Woodkid has spoken to NME about his “resynced” take on iconic Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag sea shanty ‘Leave Her Johnny’ – check out the interview below:
Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag Resynced is an ambitious remake of the classic 2013 action-adventure game. Matt Ryan, voice actor of swashbuckling hero Edward Kenway, has returned for the “faithful” remake, which will focus on the original single-player game and not the various expansions or multiplayer modes that followed. “It’s totally rebuilt from the ground up and enriched with lots of new additions. The same story but elevated to a new level of realism and immersion,” explained Ryan.
The game will also feature a reworked version of ‘Leave Her Johnny’. The original version, by Michel Schrey, Nils Brown and Sean Dagher has been streamed more than 100million times and is a firm fan favourite. Woodkid’s version of ‘Leave Her Johnny’ was used in a new trailer for Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag Resynced and can also be heard in the game.
Shortly before the trailer’s reveal, Woodkid spoke to NME about the challenges that come with reworking such an iconic track, why he wanted to get involved with the remake and the “love” he’s received from the Assassin’s Creed community.
Hey Woodkid. How quickly did you say yes when you were asked to be involved with Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag Resynced?
Woodkid: “I feel like I owe something to [game developer’s] Ubisoft. At the beginning of my career, they used [my debut single] ‘Iron’ in a trailer for Assassin’s Creed: Revelations, which helped me massively and really defined the direction of where I wanted to go [with my music]. But I still wanted to make sure that anything we did together was something that I was really proud of. So it was an instant yes – but I also had conflicting thoughts about doing something with ‘Leave Her Johnny’ because it’s so loved.”
How do you even start reworking such a classic track?
“It was a long process that started last year. It was originally just going to be for the trailer, but then we started talking about using it in the game. I wanted to make something that would hopefully not betray the heritage of the song or sea shanties. I didn’t just want to sing the shanty and leave it at that though, because what would be the point? I wanted to bring it towards something that was more about adventure.”
How much did the song change over the process?
“My first instinct was that I needed to bring it into my world of orchestral music and make it very epic. Very quickly, I realised I needed to change the positivity of the song too. The themes that are explored with the lyrics are serious and dark, but the music is very joyful. Originally I performed it in a major scale [like most pop songs] but that just felt wrong. So we transposed it to a minor harmonic scale, which made it feel mysterious.
‘My singing voice is also naturally quiet, so I had to perform really close to the mic while the other vocalists screamed from the back of the room. It created modernity in the mix that is really different to what you’d normally hear in those very organic shanties. Then we added Jesper Kyd’s ‘Ezio’s Family’ theme [from Assassin’s Creed 2] at the end.”
Were there any other artists you were inspired by for your take on ‘Leave Her Johnny’?
“Not really. There are already so many covers of ‘Leave Her Johnny’ and once we introduced ‘Ezio’s Family’, there were already a lot of different ingredients in the mix. I didn’t want to incorporate something else beyond my personal style.”
‘Leave Her Johnny’ is such a beloved song – were you feeling the pressure?
“I don’t really think about that. There are always going to be people who love what you do, and there are others that will hate it. I stopped feeling responsible for the demands of other people long ago. If I did start thinking about it, I wouldn’t ever get anything done because I’d be too busy worried how bad I am at everything. So I just trusted in Ubisoft wanting me for this project. I couldn’t care less about what other people think about it, all I care about is my own connection to the song, and if it works with the game.”
Why do you think the original ‘Leave Her Johnny’ is so popular
“I’m really not sure. It’s the same with [my breakout 2012 hit] ‘Run Boy Run’. There’s no point looking for a reason why a song is connecting because it would take something sacred away from it. Sometimes it finds people at the right time, sometimes there are no explanations. I never looked at this project and thought ‘it’s already such a big song, so whatever I do will be big too’. I just wanted to pay tribute to it. People already love it, let’s give them a lecture on it.”
How did you balance the respect for the original song while also wanting to make meaningful changes to it?
“For me, respect means not touching something so I don’t think it was ever really about respecting the original song. It was more about making something interesting with it. The intention was to move it towards the more contemporary composition of ‘Ezio’s Family’, which I didn’t really touch to be honest.
“It’s an interesting process, because I’ve had my music sampled and covered in every direction possible. Most of the time, it doesn’t feel like there’s any respect there. But it fills me with so much joy. Music is about reinvention and transformation. When you release a song, it’s not yours anymore. We had to chill a little bit with the idea of respect, and just have fun with it. As long as people get paid properly and art doesn’t get stolen by massive corporations [to train] AI, it’s fun to shape shift music. And making ‘Leave Her Johnny (Resynced)’ was very fun, because I love the danger and the challenge.”
What does the Assassin’s Creed community mean to you?
“I owe them a lot. It’s a very kind, loving and healthy community, and I can’t say that about all video game fanbases. They’ve been coming to my shows for years, they’ve been so supportive and it’s never really stopped.”
What do you think they’ll make of the Black Flag remake?
“I haven’t played the whole game but everything I’ve seen has been absolutely mind-blowing. The story is so powerful that rediscovering it is going to be a great moment. There’s also something about these games that is educational – and it’s important to be reminded of certain aspects of history, especially in these times we’re living in now. I don’t see how people are not going to love this game. It’s amazing.”
‘Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag Resynced’ is out July 9. ‘Leave Her Johnny (Resynced)’ is available to stream now