually works better. There are definitely some moments in the recording where the mic overloads a bit, which would be my biggest issue, but they're cosmetic and thankfully fleeting. Few artists in the community attempt mixes like this in the first place, and so the bravery of putting yourself out there musically juxtaposes nicely with Link's bravery in the actual song.

I've been waiting to post this for a whole week now, as we really wanted visitors to check out the corresponding album release as well and maximize its visibility, but I've had the first verse of the lyrics stuck in my head the whole time. In my opinion, zyko's really laid it all out there and also crafted a piece of music that combines his own personal emotions with a lyrical narrative that gives new weight & perspective to Wind Waker. You can't ask for much more.

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
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Cole Train
on 2016-05-17 12:36:11

God, i've listened to this way too many times over the past couple years, why not comment on it now.
It's pretty hard for me to talk about this track without gushing over it man.
I wouldn't even say im a fan of this kind of music and when I first saw this, I was kinda nervous to see how a folk-ish song with Dragon Roost (One of my favorite tracks) being one of the sources sounded like. It blew away my expectations.
The lyrics are beautiful, zyko's voice is very fitting with the lyrics, every time I listen to this I can just feel all the emotion and feeling that was put into this ReMix just hitting me in the face...
Let me stop, because I could praise this mix all day if I could.
Tl;dr It's good.

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Crulex
on 2012-09-19 11:17:01

I really like the way Zyko sings. You get more of a different kind of tone from him because it just sounds professionally unprofessional. Sounds weird, I know, I'm not a linguist, but it just seems like an everyday person (kinda like Link if he wasn't the hero of the whole thing), just singing on a boat through different weather and places. Lot of heart here. Good guitar playing and good progression as the song goes on.

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champ the hippie
on 2011-08-02 17:14:01

1. love the title, an apropos reference to a beautiful piece of literature

2. such an amazing voice, plays the too high(?) notes well, as stated by djpretzel

3. impressively fitting lyrics that make an already touching song nigh tear-jerking

4. amazing that you seem to have put your own emotions into a melody you didn't compose: props

5. this is gonna be stuck in my head for a while

thank you!

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jordanrooben
on 2011-07-24 20:26:58

After a few seconds my first reaction was "crap, lyrics."

About 30 seconds in and my reactions was "this actually isn't bad."

2 minutes in and I know i'm listening to the whole thing.

This is actually really good. Awesome!

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Emunator
on 2010-12-11 03:13:05
because of that, the vocals aren't meant to wow you into thinking "ya know, this guy is a great singer!" instead, it is meant to sound like a guy, who isn't necessarily a musician, with a guitar on a boat... maybe just a boy who found himself caught up in the middle of something much bigger than himself and is struggling with trying to make sense of it. i can't imagine link being a classically trained vocalist and luckily, neither am i :D

honestly, i kinda like my voice cracking... i find the imperfection to be so intrinsically human that it may just be perfect hehe

Fuck yes man, this is what I love about your music. A lot of the feel and emotion of your music comes the flaws that are noticeably present, but somehow manages to actually improve the songs instead of detract from them. This is the perfect example of that. Will this be winning any awards for the most technically proficient vocal performance? Probably not, but damn if it isn't one of the best written, most enjoyable, and most heartfelt vocal mixes on the entire site. I hope you don't ever change that aspect of your music, it's what drew me to you at first and what continues to hold me as I hear each new song of yours.

I'm glad I was able to play a small part in helping this reach more ears, it's an unequivocally brilliant performance and absolutely one of those songs that I'll always look back on with the utmost fondness.

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Dennyaaa
on 2010-11-24 17:22:04

This particular ReMix was the first one that have ever gotten to me in a sentimental kind of way. I have been scouting this site for a long time now (not beeing a member untill now, dont ask why, cause I really dont know) and nothing in here, NOTHING drove the feelings of pure brillancy yet strangely sorrow into my head, like this piece.

Everything from your voice (which is amazing) to the simple strokes on the guitar and the nice use of the theme from the game is just taking this... this masterpiece to a whole new level of ReMixing.

I hope that we will be hearing more from you, and once again, thanks for showing the world, that the Triforce indeed is real, or atleast this part of it.

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zykO
on 2010-11-23 01:15:29

proven paradox:

first of all, thanks for the love both here and on youtube... as always, it is much appreciated that my music was enjoyable!

about having multiple voices; while i've never been against collaboration (as i've probably collaborated more over the years than anyone i know), i've gotta stress that not very many of my tracks are presented as "studio" music. i actually struggle mightily with making studio quality music and i invariably end up making mood pieces or environment pieces probably as some kind of copout ... or, like this track and many others, guy-with-a-guitar-in-the-woods types of pieces

because of that, the vocals aren't meant to wow you into thinking "ya know, this guy is a great singer!" instead, it is meant to sound like a guy, who isn't necessarily a musician, with a guitar on a boat... maybe just a boy who found himself caught up in the middle of something much bigger than himself and is struggling with trying to make sense of it. i can't imagine link being a classically trained vocalist and luckily, neither am i :D

honestly, i kinda like my voice cracking... i find the imperfection to be so intrinsically human that it may just be perfect hehe

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DeepChild
on 2010-11-22 16:02:28

Incredibly beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing this with us.

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Proven Paradox
on 2010-11-11 21:35:56

I already commented on this on the YouTube posting, but there's a lot to say about this mix and the character limit on YouTube comments doesn't allow me to do this proper justice.

First of all, the music is great. Really breathtaking work on the instrumentation. Your guitar-work is divine, and the flute at the end sealed the deal. My only serious complaint on music is the breakdown at ~3:20. It's really sudden and kind of out of place. It's executed well so this complaint isn't TOO loud, but it needed some transition time. It felt kind of like I tripped and fell into another remix. A GOOD remix, but it was sudden and unexpected. And, if I may be allowed to indulge in a bit of nit-picking, the puzzle-solved sound at ~4:27 seems a bit crammed in. But not terribly so.

The voice work, I am less sold on. Firstly, the lyrics are perfect, and I would love to see more song-writing from you. That's not the problem: the glaring weakpoint on this otherwise indestructible monolith of a mix is the vocals. The way the track is written, it really, really needs two different voices singing, because your voice seems to be straining really hard to hit some of the high notes, and not quite getting there.

Don't get me wrong: when you get it right, you get it really right. The fifth verse ("now on this new day, a cold wind blows...", ~2:25) works great as is and was the point that this track went from "pretty okay" to "actually quite good." You drive it home on verse seven ("within the belly of the beast, son...", ~4:30). At that point the only appropriate response is to throw a fist into the air and shout "hell yeah!" (I did not actually do this, but I wanted to.)

But then there are the parts where it doesn't work in a big way because your voice doesn't quite get the note called for. Just about any time the word "legend" comes up in the lyrics is a really good example of this. This happens mostly at the beginning of the track. The voice breaking in verse 2, on the word "stone" made me wince when I first listened to this. I think these points are really begging for a woman's voice. This could have made a great duet: I'm no composer, but instinctively I think this kind of song could have some great weaving effects with two voices. (Or maybe three: get a baritone in there to belt out the super manly verses!)

Overall it's still good, but it brushes close to perfection that I find myself judging it harshly simply because with a few tweaks it could actually reach it.

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UnveiledOsiris
on 2010-10-15 11:16:13

I am so, so glad that you decided to submit this. Over the past week or so, I've been thinking "Man, wouldn't I love to hear a great Dragon Roost remix", and then this popped up in my RSS, ad voila! Insta-fave! Please continue to post the awesome that I've come to expect from you :D

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King Bowser Koopa
on 2010-10-10 05:18:45

Absolutely beautiful. The emotion actually brought tears to my eyes, and I decided to log back in after a -several year- absence just to express my thanks for this amazing piece.

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zykO
on 2010-10-09 12:51:15

:) thank you, my friends - i'm moved by your words and it reminds me how much of a pleasure it is to share my work with you. thank you and i'm glad you enjoyed it

Funny you should use the word "Rime" for a song used in Dragon Roost, since rime is actually a kind of frost, specifically the frost that appears on windows early in the morning when dew and fog freezes on them.

you know, that irked me as well actually. the iron maiden song is based on a great 18th century poem by Samuel Coleridge of the same name (and the same spelling of rime) and not only structured its lyrics after the poem's style but also directly quotes a couple of verses from it. the poem was actually my chief influence on the piece, not the maiden song (as you can tell they are stylistically nothing alike lol) particularly, but in the end it kinda worked out the same. the lyrics read like a straight forward poem about finding one's way in the world although i ditched the allegorical context to focus more on the isolation of our "hero" on the open sea in search of his destiny.

and like coleridge's poem, its strangely autobiographical :)

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Martin Penwald
on 2010-10-09 12:32:42

As far as I'm concerned, this is zyko's best offering so far. Beautiful guitar playing, good vocals, and awesome, fitting lyrics. 2:25 onwards, when the song picks up a bit, sounds rather epic. 2:50 adds a little bit of caribbean flavour to the mix (same around 4:15 and 5:00), and the following breakdown is very interesting, having a dramatic feeling to it.

My only criticism is that at about 4:30, when the vocals come in again, it sounds as if they were recorded too loud; this is especially apparent when listening to the mix with headphones.

6:00 onwards, when the flute joins the mix, is just great. Wonderful way to end this remix.

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OA
on 2010-10-05 10:48:56

Pretty awesome stuff, incredible arrangement here, and the scope is massive without being overdone.

A++ would listen again. :-)

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Bahamut
on 2010-10-01 14:50:53

I remember this track from the DoD - unfortunately I didn't really get a good chance to absorb it then due to lots of things going on with my life, but it's no surprise why this made it to first place for the month back then. It is full of soul that is pretty rare in music.

I absolutely love the instrumentation in this song. The acoustic guitar and other ethnic instruments lend well for an emotional song like this. The lyrics take advantage of this setting greatly, bolstering this heartfelt tale.

This could be one of my favorite tracks on OCR now, it's that deep different.

Sources Arranged (3 Songs, 2 Games)


Primary Game:
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (Nintendo , 2003, GCN)
Music by Hajime Wakai,Kenta Nagata,Koji Kondo,Toru Minegishi
Songs:
"Dragon Roost Island"
Additional Game:
The Legend of Zelda (Nintendo , 1986, NES)
Music by Koji Kondo
Songs:
"Secret"
"Title"

Tags (6)


Genre:
Folk
Mood:
Instrumentation:
Acoustic Guitar,Singing,Vocals: Male
Additional:
Lyrics > Lyrics: Original
Time > Duration: Long

File Information


Name:
Legend_of_Zelda_The_Wind_Waker_Rime_of_the_Wanderin'_Seafarer_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
8,244,845 bytes
MD5:
1fd29048860cbe1b18bfe4a2ce3d610f
Bitrate:
150Kbps
Duration:
7:15

borne upon a wave and wind, boy
your sea will only ebb and flow
play me a song, tell me a tale
uncover what secrets i hold
i hold

to another island, we row, boy
seek what terror lurks in stone
to save a girl from a dragon
and aptly reap what you've sown
what we have sown

the legends speak of he
who sets worlds free
a legend speaks for me
who is set free?
free

so now tell of ghosts and bones
for an ancient world hides below
a faceless foe with an ageless throe
your destiny waits in the fold
in the fold

now on this new day, a cold wind blows
hence comes and calls you out to go
and save a girl and the world too
and don't you know, that's how it's told
that's how it's told

the legends speak of she
who sets hearts free
a legend speaks of he
who'll set her free
set her free

set her free...

within the belly of the beast, son
you danced and cut your way through foes
to find that there's so much more
to this destiny that you behold
destiny you behold

the legend's tale of strength
which sets souls free
the legend speaks of he
who flies with me

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