Leafiara (prime)/Melodies/Wild and Free

The official GemStone IV encyclopedia.
< Leafiara (prime)
Revision as of 11:57, 9 July 2023 by LEAFIARA (talk | contribs) (Created page with " Familiar routines are safer And habits grow hard to break Some choose to forego adventure But that is a grave mistake Embrace the wide world around you: The Category...")
(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Familiar routines are safer
And habits grow hard to break
Some choose to forego adventure
But that is a grave mistake

Embrace the wide world around you:
The call your name!
When wondrous things surround you,
What more could you hope to claim?

Wild and free!
Wild and free!
Light up the fires of your desires, go there and see

In more 'stable' lands,
Your every dream gets twisted by conflicting schemes
But up north it's given: Cold River's livin'
Wild and free!

They're people besieged by danger
Threats lurking 'round every bend
In touch with the truths of nature:
Grow strong to prolong your end

My troubles had once seemed vivid
Before dodging swords thrice my size
Now things that used to make me livid
Are nothing to my retrained eyes

Wild and free!
Wild and free!
Cold River style
Can't stop my smile
Live perilously!

It's what people seek but rarely find
No deep concerns or cares in mind
No obligations, no machinations
Wild and free!

Wild and free!
Their ways are so breezy,
Everything's freezing
Literally!

Even the bounties there pay more
Up in that town, they know the score!
When you have spirit, no need to fear it
Wild and free!

The ice seems so nice, the cold blows so bold
But just venture out and that's when you'll know
They've formed all their hordes, their packs on attacks
Prepare to defend your soul

As war hits the floor, the bands take command
With swords, staves, and boards in everyone's hands
And when the wyrm lands, you might need new plans
To just watch Myharl go!

Wild and free!
Wild and free!
Hear the wargs howling
Hinterboars growling
Music to me!

What else would you hunt, some weak old lich?
Seek a real challenge, scratch your itch!

See disirs flying, you might be dying
Wild and free!

Berserker blades swinging
Deadly skalds singing
Wild and free!

Oozes dividing
Shield-maidens riding
Cannibals biting
Disciples reciting
Draugrs off stomping
Mastodons romping
Wild and free!

Mutants and golems
Wendigos roaming
Wild and free!

Valravns staring
Angargeists glaring
Every day's thrilling
Up where it's chilling
Battles and clashing
Winds always lashing
Wild and free!

Context:

I wish I could remember how I managed to think of using this specific song after I got stuck on the Shivers parody and opted to abandon it! Anyway, I wrote a pretty early draft of this fairly shortly after the Hinterwilds were released in the live game (and I'd already been loving the place from the test server for months beforehand), but after Traiva talked me into performing at the Revelia Carnivale over a year later, I went back and spent a couple days spiffing it up.

There were two main differences between my first draft and final draft. One is that I shifted to keep a more consistently upbeat feel. I wrote the original during a time where Leafi was feeling more cynical about the future of the Landing and wanted to just move to Cold River, so the early verses focused on that with lines like "Your homestead is always safer," "Don't think about sticking back there," and "No more Empires, chase your desires." I liked it as it was too, but the consequence was that it only barely mentioned Cold River offhand, so I think it wound up much better off becoming more of a celebration.

The second difference is that I repeated the last two verses. I hesitated to do it because that meant I actually extended beyond the original song I was parodying in the first place, but it allowed me to slip in a mention of nearly every creature--only bloodspeakers and undansormrs are left out, whereas it had previously been them plus shield-maidens, cannibals, disciples, mastodons, and wendigos.