WEATHER THE STORM

Lyrics by Ree Soesbee



You don't know a storm 'til you ride the wind
Beneath cold and blackened skies, O
'Til you're sailing through a thunderhead
With the lightning in your eyes
Death, he laughs in the sails and the jags
And the bloody sun won't rise, O.

A sailor's life's filled with toil and strife
The sea's both boon and bane, O
We're Kryta bound on a northern tide
Through the lightning and the rain
We'll sail through all these stormy nights
'Til we're safe at home again, O.

Open sea, and we're homeward bound
Fair or foul the weather, O
The cap'n swears we'll make our port
Though the sun's burned to an ember
If the Dread Ships come and the darkness falls
Then we'll all go down together, O.

She's a restless sloop with a six-armed maid
A-dancing on her prow, O
Her brassy cannons crease the sea
But the weather's chased her down
Her compass spins, and her captain screams
And the crew's all dead and drown'd, O

The sails are rent, and the engine's blown
The keel is split to stern, O
We lost the rudder to the tide
And the mizzenmast is burning
The rain's like nails, and our harbor's lost
And the compass spins and turns, O.

Now the darkness comes, and the stars above
Circle 'round like sharks at sea, O
Instead of fighting for our lives
We should be sitting at our ease
But I chose the strife of a sailor's life
And the ocean, she chose me, O.

The wind, it howled, and the thunder boomed
Thought the storm might just prevail, O
But we shouldered on 'til the break of day
And we tamed that fearsome gale
Held to courage and to honor
And we lived to tell the tale, O.

No, you don't know a storm 'til you ride the wind
Beneath the cold and blackened skies, O
'Til you're sailing through a thunderhead
With the lightning in your eyes
Death, he laughs in the sails and the jags
And the bloody sun won't rise, O.

THE STORY

Weather The Storm was composed by Ree Soesbee for the Guild Wars 2 novel “Sea Of Sorrows”, It is set in the fictional world of Tyria, and the story is set against the backdrop of the awakening of the Elder Dragon of death Zhaitan, the raising of the lost continent of Orr from the sea bed & the enslaving by Zhaitan of its dead denizens, and the destruction of the port of Lion’s Arch. The story follows the life of Cobiah Marriner, a young sailor, as he experiences Zhaitan’s awakening firsthand, and his subsequent struggle to rebuild Lion’s Arch into a free port.
Ree wrote the sea shanty specially for the book; as the narrative progresses through Cobiah’s life, each new section of the story is accompanied by a new verse of the shanty.
The shanty tells the story of a crew of sailors caught in a terrible storm. During their struggle we hear of the dangers of the oceans of Tyria – the hardship of the life of a sailor, storms, and the ever present terror of the undead.

THE CREATION

I wanted to capture the feel of the old swashbuckling epics starring Errol Flynn, where despite insurmountable odds the heroes always triumph.

The music was composed and mixed in Cubase 10.5 using a custom template I designed specifically for composing that gives me access to all my resources in one place. I primarily used Native Instruments Kontakt and sound libraries from Spitfire Audio. The synth bass is Korg’s ARP Odyssey VSTi.
Sound design elements such as ocean waves, a ship’s bell, and a creaking ship hull, were sourced from Soundsnap and imported into Cubase.