0:01

In The Legend of Zelda, Link isn't just an intrepid

0:03

adventurer and master swordsman, he's

0:05

also an accomplished multi-instrumentalist.

0:09

In addition to his memorable performances on the ocarina

0:11

and the harp, he's also played bells, a variety

0:14

of flutes, and even the guitar.

0:23

Welcome

0:23

to Strong Songs, a podcast about music.

0:26

I'm your host Kirk Hamilton, and I'm so glad that

0:28

you've joined me to talk about songs that make the sun

0:30

rise, songs that make the winds change, and

0:32

of course, songs that make your horse

0:34

come a-running.

0:36

Strong Songs is a listener-supported show, which

0:39

means that I am only able to make it because of each

0:41

and every person out there who chips in to

0:43

help me do so. If you like this

0:45

show, seriously, if you like this show and you want

0:47

me to keep making it, I hope you'll consider becoming

0:49

a patron or making a one-time donation.

0:53

On this episode, we're returning to the land of Hyrule

0:55

for another musical adventure, this time going

0:57

deep on the latest Zelda game, which wound up having such

1:00

great music that I had to make a whole episode

1:02

about it. There's a lot to get into and no

1:04

time to waste, so build a huge bridge, drop

1:06

it across

1:06

the chasm,

1:07

and let's do this thing. Ever

1:29

since I made that episode last year about

1:31

the music of The Legend of Zelda, the series

1:33

and its music haven't been far from my mind.

1:36

That was almost entirely because of the looming release

1:38

of Tears of the Kingdom, a direct sequel

1:41

to Breath of the Wild that came out this year

1:43

in 2023, back in May. It

1:46

was a game that wound up being every bit the

1:48

phenomenon its predecessor was, and

1:50

then some. Earlier this year, I guessed

1:52

it on a two-part episode of the fantastic

1:54

podcast 20,000 Hertz, all

1:57

about the sound and music of the Zelda

1:59

series. long time listeners will remember

2:01

that I had that show's host Dallas Taylor

2:03

as a guest on Strong Songs. A while back, 20,000

2:05

Hertz is a great podcast and those two

2:07

episodes are really, really cool. I'll

2:10

link to them in the show notes. You should go check them out. If you

2:12

like Strong Songs, you should be listening to 20,000 Hertz anyways. On

2:15

those episodes, we talked a bit about Peers of the Kingdom,

2:18

but we didn't get into it too deeply. And

2:20

the more I played the game, the more I found I

2:22

had to say about it and specifically about

2:24

the way the game uses music. So I

2:27

decided that I would make this episode a full

2:29

length, deep analysis of the music of

2:31

Peers of the Kingdom.

2:36

So that's what we're going to do.

2:37

Consider this the third and, at least for

2:39

a while, final episode of Strong

2:41

Songs that I will make about Zelda music. And if

2:43

you haven't listened to my first full length Zelda

2:46

episode, I recommend listening to that as well

2:48

as the bonus episode that I just dropped in the

2:50

main feed. And as far as spoilers

2:52

go, the first 40 minutes of this episode talks

2:54

about general stuff that happens in the game but no major

2:57

story spoilers. Then I'm going to give a warning

2:59

at 40 minutes and we'll talk about some real

3:01

big story spoilers. So just something

3:03

to keep in mind. Alright, that's enough

3:05

of that. Let's get into it and I hope you enjoy the

3:07

episode. Breath

3:18

of the Wild was, in many ways, a culmination

3:20

of the Legend of Zelda. That's true

3:22

for the game and that's also true for

3:25

the music. As I discussed in my first episode

3:27

about Zelda music, Breath of the Wild tied

3:29

together loads of previous Zelda melodies,

3:32

like how they took the Dragonroof Silent

3:34

music from The Wind Waker and

3:42

repurposed it into the Rito Village music

3:45

for Breath of the Wild.

3:55

Or how they took Epona's theme, the theme

3:57

for the horse from Ocarina of Time.

4:05

And had the accordion playing Birdman cost

4:08

superimpose that melody over

4:10

the stable theme from Breath of the Wild.

4:22

Other well known Zelda melodies turned up as well.

4:24

There were those piano renditions of the item

4:27

get and secret unlocked jingles,

4:29

a lush reprisal of the fairy fountain

4:32

theme, and

4:41

of course the now famous introduction of

4:43

that classic Legend of Zelda theme

4:45

played this time by a solo cello

4:48

creeping in as Link rides his

4:50

horse across a misty moonlight

4:52

meadow. It

5:12

felt like a homecoming to me, like seeing a

5:14

group of composers take advantage of a three decade

5:16

backlog of melodies and jingles using

5:19

that to build a complex, comprehensive

5:21

musical world. So with that accomplished,

5:24

what was left for them to do in the sequel?

5:27

And the short answer is, the same thing,

5:29

just way more. Man,

5:44

where to begin with Tears of the Kingdom. I've

5:46

described this game as a classic, more

5:48

sequel. It takes what was great about Breath of the Wild

5:51

and it gives players even more of it.

5:53

It still kinda blows me away that the game's creators

5:56

managed to top themselves in so

5:58

many ways given how great Breath of the Wild is. Wild already

6:00

was, but that's exactly what they

6:02

did. And they also added saxophones.

6:12

In terms of systems, design, pacing,

6:15

puzzles, story, and absolutely music,

6:17

Tears of the Kingdom takes Breath of the Wild as a baseline

6:20

and expands on it in surprising, delightful

6:22

ways. It's an oversimplification to say

6:25

it's better than Breath of the Wild because it couldn't

6:27

still exist with Breath of the Wild, but it

6:29

does go beyond the 2017 game

6:31

in just about every way possible.

6:38

The game's composers, a quartet consisting

6:41

of Manaka Kata Okawa, Maasan

6:43

Miyoshi, Masato Ohashi, and

6:45

Sugasawa Usui, have managed something

6:48

extraordinary with this score. Tears

6:50

of the Kingdom is a musical masterpiece,

6:53

a soundtrack that goes so hard in

6:55

so many new directions that I really

6:57

can't believe they pulled it off. So

7:10

there is a lot to talk about here, a lot

7:12

of music to get into, I'm very excited

7:14

for that. Before we do, a quick note about

7:16

those four composers that I just credited.

7:19

Of course, many of the original Zelda themes

7:21

were composed by the great Koji Kondo,

7:24

a titan of modern music to whom I have dedicated

7:26

quite a bit of time on strong songs.

7:28

But I do want to recognize the four composers

7:31

who wrote the original music for this game,

7:34

and in particular to call out the first two composers

7:36

that I cited, Manaka Kataoka

7:39

and Maasan Miyoshi, both of whom

7:41

are women. There are far too few

7:43

women composing music for video games these days,

7:45

particularly for huge series

7:48

like The Legend of Zelda, and I think it's so cool

7:50

that half of the composition team for this game

7:52

were women. So shout out to them, Kataoka-san

7:55

has been working at Nintendo for quite a while, she

7:58

wrote music for Animal Crossing before we're here. on

8:00

Breath of the Wild, and then of course working

8:02

on Tears of the Kingdom. And Miyoshi-san

8:04

joined more recently in 2015 in

8:07

Tears of the Kingdom is by far the biggest game

8:09

that she's worked on at Nintendo.

8:11

So huge respect to them as well as

8:14

Masasoho Hashi and Suka Satsusui.

8:16

I know my Japanese pronunciation isn't as

8:18

strong as it could be, but I really just want to underline

8:21

that all of the music that I'm going to be talking about in

8:23

this episode was written by actual human beings

8:26

and not just by Nintendo,

8:28

and that as vital a role as Kojikando

8:30

has played in Nintendo's musical legacy,

8:33

that legacy is being expanded upon and

8:35

reimagined by so many more incredible

8:38

contemporary composers at Nintendo

8:40

today. And

8:48

so without further ado, let's get into it

8:50

and let's start where else, but with the main

8:52

theme for Tears of the Kingdom, a five

8:54

note motif that plays an outsized role

8:57

over the course of the game. I really

9:11

like that theme. It's grown on me over time

9:14

and with repetition, but I appreciate what

9:16

it represents as well as just

9:18

how cool it sounds as a piece of music. So

9:20

it's five notes. Here we're in the key of F

9:23

minor, though it turns up in a lot

9:25

of different keys over the course of the game. In

9:27

F minor, it starts on a G, which is

9:29

the second note of F

9:31

minor. It starts on a G, then it goes to

9:34

E flat, the flat seven, then to

9:36

F, which is the one, and then to C,

9:38

the fifth, two times. So

9:40

it goes down and then it leaps

9:43

up, which actually connects it directionally

9:45

to Koji Kondo's original Zelda theme,

9:48

which also first goes down and

9:50

then climbs up. The

9:52

motif also just sort of sounds like the

9:55

game, if that makes any sense. Tears

9:57

of the Kingdom is fundamentally a game about

10:00

soaring through the sky, but it's also a game about

10:02

exploring the deepest depths. In

10:04

fact, the story kicks off with Zelda

10:06

and Link plumbing too deep into

10:08

the depths below Hyrule Castle, after which

10:11

huge swaths of the kingdom lift

10:13

off from the ground and soar into

10:15

the sky. And you can actually hear that

10:17

in this theme, or at least I hear

10:19

it. It sounds like someone bending his knees,

10:22

embracing himself, and then leaping

10:24

into the sky, and with that repeated

10:26

C at the end, staying airborne,

10:29

perhaps with some kind of a paraglider or

10:31

something. Of

10:44

course, that five-note motif doesn't exist

10:46

in a vacuum. It appears in a variety of harmonic

10:49

settings throughout the game, and it takes on different

10:51

vibes depending on how it's used.

10:54

Here in the main theme is this propulsive, heroic

10:56

vibe that's due partly to the performance,

10:59

this grand orchestra moving as one,

11:01

and it's partly due to the harmony underneath

11:03

the melody. So like I said, we're in F minor,

11:06

but we don't actually start on an F minor chord.

11:08

The motif plays, and upon hitting the

11:10

F before jumping up to the C, we hit

11:12

the first chord, which is a D-flat major 7

11:15

chord. The F and the C are squarely

11:17

inside of that chord, they're both chord tones, the

11:19

F is the major 3rd, and the C is the major

11:22

7th, so that repeating note is a

11:24

major 7th. It's a very nice tone

11:26

to start out with, and it emphasizes that

11:29

rich major 7th sound right

11:31

at the start. From

11:34

there, the chord climbs a step to E-flat

11:36

major. The motif changes the

11:39

note by dropping a half-step lower

11:41

to a D natural on the second note, and

11:43

then it repeats that F, jumping up to C,

11:46

as the chord moves up yet another step to

11:48

F minor. Before

11:52

climbing even higher to the 4th

11:55

chord, a B-flat major. So

11:59

for all the orchestra... pompe of the performance,

12:01

this is a pretty rock and roll chord progression,

12:03

one that you've heard in a ton of songs

12:05

and even a few that I've talked about on strong

12:08

songs. It's flat 6 major, flat 7

12:11

major, to 1 to 4.

12:14

Hell yeah. From

12:16

there the melody keeps on climbing, the chord progression

12:18

repeats, it goes back to that D flat,

12:21

and then up to an E flat, which sets

12:23

up the resolution to F minor for the solo

12:26

that kicks off the next section. There's

12:28

a constant sense of ascension throughout

12:30

this progression since even when the chords repeat

12:33

toward the end, the melody doesn't repeat,

12:35

it keeps climbing higher and higher, covering

12:38

the space of almost 2 octaves in

12:40

just a few bars. Here

12:42

it is altogether, try to keep that all in

12:44

your mind as you listen to it. So

13:11

that was a powerful and very complete

13:13

rendition of the theme, but something that Tears of

13:15

the Kingdom does well is play

13:17

with the idea of a recurring motif,

13:19

or leitmotif, which is a widely used

13:22

musical device that attaches certain melodies

13:24

to certain characters, places, and

13:26

events. We've talked about leitmotif plenty

13:29

of times on strong songs. That

13:31

motif, or just as commonly the first 4

13:34

notes without that repeated note up top, that's

13:36

the Tears of the Kingdom motif, and

13:38

it turns up everywhere. And the thing

13:41

is, you've actually heard it before while

13:43

playing Breath of the Wild, even if you

13:45

didn't realize it. Now

13:47

this is a pretty out there easter egg even by

13:49

Zelda standards, and remember this is a series

13:51

that once built a game's entire primary

13:54

motif off of a reversed version

13:56

of Zelda's Lullaby. But

14:08

I want to point it out to you all, even though I don't fully

14:11

know what to make of it, and I should say

14:13

the person who pointed this out to me was Casey

14:15

Emerling who wrote those 20,000 hertz

14:18

Zelda episodes that I guested on. So shout

14:20

out to Casey. Okay, Nintendo

14:22

games are full of music. Nintendo

14:25

consoles are full of music. That music

14:27

manifests in obvious ways, like

14:29

background music while playing a game or during

14:31

cutscenes. It also manifests in more

14:34

subtle, pervasive ways. The menus

14:36

in Nintendo games, and even in Nintendo

14:38

consoles, are often extremely

14:41

musical places to be. They're

14:43

full of lovely tones, jingles, and chords

14:45

that accompany each button press, menu

14:48

selection, and item deletion. And

14:50

as you run around in either Breath of the Wild

14:53

or Tears of the Kingdom, you'll hear a lot

14:55

of the same user interface sounds,

14:57

for lack of a better way of describing them. For

15:00

example, when you pick up an item off

15:02

the ground, you'll hear this sound.

15:06

You hear the same sound in Breath of the Wild

15:08

and in Tears of the Kingdom, and you pick up so many

15:10

items in both games that your brain will quickly

15:13

kind of file it away to the point that you

15:15

barely even notice it. But

15:17

I want you to listen to it again more closely and try

15:20

to pick out the individual notes that

15:22

it contains. Now

15:25

that's still happening pretty fast, so let's slow it

15:27

way down, and this is going to drop each

15:29

individual note in that jingle an

15:32

octave, and it's also going to leave a lot more

15:34

space in between them so that you can pick them out

15:36

more easily. Here we go.

15:39

Can you hear it? Now

15:42

take those same notes and

15:45

play them with a different rhythm, and what do you

15:47

get?

15:53

So yeah, I have no idea what to make of that,

15:55

it's likely just some bit of cleverness

15:57

on the part of the composers and sound designers

15:59

working on it. on the game, but I got a kick out of it when

16:01

Casey asked me about it and I couldn't help but

16:04

share it with you all. And I mean Hyrule

16:06

Castle floating into the air above the highest

16:09

mountains in the land, it's kind of the ultimate

16:11

item pickup when you think about it. It's

16:16

a great theme and one that turns up throughout the

16:18

game, and this performance is bolstered by two

16:20

solo instruments that I've come to think of as

16:22

the signature instruments of Tears of

16:24

the Kingdom. The

16:29

first you're hearing right now is the Erhu, a

16:31

two-stringed Chinese fiddle with a storied

16:33

history and an instantly recognizable sound.

16:38

And the second signature instrument is one that I've

16:40

already mentioned, an instrument close to my heart

16:42

and one I never expected to hear in a Zelda

16:44

game.

16:45

The Saxophone. There

17:02

are other solo instruments featured on the Tears

17:04

of the Kingdom soundtrack, but the Erhu and the Saxophone

17:07

are the two that made the strongest impression

17:09

on me. Let's start with the Erhu. It's

17:11

an instrument you've almost certainly heard before,

17:13

even if you didn't know what it was called. It's a

17:16

two-stringed bowed instrument with a small

17:18

resonance box that's held vertically like

17:20

a cello and it's played with a light, swooping

17:23

style that, at least here in America,

17:25

is so distinctive that it's often

17:27

used in films and TV as a sort of shorthand

17:29

for the sound of China.

17:38

This is Aaron Lee demonstrating the instrument, which

17:40

indeed has strong historical roots in

17:42

China going back hundreds of years, though

17:45

it finds modern applications in all sorts of

17:47

places, including modern Zelda games. In

17:49

the world of Zelda, the Erhu is an instrument

17:51

of the dragons. In Breath of the Wild,

17:54

it would make a brief but memorable appearance

17:56

on the soundtrack every time you happened

17:58

upon one of the majestic dragons

18:01

who circle the skies above Hyrule.

18:12

If you've played this game, hearing this right

18:14

now, you're seeing what I'm seeing. This

18:16

beautiful, slow-moving dragon, lurking

18:19

across the sky. With

18:26

just that limited use, Breath of the Wild established

18:28

the Ur-Hoo as the instrument of the dragons, and

18:30

because dragons play such a bigger narrative

18:33

role in Tears of the Kingdom, like the

18:35

tears in the title or dragon's tears,

18:38

it makes sense that the instrument would feature more prominently

18:40

in the score for the new game. And it

18:43

does, kicking off the main theme with this looping

18:45

acrobatic melody that evokes a goddess

18:48

of the sky diving from the clouds before

18:50

cresting the horizon. Shout

18:59

out to that Piccolo player too, they're getting it

19:01

done.

19:06

Which brings us to the second signature instrument,

19:08

the saxophone, which is used so creatively

19:11

and so effectively throughout this game that I

19:13

almost can't believe it.

19:18

Specifically, Tears of the Kingdom features an alto

19:20

saxophone as its signature solo saxophone,

19:22

though it does also feature a beautiful saxophone

19:25

ensemble that features tenor and,

19:27

maybe in a couple of places, soprano

19:30

saxophone as well, though certainly tenor.

19:38

I honestly was not expecting the degree

19:40

of saxiness that this game delivers, as

19:43

a saxophonist myself, I was really excited going

19:45

in since I had been primed by this incredible

19:48

moment in the game's big cinematic trailer,

19:51

which came out just a little bit before the game. In that

19:53

moment, toward the end of the trailer, seemingly out of nowhere, this alto saxophone just steps in and

19:55

goes M nuts

20:00

and drives the intensity up to 9,000. It

20:02

just blows the doors off the plate. Get

20:07

ready. It's

20:24

honestly not even a style of sax playing

20:26

that appears in the game itself. It's full-on

20:28

laser beam pop sax. Lip

20:30

curled out, voice engaged, rocking all

20:33

the way up into the altissimo register

20:35

like someone on stage at Eurovision.

20:39

I'll

20:41

pick a crap at learning, match back to phone part myself,

20:44

and man, it is no joke, especially

20:46

the stuff at the end. More

20:53

of a tenor player, after sax altissimo

20:56

register is such a pain, you need

20:58

lips of leather to play up there all

21:00

the time. So I wouldn't dare to hope

21:02

that the final game would have featured strident

21:05

pop sax playing like that trailer. Honestly,

21:07

it wouldn't even really fit with the vibe of Legend

21:10

of Zelda if that kind of saxophone turned

21:12

up in the game. And it doesn't, but what they

21:14

wound up doing is actually pretty different

21:16

and really lovely. It starts right

21:19

from the title sequence for the game, which itself

21:21

is a cool evolution of the title sequence

21:23

from Breath of the Wild. If you'll remember,

21:25

Breath of the Wild had a very memorable title

21:28

sequence where the title of the game comes up on

21:30

the screen, set over a sweeping

21:32

panorama of Hyrule as viewed

21:35

from atop the Great Plateau. It's

21:43

fairly understated, musically speaking, particularly

21:46

when compared with Tears of the Kingdom, the

21:48

title sequence of which begins similarly

21:51

and then ups the ante pretty quickly.

22:00

And it does

22:02

so with a lovely and familiar sound.

22:04

Right out of the gate, a classical style alto saxophone

22:07

introduces the Tears of the Kingdom motif

22:09

for the very first time. A

22:16

moment of grace suspended in the air before

22:18

gravity kicks in. If

22:23

there was any question or worry

22:25

going into Tears of the Kingdom, the game would be content

22:27

to simply reuse the music of Breath of the Wild

22:29

without developing it at all. I hope that this

22:31

title card sequence put those to rest. For

22:38

me at least, I got chills listening to

22:40

this breathless orchestral build delivered

22:43

as length plummets headlong from thousands

22:45

of feet above the earth. And

22:48

in the back of my mind I thought, if they opened

22:51

with a saxophone, there must be so much

22:53

more of it in the rest of the game. Okay

22:59

I'm guessing I'm probably one of the only ones

23:02

who was that fixated on the saxophones.

23:04

I'm guessing the rest of you weren't quite as distracted

23:06

by that specific element of the game. But

23:09

I really was. And I was so pleasantly surprised

23:11

by the game's opening sequence and opening

23:14

really couple of hours. It takes place

23:16

in the Sky Islands during a tutorial

23:18

section that I know a lot of people don't like

23:21

and it probably does take a little bit too long for

23:23

the game to cut loose and let you start exploring

23:26

freely. But I mean, there's so much

23:28

saxophone in the Sky Islands! There's saxophone

23:31

everywhere! As

23:38

you accumulate new powers and get a feel for

23:40

how the game plays, the musical backdrop is

23:42

this! This gorgeous saxophone

23:45

ensemble, a series of suspended

23:47

chords, drifting lazily over a bed

23:49

of thick reverb, alto and tenor saxophones

23:52

creating this lost, gently haunted

23:54

atmosphere that perfectly evokes

23:56

the ghosts of these ruined temples in

23:58

the sky. At

24:06

this point, I was so intrigued

24:09

and delighted because it was immediately clear

24:11

to me that the game's composers understood

24:13

the saxophone on a much deeper level,

24:15

and they knew just how tambourine versatile

24:18

an instrument it is. For a lot

24:20

of people with, let's say, more limited

24:22

imaginations or maybe just more limited experience

24:25

with the saxophone, they hear the word saxophone

24:28

and, well, they think of this. And

24:33

I mean, fair enough, the Carol's Whisper Sax Solo

24:36

is great. I actually did a whole segment about it on

24:38

a Q&A episode a little while back. But

24:40

as fun and memorable as that style of

24:42

sax playing is, there's so much more

24:45

to the saxophone than just that laser-tone

24:47

pop sax sound that's featured in so

24:50

many 80s hits, as well as so dramatically

24:52

in that trailer for Tears of the Kingdom. The

24:55

saxophone's defining characteristic

24:57

is this rich, voice-like tone

24:59

that, when softened and in particular when

25:01

layered on top of other saxophones,

25:04

can create such gorgeous harmonic

25:06

soundscapes. Let me show you a little

25:08

bit of how that works. Here are two

25:11

of the opening chords from the Sky Island

25:13

music as you hear them in the game.

25:17

This

25:22

first one is sort of F minor 9 over

25:24

Ab, which sounds like Ab major 7,

25:28

really lovely sound. And

25:30

then,

25:37

many of the same notes on top with a Bb

25:39

in the bottom, which creates this beautiful

25:43

Bb sus sound with a suspended fourth

25:45

on top. It's

25:48

a lovely chord and it would sound nice on the piano.

25:50

In Breath of the Wild, it probably would have been played

25:52

on the piano since the piano played such

25:54

a strong role in that game's musical

25:57

identity. But in Tears of the Kingdom, it's

25:59

time for the piano. for something new.

26:01

The composers have leaned into the strength of the saxophone

26:04

ensemble, so allow me to do the same

26:06

thing. I'm going to build each of those first

26:08

two chords, and I'll do a slightly more limited version

26:11

than on the soundtrack, since I think there are a couple

26:13

of other things going on there, maybe a couple

26:15

more instruments or even a synth or something like that.

26:18

But let's keep it simple. I'm just going to use three

26:20

and then four saxophones to build those

26:23

two chords. I'm going to crank up the reverb,

26:25

and we will start with the tenor sax on

26:28

the bottom. On

26:31

top of that, there's the second alto sax in

26:34

the middle, and

26:40

the first alto sax on top.

26:50

Get them together, and what do we get?

27:03

Let's build the second

27:04

chord the same way, the tenor on the bottom

27:06

much lower down on the tenor's low C,

27:09

and

27:12

then a third alto sax part slightly higher

27:15

up, the

27:18

second alto playing the same part as before,

27:20

and the

27:24

first alto with the same notes as

27:26

before. Get

27:33

them together, and you get a very different hold.

27:47

Saxophone, am I right? It's a far cry

27:49

from careless whisper, but that's the magic

27:52

of this instrument, and it's why I'll always love it.

27:54

It can do so many different things,

27:56

and in the hands of the right players and

27:58

the right composers.

27:59

The saxophone can become magic.

28:10

Now I mentioned earlier that this is a sort of a classical

28:12

style of saxophone playing, and

28:14

that's true, though classical of course

28:17

is a word with a lot of different meanings. As

28:19

a trained jazz saxophonist, we

28:21

actually used to call this legit sax playing,

28:23

which has its own weird set of implications,

28:26

but basically this is the style of

28:28

sax playing, the style of tone and

28:30

most importantly articulation that

28:32

you'll hear more in an orchestra or a wind

28:34

ensemble as opposed to a rock band

28:37

or a jazz band. And that's borne out by my

28:39

favorite sax cue, maybe my favorite

28:41

musical cue of the entire game, the Ghibli-esque

28:44

fanfare that plays whenever Link launches

28:46

himself from a new Skyview Tower and

28:48

scans a new region into his

28:51

map.

29:05

Oh man,

29:08

it's so good. I got sad once I'd unlocked

29:10

all of the Skyview Towers and it meant that I couldn't

29:12

listen to that music anymore or watch that

29:14

cutscene. This is beautiful variation

29:17

of the Tears of the Kingdom motif. It's both

29:19

out of those same notes. If you're listening

29:21

closely, though, they add one note

29:23

to that motif and it really changes it and

29:26

makes it into a kind of grander, more beautiful

29:28

melody. And it's played enchantingly

29:31

by a solo alto saxophone. And

29:42

then comes a classic modulation as the whole

29:44

thing moves up a half step, climbing higher,

29:46

higher and higher, ending so high

29:49

that it evaporates into the atmosphere.

29:59

about that as I recorded my own version

30:02

is how little articulation there is.

30:05

Articulation for a wind instrument like the saxophone

30:07

is when your tongue hits the reed or

30:09

otherwise stops your airflow. It's

30:12

what gives your sound its rhythm and

30:14

it gives it so much of its personality. People

30:16

tend to focus on tone and intonation

30:19

when trying to improve their sound and style on

30:21

a wind instrument, but articulation is a huge

30:24

part of a person's sound. Most

30:26

modern saxophonists, especially jazz players,

30:28

have really personal articulation

30:31

and they use articulation to emphasize

30:33

the rhythms of whatever it is they're playing. That's

30:40

all tongue, that's all articulation, and

30:42

that's where the groove lies and jazz players

30:44

are all about groove, which means they're all about

30:46

articulation.

30:53

But that would be all wrong here. To cop

30:55

the sound of the player on the Tears of the

30:57

Kingdom soundtrack, I had to barely articulate

31:00

at all. I started most notes with my

31:02

breath, which is called a breath attack, and it gives

31:04

a much softer sound.

31:14

If I walked into a studio and I saw that music

31:16

on the page as a more jazz-focused player, I would

31:19

probably play it with a little more articulation.

31:21

Articulation is just one more tool

31:26

in a saxophonist's toolkit, and it's

31:28

one more way that the instrumentalists and composers

31:30

behind Tears of the Kingdom took advantage of the

31:33

many tonal options offered by

31:35

the instrument. And I mean, it's hard

31:37

to argue with the results.

31:54

As anyone who has played the game knows, there's so

31:56

much music in this game, there are whole

31:59

stylistic continents that I

32:01

am not going to have time to visit on this episode,

32:03

like the synthy atmospherics

32:06

of the zonai shrines, which

32:13

layer an increase in complexity as

32:15

you work your way through a series

32:17

of puzzles. Or

32:25

in total contrast to that, the Saturday

32:27

morning cartoon shamisen shredding

32:29

of Master Koga's boss theme, one

32:31

of my favorite pieces of music in the game,

32:34

like

32:40

it is just wild that a game that has space for all

32:42

that beautiful atmospheric stuff also has

32:44

space for this.

32:54

There really is music hiding everywhere in

32:56

Tears of the Kingdom, including within Link

32:58

himself. Link, of course, is a musician.

33:01

He's no stranger to musical performance in

33:03

many previous Zelda games. He has been

33:05

given a musical instrument of some sort to play, but

33:08

his musical side expresses itself more subtly

33:10

in Tears of the Kingdom. Whenever he cooks, he

33:13

hums a little tune, and each tune that he hums

33:15

is a piece of music from a previous Zelda

33:18

game. Some of them are easy to identify,

33:20

like the main Zelda theme, or

33:28

Epona's theme from Ocarina of Time,

33:41

or Saria's song also from Ocarina

33:44

of Time.

33:55

Some of them are a little bit harder to identify and

33:57

took me a minute to figure out, like the Hyrule

33:59

Field Music.

33:59

music from Ocarina of Time. Or

34:12

in probably the deepest cut, The Ballad

34:14

of the Windfish from Link's Awakening.

34:18

These

34:26

are real

34:27

examples of diegetic music within

34:29

Tears of the Kingdom, which is to say, they're

34:32

all examples of music that is actually being performed

34:34

within the world as opposed to on

34:36

the soundtrack. And I love what that suggests,

34:39

that this music somehow is real

34:41

to Link. He's this adventurer almost

34:43

out of time. He's been through so many

34:46

different adventures in so many different

34:48

lifetimes. In some ways he's

34:50

an immortal archetypal hero,

34:53

and here he is, cooking some food and absentmindedly

34:56

humming music from adventures that he

34:58

only half remembers with his waking

35:00

mind. That's

35:08

not the only diegetic music in Tears of the Kingdom,

35:10

of course. Where Breath of the Wild had Koss and

35:13

his accordion, Tears of the Kingdom introduces an

35:15

in-game ensemble called the Stable

35:17

Trotters, a quartet of musicians who,

35:20

along with their director, perform at

35:22

Hyrule's stables.

35:25

Of course, they're not performing at the beginning of the game.

35:27

You have to reunite the group, and you have to do it

35:29

one musician at a time. The Stable

35:31

Trotters quest is one of my favorite side quests in

35:34

Tears of the Kingdom, unsurprisingly, because

35:36

you see the great fairies who are generally

35:38

nice ladies and also have the power to upgrade

35:40

Link's armor. They've all locked themselves away

35:43

in their magic paws, and they refuse to come out

35:45

without hearing the sound of their favorite instrument.

35:48

So Link must find each of the four

35:50

missing members of the Stable Trotters and reunite

35:53

the band to perform for the fairies

35:55

and coax them back into the world. As

35:57

with so many of these other things, the joy is in the details.

36:00

Coasting them back into the world involves carting however

36:02

many musicians you've currently found up

36:04

to the fairies fountain for a performance

36:07

which means that you get to hear any of a number

36:09

of different ensemble configurations performing

36:12

a piece together each time you

36:14

get a new fairy to come out. For

36:16

me, the first member of the band that I found was the

36:18

violinist who coaxed her fairy out

36:20

with this beautiful solo piece. And

36:32

the last member of the band

36:34

was the The

36:43

last member of the band was the That

36:45

really is the magic of Nintendo right there, that in the middle of their big

36:47

action RPG, one of the best selling games they've ever made,

36:49

they can pause and spotlight this incredible

36:52

solo instrumental performance, just

36:54

like that. The Stable Trotters also

36:56

have a Piper in the band, he plays

36:58

a lovely rendition of that same piece.

37:13

There's also an F horn player, and if you

37:15

find the F horn player as I did after

37:17

the violinist, they could perform the

37:19

piece together as a duet.

37:32

There's a similar side quest to this in Super

37:34

Mario Odyssey, when you're in New Donk City

37:37

you assemble a jazz band and they do

37:39

a similar trick where the ensemble

37:41

and the arrangement grow more elaborate as you

37:43

add each part. And it's a really cool thing because

37:45

it kind of shows you how

37:47

the arrangement works because you hear it over

37:49

and over again with each new instrument, which

37:52

I think is really cool, especially because so many kids

37:54

play these games and it gives them a sense

37:56

of how an ensemble can work and

37:58

how a piece of music can translate. form as you add

38:01

new instrumentalists to an arrangement. The

38:03

fourth member of the band is a percussionist who plays a

38:05

hand drum. If you find him third,

38:07

you'll hear the horn, the violin, and

38:10

the drum performing as a trio. Find

38:21

all four members and you'll get a special treat.

38:24

First all four of them will play a fully

38:26

realized arrangement of the piece. And

38:37

then, because you've gotten so used to hearing the piece,

38:40

they'll surprise you by doing something new.

38:43

First they quote the original Legend of

38:45

Zelda theme.

38:47

And

38:53

then they'll do something a little extra.

39:02

The cop, the accordionist, that rito, the big

39:04

bird who played the accordion in

39:07

Breath of

39:13

the Wild, he's conspicuously absent

39:15

from Tears of the Kingdom, which is too bad because

39:18

he was a great character and a very good accordion

39:20

player. But for the grand finale

39:22

of the Stabletrotters piece, he appears,

39:24

in spirit at least, the sound of an unseen

39:27

accordionist and a guitarist join

39:29

the group to bring it home. From

39:54

that point onward, whenever you visit the Stable, you'll

39:56

hear the Stabletrotters playing along with that familiar

39:58

Stable theme, similar to the Stabletrotters. how Khaas would

40:00

play along with it in Breath of the Wild, weaving

40:03

once again Epona's horsey theme

40:05

in with the stable music, as well as a few

40:07

more notes of their own. It's

40:18

a great example of the sorts of subtle musical

40:20

storytelling the Tears of the Kingdom does

40:22

so well. Of

40:27

course there are plenty of other, much more dramatic

40:29

examples of Tears of the Kingdom's storytelling,

40:31

and that's what I want to talk about last, because

40:34

it's tied to the thing that Tears of the Kingdom most

40:36

dramatically elaborates upon when

40:38

compared with Breath of the Wild. And

40:40

that's the main narrative. And

40:42

I should say, this is where we're going to get into some real

40:45

story spoilers, so just a heads

40:47

up. I was so impressed and

40:49

genuinely moved by Tears of the Kingdom's

40:51

story, which I didn't really see coming.

40:54

I liked Breath of the Wild's narrative well enough,

40:56

but for me the narrative of that game

40:59

was the story of me climbing to the top of the

41:01

hill, finding something interesting, looking across

41:03

the horizon, seeing a new hill, and

41:05

setting out to climb that one. In contrast,

41:08

for me Tears of the Kingdom's main narrative is

41:10

its actual main narrative, the

41:13

story of the game, this bittersweet tale

41:15

of war, time, and sacrifice

41:18

that's written and performed unusually well,

41:21

but time and again the music

41:23

was the thing that really made that

41:25

story land.

41:26

I had been sleeping all

41:28

this time. When

41:33

I found something, I was

41:35

all loving and brave.

41:48

The finale of this game is really great,

41:51

we'll get to it, but actually the musical narrative

41:53

storytelling of Tears of the Kingdom started

41:55

pretty early for me. Once I had finished

41:58

the tutorials and landed on solid in

42:00

the Kingdom of Hyrule, I headed

42:02

to the northwest part of the map, which I think a lot

42:04

of people probably do first, since the game

42:06

strongly suggests that you go there,

42:09

and in the northwest part of the map, as you

42:11

know if you played Breath of the Wild, well,

42:13

that's where the Rito Village is. And

42:15

if you'll recall, the Rito Village theme

42:17

from Breath of the Wild was one of my favorite

42:19

pieces of music in the game, this lush

42:21

rendition of Wind Waker's Dragon

42:24

Roost Island theme. But

42:35

upon reaching the village in tears of the kingdom,

42:37

I found it totally changed, all

42:39

but abandoned, covered in snow,

42:42

and the music, that music that

42:44

I loved so much, was gone.

42:48

In its place, glassy synths, percussive

42:51

drones, and a mere echo of a melody

42:53

from a warmer, safer time.

43:06

It was chilling, almost literally, and it really

43:08

gave me motivation to go and save

43:11

this place that I'd really come to love.

43:13

It was such a smart use of music, and one

43:16

that really only a game like this

43:18

could pull off. Because I was visiting a town

43:20

that I knew from the first game, it hit

43:22

so much harder when the music that I knew

43:25

was gone, buried in the snow, right

43:27

alongside the village. Needless

43:32

to say, that gave me extra motivation to fly

43:34

into the heavens and defeat the great Kogara

43:37

and save the city. This is a very

43:39

cool boss fight, and a big part of what makes

43:41

it so cool is this fantastic

43:43

music that's playing during the fight. This

43:53

almost Celtic dance number, solo

43:55

penny whistle, flitting above the violin. Wind

44:02

whipping through the air, spiraling up and around

44:04

before plunging down again. The

44:12

music changes with each phase of the fight, and as

44:14

you prepare to enter the final stage of the

44:16

final showdown, the music becomes distinctly

44:18

heroic. And

44:32

as that solo piper soars toward a crescendo,

44:34

the music kicks to a new level with a callback

44:37

to a familiar theme. How

44:50

good is that as the fight reaches its climax?

44:53

There's that Rito Village theme, redone

44:55

like something by Ennio Morricone, reminding

44:57

Link what he's fighting for and who it is he's

45:00

trying to save. With

45:14

that music motivating me, of course I

45:16

vanquished the creature, and afterward

45:19

I returned to the village and found

45:21

it unfrozen with that familiar

45:23

theme music welcoming me home. The

45:30

The The The

45:33

The The Time

45:37

and again this game's composers use melody

45:39

and leitmotif in that way, using character

45:41

themes to underscore dramatic moments and

45:44

raise the emotional stakes. In

45:46

addition to the Tears of the Kingdom motif, which I've

45:48

already talked about, there are three other motifs

45:50

to play a crucial role in the story.

45:53

There's the main theme, the main Legend of Zelda

45:55

theme, which I've actually come to think of as Link's

45:57

theme since it's more associated with him.

46:00

Then there's Zelda's Lullaby, which I've come

46:02

to think of just as Zelda's theme. And

46:04

there's one more theme from a very different Zelda

46:07

game. There was such a wonderful surprise

46:09

when I heard it. I'll talk about that last theme

46:12

more in just a minute. There are of course

46:14

some other themes that turn up in the game as well.

46:16

Ganondorf has his own theme for example, though

46:18

I'm not really going to talk about that here. So

46:21

of those four themes, Zelda's theme is the

46:23

most important one, because for the first time

46:26

in a while, Zelda really is the most important

46:28

character in Tears of the Kingdom. It's

46:31

been said before, but this game is the first one

46:33

in quite a while that really feels like

46:35

the Legend of Zelda, and not the Legend

46:37

of Link, with Zelda helping out and doing some

46:39

cool stuff in the background. Zelda's story

46:42

is Tears of the Kingdom's story. It's what makes

46:44

the story so emotionally rich, as she

46:46

becomes trapped a thousand years in the past,

46:49

comes up against the great evil of Ganondorf,

46:51

and knowing that he'll return in her present

46:54

makes a grand sacrifice, transforming

46:56

into a mindless dragon to roam

46:59

the skies, lost for centuries

47:01

with the faint hope that Link will find

47:03

her in the present day, retrieve the Master

47:05

Sword, and stop Ganondorf for a

47:07

second time.

47:09

I know why I am here. Something

47:17

only I can do.

47:22

We will finally stop him.

47:25

So each of those motifs turns up countless

47:27

times. You could hear Zelda's theme playing

47:29

right there in that cutscene, and you'll

47:31

hear Zelda's theme a lot throughout the

47:33

story. I would be here all day if I just pointed out

47:36

each instance of one of those motifs turning

47:38

up, but there are a few instances

47:40

that I particularly like. For starters,

47:42

when Link and Zelda discover and awaken Ganondorf

47:45

right at the beginning of the game, Zelda falls

47:47

into the depths, and Link is unable to

47:49

catch her. This is a crucial moment for

47:52

the whole story. It's really the moment that sets the

47:54

whole thing in motion. He tries,

47:56

he leaps to save her as he has in the past,

47:58

but his wounded arm just misses the catch,

48:00

and in that moment we get the most

48:03

delicate rendition of the Tears

48:05

of the Kingdom theme.

48:21

And just like that, she's gone. But

48:27

hope is gone with her, as a mysterious

48:29

magical arm catches Link and saves him

48:31

from falling himself, we get another important

48:34

sound. A hand clap. This

48:41

is a crucial moment, or really a crucial double

48:43

moment. It's a moment that'll echo through the entire

48:46

game, with Link spending the next hundred

48:48

or so hours trying to find his

48:50

way back to Zelda to finally

48:52

catch her hand. The hand clap,

48:54

as a musical element, is a very human,

48:57

distinctive, percussive device, and

48:59

this game's composers don't use it lightly.

49:01

It doesn't turn up all over the place, it's only

49:04

used in very specific circumstances.

49:06

The story of Tears of the Kingdom is the story

49:09

of hands connecting. As Link teams

49:11

up with each of the sages throughout the story, he clasps

49:13

their hand, usually the camera pulls in

49:16

on their hands connecting, and he merges

49:18

their powers into rings that he wears

49:20

on his fingers. The soundtrack is not

49:22

littered with hand clap sound effects, it saves

49:25

that sound for those crucial moments

49:27

of connection.

49:29

Hear me, your hands. Here

49:32

it comes.

49:40

I, Sidon, a sage

49:42

of water, swear that I will fight by

49:45

your side. It's all set up by that

49:47

moment at the beginning of the game, when that mysterious

49:49

arm made contact after Link

49:52

could not. contact

50:00

of a sort with Zelda, warping the broken

50:02

master sword back in time to her, not

50:04

knowing that this is what will make her decide

50:07

to lose herself and transform into

50:09

a dragon. And immediately after that

50:11

happens, Zelda herself, in dragon

50:13

form, crests out of the clouds right

50:16

in front of Link, and as she does so,

50:18

the Ur-Hoo returns to play a mournful

50:20

rendition of its part from the main theme.

50:36

It's a moment of compressed time that makes a different

50:38

kind of sense once you know that the dragon

50:40

is Zelda and that the woman you just saw

50:43

in a cutscene has now passed a

50:45

huge amount of time as an immortal dragon

50:48

in order to appear in front of Link, seemingly

50:50

just moments after he passed the

50:52

master sword through the portal.

51:02

Later on, once Link has gained the ability to

51:04

land atop the light dragon in the sky

51:06

above Hyrule, the Ur-Hoo returns,

51:09

playing not that familiar Ur-Hoo

51:11

dragon theme, but a beautiful and

51:13

heartbreakingly incomplete rendition

51:16

of Zelda's theme. Zelda's

51:25

theme is only three notes, but here the

51:27

Ur-Hoo only plays the first two.

51:35

This dragon is Zelda, but she's lost

51:38

her memories and in the process lost

51:40

herself. This incomplete rendition

51:42

evokes that, like a musician trying

51:44

and failing to remember Zelda's

51:47

theme before transitioning into

51:54

the dragon theme. That's

52:04

some musical storytelling right there, man. The

52:15

thing that's inspired Zelda to make this great

52:17

sacrifice is the Master Sword itself,

52:19

which was broken in the first encounter with Ganondorf

52:22

and must be re-forged in order to

52:24

be strong enough to fight him back in

52:26

Link's present. So when Zelda receives

52:28

the Master Sword through the Time Portal, something

52:31

interesting happens. The sword itself

52:34

seems to talk to her, and it speaks

52:36

with a familiar voice and is accompanied

52:39

by a familiar theme.

52:41

How is the Master

52:43

Sword? You're telling

52:46

me anything safe? You

52:49

traveled through time to find me

52:51

in the familiar street.

53:05

It'd be easy to miss, but this is one of

53:07

my favorite musical easter eggs in the entire game.

53:10

As Zelda picks up the Master Sword, we hear its voice,

53:13

the voice of Fi from Skyward Sword,

53:15

the construct who at the end of that game sacrificed

53:18

herself to become the Master

53:20

Sword. And the moment I heard that

53:22

suspended forth on the piano, I knew

53:25

what music I was about to hear. Fi's

53:28

theme, one of my favorite pieces of

53:30

music from all of The Legend of Zelda.

53:42

There are a lot of beautiful melodies in The Legend

53:44

of Zelda, but this one, to me, it

53:47

might be the most beautiful. I

54:05

don't know, it messes me up. I don't even like Skyward

54:07

Sword that much. I just love that piece

54:09

of music. I could listen to it forever. And

54:12

so when it played as the Master

54:14

Sword spoke to Zelda, I just...

54:17

I didn't know what to do with myself. You're

54:22

telling me... I think

54:24

you're safe. Do

54:27

you hear the theme? It's fragmented. I'm

54:29

not in time. She's seeing me and

54:31

recruiting the stream. Stretched

54:33

out over this whole sequence. Until

54:39

it ends with the final note providing the button

54:41

on the scene. Perfect. Hundreds

54:45

of years later, Link does find Zelda

54:47

and he retrieves the repaired Master Sword in

54:49

a cathartic and kind of hilarious moment.

54:52

So in the first Zelda episode, I talked about the

54:54

item get sound, a legendary

54:57

reward jingle that plays in some form

54:59

in most Zelda games whenever you get

55:01

a particularly good item. It sounds

55:03

like this. So

55:08

when Link, after hundreds of years,

55:10

at long last dislodges the Master

55:12

Sword from Zelda's dragon hair, well,

55:14

it plays the most dramatic rendition

55:17

of the item get jingle I have ever

55:19

heard. Listen,

55:29

I fell out of my chair. Tears

55:33

of the Kingdom is less stingy with Link's theme

55:35

as well, or at least a little less stingy with it

55:38

than Breath of the Wild was. It turns up

55:40

diathetically, of course, with Link humming

55:42

it as he cooks and with the stable trotters

55:44

quoting it in their finished piece, but it

55:46

also makes an appearance at crucial story

55:48

junctures. One of my favorites takes place

55:51

in the past as the King of Hyrule

55:53

promises Ganondorf that someone

55:55

named Link, someone he's never met,

55:57

will return in the future to defeat him.

56:00

defeat him. You're wrong. Years

56:02

from now, someone will appear with the

56:04

sword that sealed the darkness. A

56:07

swordsman with the power to defeat you. Link,

56:11

remember this name.

56:15

And in

56:17

the game's grand finale,

56:20

as Link rides atop Zelda

56:22

to battle Ganon,

56:25

the darkened skies

56:28

above Hyrule, each of those themes makes an appearance.

56:32

As Zelda the Dragon somehow remembers Link and flies

56:34

to his aid, Zelda's theme finally completes

56:37

and connects with the Tears of the Kingdom theme.

56:48

Finally remembered that third note. Her

56:54

theme continues to take the four as she

56:56

and Link fly into battle.

57:06

Possibly the most martial version of

57:08

Zelda's

57:08

theme.

57:13

And then comes the moment the entire

57:15

game has been building toward. With Ganondorf

57:17

defeated, Link and the Light Dragon

57:19

float suspended in the air. The

57:26

spirits of the ancient king and queen appear

57:29

and with one last pair of hand claps,

57:34

they lend their power to Link to transform

57:37

Zelda back to her original form.

57:55

And as Link sees her again, after

57:58

all this struggle and hardship,

57:59

what should play but a classic piano

58:02

rendition of Zelda's Lullaby.

58:13

They're not quite done yet, however. They're still

58:15

high up in the sky, so as the pair

58:17

begin to plummet toward the earth, Link,

58:19

with an assist from the player, dives to

58:21

finally catch her so long

58:24

after he let her

58:25

fall. And

58:27

as he does so, the music... well...

58:34

It begins with a dramatic final

58:36

performance of the Tears of the Kingdom theme.

58:41

And as he draws closer, Zelda's theme,

58:43

complete with hand claps, layers on top.

58:53

His two themes intertwine as Link reaches

58:55

closer and closer, before finally,

58:57

in the last moments, summoning his

58:59

own musical theme.

59:07

And here, at long last, their hands

59:09

finally connect.

59:18

You see what I'm saying now about the hand claps?

59:20

It's all about the hand claps, man. It's

59:25

such a moment, I don't even know what else there is to

59:27

say about it. If you've played it, you know

59:29

what I'm talking about. Three musical themes

59:31

interlocking, a narrative building to

59:33

a single hand clapping, heroic moment

59:36

a hundred hours in the making.

59:38

Incredible.

59:53

I've talked in the past about how the Legend of

59:55

Zelda feels like home to me, and that'll

59:57

always be true, but Tears of the Kingdom

1:00:00

felt like something else too. It

1:00:04

was such a musical adventure for me,

1:00:07

as through Zelda I left for a time and

1:00:09

place far away. And

1:00:13

that was the magic of this game, the

1:00:15

journey that it took me on through time

1:00:17

and space. And

1:00:22

when, at long last, Zelda was finally

1:00:25

home, I was home again too.

1:00:32

I have so much to tell you. So

1:00:35

much happened.

1:00:38

Oh Link, I'm home. I'm

1:00:42

home.

1:00:55

And that'll do it for my analysis

1:00:57

of the music of The Legend of Zelda Tears of the

1:01:00

Kingdom. I had such a good time making

1:01:02

this episode and I hope that you enjoyed it. Thank

1:01:04

you so much for listening as always. And

1:01:06

to all of you who support this show financially, extra

1:01:09

special thank you to all of you.

1:01:11

Listener support, your support is really

1:01:13

the thing that lets me keep the lights on here

1:01:16

at Strong Songs HQ. It lets me keep

1:01:18

this whole thing going. So your support really

1:01:20

is crucial and I never take it for granted.

1:01:23

If you want to support this show, which you should

1:01:25

do, you should support Strong Songs. If

1:01:27

you want to do that, you can become a patron at patreon.com

1:01:30

slash strong songs. And if you do that,

1:01:32

you will get early access to new episodes of the show,

1:01:35

among other things, which is pretty fun. You can also

1:01:37

make a one-time donation at the link in

1:01:39

the show notes. Of course, down in the show

1:01:42

notes, you can also find links to the Strong Songs

1:01:44

store, social media, and

1:01:46

here in season five, I've been soliciting

1:01:48

listener outro solos. And just as a reminder,

1:01:51

if you want to record an outro solo of your

1:01:53

own, possibly to be featured on a future episode,

1:01:55

you can find the link to a play along and

1:01:57

a chart down in the show notes. This

1:02:00

time around we're featuring listener Rob Rideout,

1:02:02

who laid down some pretty shredding guitar

1:02:04

playing. So stick around for Rob, and I'll

1:02:06

see you in two weeks for more Strong

1:02:09

Songs. Thanks

1:02:30

for watching! You