Hey gang - a lot of new views on this. I played all of warframe’s story beats and this one in particular can be found here: Opera Singer Hears "We all Lift Together" While Playing Warframe ua-cam.com/video/ac2XIcmmIus/v-deo.html
I have to correct one statement that you made at 2:56 . This song has nothing to do with the players. This is simply the struggle that the people of Fortuna are going through. Every citizen of Fortuna is essentially an endentured slave, and their debt gets put up on their children to work off if they aren’t able to pay it off. And the system in Fortuna is designed so that they never will be able to pay it off in their lifetime.
Even with not knowing anything about the game at all if you watched the videos it would fill in the gaps in your interpretations of the songs. As someone mentions we all lift together is exactly as you described an old miners song sung by indentured slaves expressing that everyone one of them is under the weight of there debt with no way out and they are all in it together. For Narmer is the opposite side of that coin. In a horrible event the origin system was dominated entirely by a new god like entity bending the minds of everyone to only one purpose the service and worship of the narmer. Free will no longer exists “we’re virtue was once independence virtue now is lift alone” nothing else matters now only servitude to the new god. The backgrounds of those songs are also shown through the structure of the vocalist. You have one main driving voice being supported by many different others all coming together in harmony to sing the song of there torment in we al lift together. In for narmer it changes from that to many voices instead all singing there parts at the same time the flexibility of independence and support is gone replaced with almost robotic programming everyone has a note to sing and we all sing our assigned notes alone in service to the higher power
I have literally never noticed that and the fact that that's a thing really shows how brainfucked Ballas made the Origin system. He even gave them the whole DCFDTL creepy, syncronized voice thing.
Also I'm pretty sure that in "we all lift together", there aren't any actual instruments. Just the humming, whistling, and banging of hammers of the people of fortuna, all of which is diegetic. "For narmer" however? No humming, no whistling and no hammers. Just the singing of fortuna, accompanied by (I'm pretty sure) a shawzin. Which a certain someone is known for playing
I haven't played Warframe in years now. I was a founder of the first hours, I fought many battles in that messed up world. To hear that we actually *lost* for once, in a proper way... terrifying.
@@ExceedProduction yeah man, we were built up to be indomitable, living weapons. We made our frames of war to be able to destroy solar systems and be the one man army with our oppressive weaponry. To suddenly be conquered and having lost the most important battle of all, to lose the one war we had won once before, the aftermath is brutal
@@ExceedProduction bro same here. I played since it's release on playstation and I slept on the game not realizing it was trying to tell a story. I got back into it with my brother when old war was out and new war was on the verge of coming out. Man that was the most exciting feeling of playing Warframe
For context, the first song is, as you guessed, a work song sung by a group of debt-enslaved people in the game's world, it's supposed to be this expression of determination and hope for a better future for them and their families. Later in the game's story a certain evil emerges and takes over the solar system from the other warring also-evil-but-not-as-evil-as-them factions using trickery, propaganda, intimidation and quite a lot of brain-washing to subjugate the people and break their spirits. When you arrive at the slave colony for the first time you hear the people's hope as they sing "We all lift together". When you arrive for the first time after Narmer's conquest all hope is lost, there is only Narmer.
"trickery, propaganda, intimidation and quite a lot of brainwashing." I think you mean just brainwashing. Who needs trickery, propaganda and intimidation when everyone is a mindless slave that bends to your will? I mean I guess some people wanted to willingly join the Sentients, such as Alad V, but for the majority, it was mainly brainwashing.
I will never forget that scene. One of the most powerful ones in the quest, only falling in third because of how insane both the final confrontation and a certain choice in the aftermath were. I literally cracked the rubber cover on my chair's armrest because i was clenching it in anger. I'm not sure how the game will develop under Rebecca, now that half of the old crew have left to work on their new project Soulframe. But i certainly hope the writers for these quests stick around. To @MarcoMeatball i really hope you continue to play until you get to this point in the story, so you can experience it as it was meant to be 🥲
@@Jukantos Personally when I went to Fortuna I was hoping to see open rebellion and maybe fight down in Fortuna itself. Boy did my heart sink when For Narmer started and I saw the zomboes they ahd all become... It was... Honestly horrifying.
@@Nimi450 Yup. Consequences for our failure. Lived out not by us (supposedly lost and dead), but the people we cared for. That we tried to lift out of enslavement. To see them so much worse off and so broken compared to what was already a horrific life we were quite literally fighting a guerilla war against... that was a moment as powerful as few things i've experienced in gaming. The only two comparisons that come to my mind would be the sadly now gone "Ace of Spades" from Destiny 2, and that little subtle jab at the beginning of Bastion NewGame+. That first little voiceline that makes SO much more sense on your second playthrough, when it just shatters your heart.
@@Jukantos personally I'd take the last words of Librom before the final boss of Soul Sacrifice as my own moment resonating like that. Because he tells you "Now this is where YOUR story begins!" a sentence taken back by your character as you head out for that fight. A sentence that bears the weight of the decision that'll come with the final battle... Will kill your enemy and restore the world to inevitably lead it back to this very moment? Or will you try to spare the mad man in hopes he'd return to his humanity, only to be driven to become a new Librom and send someone to that same fate as yours? That moment you realize you are trapped in that never ending loop, and that no matter what you'll do, you will perpetuate it, honestly hit me like a truck.
@@Nimi450 Never played it, but Bastion features a very similar theme. At least with the ending i chose. And Cayde-6s death and final will from Destiny 2 is just a wholly different cloth. That robot guy you laughed with for so many years isn't just gone, he was sad and broken and insecure and considered the other vanguards and you his only friends. Not only that, considering these are his messages for the people he thinks might have killed him (permanently), he's devastated at the very thought that you, his best friend, might have been forced to end him. Because he never really had any other friends. And he never got to tell us while he was alive. As someone who at the time was in a really fucking dark place IRL that just hit differently. I really hope whoever wrote it is okay, because it clearly came from someone who has experienced the emotional abyss of being near that edge. I mean it made me grief for a fictional character like i had lost a family member, with a genuine physical reaction for weeks. I'm glad i'm in a much better space in life now, but man, that was a dark experience and one of the greatest masterpieces of video game storytelling i've ever experienced. And now sadly due to live service bullshittery noone can ever experience it again, it's just gone. Erased. A violation against the very artform of video games.
Something not talked about is how "We all lift together." Starts as one voice, where people then *willingly* join in with the song. But "For Namer." Starts with many voices, all *forced* into action by something above them now.
I LOVE your facial expressions during For Narmer. "Hell yeah, this is just the same kind of inspirational, uplifting tone as before." "But wait... this... nope, there's the uplifting again." "Nope, no, no no no, why does this feel so creepy? Something's not right." This is why I really love watching reactions to various music.
OH yeah, I love seeing his face. "This sounds pretty good, beautiful even. But *why* does my gut tell me something's off? It's not _right_ at all." I love how music can evoke such conflicting emotions. And they use it in a fricken FREE-TO-PLAY VIDEOGAME?!
Humans, despite their protestations to the contrary, crave subjugation. Tyrants, despots, and dictators come to power far more than democratically elected leaders on your world. This happens not because the tyrannical took power, but because it was given them by people who buckled under the weight of thought and decision. If I ask "will you follow me" you will hem and haw because I asked you to think and to decide... however, should I shoulder the burden of thought and decision for you and say "You will follow me" your allegiance is all but guaranteed.
@@nathancawley8759 Which is exactly why the rise of democracy is practically a miracle that should be actively and fiercely maintained because who knows when we'll get this level of freedom ever again if it's lost.
@@nathancawley8759 Because propaganda works, chief. Despite living in an economic system that collapses literally every decade, you'll find neither of the two parties in the US are keen to change the status quo because it benefits those at the top rungs of society. Humans don't crave subjugation, they want life to be easier. That's why, in addition to being social creatures, we made societies in the first place. Going back to Warframe, Eudico straight up tells it to you when she says "I liked being veiled since I didn't have to worry anymore even though it was an objectively bad thing, that's what makes me so disgusted with it." Ballas reiterates your point about people wanting to be ruled over, but he literally forces the entire population of the origin system into the veils at gunpoint while killing presumably millions. It's easy to say "they wanted it" when they have no choice, if they really did then they wouldn't have fought back in the first place. Kinda like how more democratic methods of governance in foreign countries *and in the US* are quelled by corporations and the government alike. Whether that's a socialist country that would nationalize its resources being couped by the CIA for more favorable imports or unions being crushed by CEOs with virtually unlimited resources to avoid fairer working conditions.
What I love most about For Narmer is how fully it inverts We All Lift Together. While We All Lift Together is a song reminiscent of a chain gang song or something you'd hear in a field of slaves at work, For Narmer is the total subjugation of free will and spirit. From "we all lift each other up" to "we serve this mighty being as one entity, devoid of free will and hope". Even without the lyrics, the dissonance in For Narmer screams "SOMETHING IS WRONG" and I love it.
When you've also played the entire game through, spending hundreds of hours getting to know each and every one of these characters and their stories, it also comes across as an absolute punch in the gut. You KNOW these people. You were there friend, the one they turned to in desperation, the one who gave them all hope... and you failed them. You. Lost.
@@superslash7254 I know I had a pretty viceral reaction to that. Like I literally started crying a little and had to step away because oh god did that gut punch sting.
In For Narmer they even reference some of the lyrics in We All Lift Together. Also interesting that the "Individual, yet belonging together, serving one entity that is above everyone that we worship" is very choral, reminiscent of a church choir, while we all lift together is very much like the old chain gang and field workers songs, where they kept the rhythm of their work to the beat so everyone worked smooth and efficiently on shared projects and work. I love how multilayered and thought out the songs are, tying into each other, the feel and theme of the area/people, and the story arc.
Man I can't wait to dig deeper in story quests. I plan to finish the starchart doing the least amount of quests as possible 😂 so I can focus on em after. I'm a noob BTW. Don't know how I got here in yt tbh 😆
@@hopeful4243 There's a lot of cool stuff locked behind quests, so going through the starchart without doing quests will probably be a long slow slog. Better to just do the quests as you get them and enjoy the journey. Trust me, some of the stuff quests give you is literally game changing.
@@user-sb7wj1vn4x What about fashionframe and ikeaframe though? Collecting floofs is the best! My operator can now sleep without dreaming of eldritch horrors.
What’s really cool is how despite him not knowing Warframe or it’s story, he still manages to somewhat grasp the story behind the music. It shows how well the music fits into its respective part of the story.
Something I’m surprised you didn’t mention between the two songs is that in We All Lift Together, the singers aren’t in sync, they’re just singing how it comes to mind. . .people united in their imperfections seeking freedom from servitude But with For Narmer, the voices are perfectly synced, nobody out of place, driven to sing for their conqueror. . .people united in servitude to perfection that do not want freedom
When this first came out, the huge difference really threw me off at first, but I viscerally felt the, 'Working til we *FALL.'* I was working warehouse jobs, watching coworkers come away maimed. I was 'falling' a lot myself, due to stress-induced seizures. I was ready for that to be the stinging end of the verse. I gritted my teeth. Then, 'we all *LIFT.'* I felt it viscerally. Just as I was accepting 'this is it for me,' these people and their sense of camaraderie went 'No you fuckin don't!' Like they caught a collapsing support beam before it could spell my execution. I felt resignation to death turn into renewed hope in real time. I will never forgive Narmer for trying to take that away. "We all lift together" -> "Now we lift alone."
Really pleased that games are putting pro-union story arcs in the public eye. Fortuna is a (slightly) more dramatic version of what life was like for workers living in the company towns of 19th to early 20th Century U.S.
@@iamlordstarbuilder5595 I can see where you're coming from here, but I would argue that a cycle of debt and bodily repossession is not the sci-fi version of being paid in scrip. The dystopia was nudged up a bit.
@@MarcoMeatball There also a few videos of both of these songs being overlayed on top of each other you should definitely check out. Really shows how they are composed to be like the sides of the same coin or other similar dichotomic analogies.
The 2 songs are mirror reflections of each other . 1 speaks of freedom or want of freedom the other is subjugation and being content in that. btw if u can u may wanna listen to the tempestari soundtrack as well as vailbraker ones.
Warframe has some really great tracks, listeneing to these songs always makes me wanna go back to the game. "Sleeping in the cold below" is also a great song to check out.
Just recently finished the New War and the recently released Veilbreaker. Visiting Fortuna again and looking at the once proud people of Solaris United succumb into a mindless sheep in praise of Narmer is just heart-breaking to see. These two songs are weirdly paradoxical yet sung with the same fervor by the same yet different people from a different Era and for wildly different purpose. Thanks for the video as always.
One is to break the chains of debt and oppression. The other to break the chains of individuals and make a sole organism not of cooperation but soulless worship
Yeah you are almost right its not gold mining, but instead its people working off their debt in a debt-internment colony. It makes me chuckle when you are able to visualise something from an OST without having the visuals, you did it really well in the Alicorn video and you have done it here as well.
Definitely worth a shot to play the game. One of the most generous free to play models I’ve seen and I’ve paid a lot of money just to support the developers
sounds like a time to play it, yes the songs and music in warframe is really good, but what made me stick to it was the story (starts getting good at uranus/neptune)
For Narmer is a defiled version of We Lift Together on so many levels... I was genuinely furious when I 1st heard it :) The working song with so many different voices empowering each others to fight against the rudeness of their life was changed into a song of servitude where the minor notes are sang with a perfect, almost soulless, ensemble...
I never felt happier, then when I slammed that void damned visor on his void damned face. Or when Lotus ends his ass. I would spend eternity just, giving Balas exactly what he deserves, till the final star goes cold in the universe. Rot in hell Balas. I hope your Emporers and the rest of the Orokin keep you good company down there.
Definitely a good call to go over these two songs together. It's always incredibly how the *emotion* of a story can be condensed and relayed like this through music. We All Lift Together - The singers, the "we" of the chorus, are full of hope, trust in one another, *determination*. A community rising together. Really gets out a "we can do this" feeling. For Narmer - The singers are solemn, feel beaten down or broken, but sound devoted (not in a good way) to these names they have dedicated themselves to.
It was genuinely sad hearing this beautiful song of hope, survival and relying on others to survive against an opressor, to being enslaved by a different opressor where you don't even have the luxury of free will.
We All Lift Together and For Narmer are also (I believe the term is) in reverse chord progression, so if you played them at the same time basically, the chorus would have one side fall and another rise, back and forth. It sounds like two opposing crowds yelling at each other, overpowering and rising in turn to one another. However, For Narmer is the longer song, and also, the most oppressive, so it in turn will win over We All Lift Together, falling to a deathly quiet as all voices fall silent.
Warframe’s music is incredible. Another two I’d recommend checking out is “Smiles from Juran”, also called “To Take Its Pain Away” and “Sleeping in the Cold Below”. Maybe not together since they’re quite different and not related , but both incredible
Haha omg I hate that I didnt think of suggesting either of these. Man when fortuna came out with We all lift together I couldnt get it out my head for AGES. Must have been many months. Its amazing how far this game has come and the music it has brought us is something so special, unique and just fricking awesome.
@@juanpejkGotta getchu a buddy who plays the game a lot. Really helps push you through that newbie barrier. I went from MR 6 to MR 19 in like a month. My buddy's on MR L2.
For Narmer is sung like a mockery to We All Lift Together, as it is the opposite of everything it is supposed to be. But it also shows us the consequence of you, the tenno, failing in your mission to protect the system. When the war started, every major factions (beside infestation) banded together but all they could put up was a futile last stand while it was the tenno that was bringing the battle to the invader. However in a moment of weakness, we were defeated and were removed from battle, and the system was swiftly taken over by a new power, Narmer. The Solaris (the ones who sung these 2 songs), originally sung with the hope of making it through the darkness of hardship together, now they sing as if they're content with being in that darkness together. A darkness made of blissful lies.
2:00 nah fam thats a gold prospector. this is for a genuine gold MINER. the guy with the pickaxe smacking rock or maybe a railroad construction guy. the guys smacking nails into the railroad.
@@dingdongspaghetti He is on the right track for it, but the style is definitely based on Industrial Folk Music, which was built around the concept specifically of being oppressed by those in power over you. It is not really glorifying hard work, nor an entrepreneurial spirit, but is a form of music about solidarity in the face of oppressive debtors. The people in Fortuna are slaves. The song is about their triumph of spirit as a collective in spite of their slavery, not an exultation of the work they are doing, which is the form their oppression takes. Prospectors do not really fit into that mold in the same way, because while many people might have become them out of desperation and they were the targets of significant profiteering, they were largely independent agents. This is more about coal miners living in a company town than a poor, hard working frontiersman. I think the most famous real-world example of this sort of music is called "The Chemical Worker's Song," though it is fairly recent having been written in the 60s. Still, it is really catchy so it is still covered and performed fairly regularly. A lot of the ones from the industrial revolution are lost. There are also a number of songs based on call-and-response style chants by enslaved people that have a number of the same features, specifically the sound of the tools striking in unison. It is a feature of slave and chain gang music.
For Narmer: Healed the pain of independence Strong our wise and trusted friend We united in one vision Rise to sing our sorrows end He the bringer of the vision Bids you answer to his call Praise the wise and mighty Ballas Heed the ruler of us all For we're all one And the work's begun For Narmer And we all run To our golden son For Narmer For Narmer Here today we sing our story With Ballas we have found our home Virtue once was work together But virtue now is lift alone Free we are now from each other Brothers, sisters, daughters, sons Where once we dreamed of independence Now we stand and dream alone We were all for one Now the works begun For Narmer And we all run To the golden son For Narmer For Narmer
Every time I hear we all lift, I always get emotional, for the fact of more then just the game, if only everyone heard this song as a word for humanity. To unite us all in these new trying times in darkness. And I have a feelings of uniting us all for another golden age for us all. But a wish calling out into the void of pain and anger in our world. We are fractured, we all need to lift together. Do not let the hands of old men have the power over humanity we all are one voice and move in one body to let go of all of our differences need to say past for we are all equal under one roof of this world we call home. ~Break the system~
I still find it funny how at 5:14 ish he starts to move as if expecting a the song to pick up or something. Only to instantly pause as if in confusion as that just doesn't happen.
For Narmor is meant to crush you, realizing that this happened because you failed, when you have the context it wrenches your heart out. To this day makes my stomach drop and eyes tear up
after a few years knowing each npc in fortuna, this song was a punch in the guts after failing our duty. the song was as hard to hear as it's pretty, but i couldn't stop myself from tearing up a bit when they sang "virtue once was work together, but virtue now is lift alone" their whole personality, what they are got broken down to rebuilt them up for Narmer.
Ever since I saw you listen to Warframe I was waiting for "We All Lift" review, I'm happy you took your time to do it. The sound track and general sound design is one of the reasons I keep playing Warframe for years, and it makes me happy to see when others like it
One of the coolest bits in For Narmer is the little melody in the background which is from This is What you Are, it's subtle is sneaks in just for a moment, which mirrors a section of the quest, you are sneaking in...to save them
I remember the first time listening "For Narmer" in the game, the song was absolutely perfect for the context of the story, you lost the war, the song reflects that exceptionally well.
I stopped playing warframe for years but the music is always in my favorite playlist. Transition into Fortuna and the scene of snow mountain(I think it's the war within) are one of the most unforgettable scenes of all games I've played beacuse the music really hit my heart
I love the people of Fortuna and hearing We All Lift Togather really got me happy, after playing New War, and hearing For Narmer, being sung by them, literally broke me. It showed how Narmer ripped away all individuality, hope for a brighter future, and care from the people. The fact that it is in the same key as We All Lift Togather, makes it feel even more hopeless. I can't help but shed a tear whenever I hear For Narmer. The Foil, I think that is the right word, of the 2 songs is amazing.
We All Lift Together has always been my favorite song in Warframe. So seeing the same people who showed such resiliency being cowed under Narmer... I dont know why but I legitimately grew misty-eyed. Even now with all the Narmer Aftermath... it just reminds me of For Narmer so much its painful. I didn't realize how much I'd come to love that faction until that point.
Both these songs talk about the strength of comradery and resilience. I loooove how they both emphasize the togetherness in two totally different ways. Almost like they're bracing for the storm together, whether it be in a town/village sense like We All Lift Together, or the rebellious darker tones of For Narmer.
Fun fact: these songs overlay on top of each other lyrically really well! For Narmer feels like it was built as a response to We All Lift Together's call.
I love watching someone not know the context for For Narmer. When you said they were both uplifting at first, I thought, "Just wait, you'll see." AND YOU NAILED IT!
I always saw lift as the sort of indentured worker or chain gang chant. Think 1800s industrial revolution, pre unionization. Always gets me teary, because I see us slipping back into those practices in the modern era. Losing what desperate workers bled and died for.
For Narmer feels like a corruption of We All Lift. The latter was standing tall in the face of oppression, while the former is what happened when you lost. It was absolutely heart wrenching when I heard it in game the first time.
And that brutal cutscenes was damn perfect. We all lift shows them hard at work trying to pay off debt that many could never hope to pay off and just screams "no we wont just lay here and take it" the camera panning through the crowed until you see us do that classic land at the end truly perfect. For Narmer on the other hand keeps you in the dark on purpose. The character is obscuring the view of the screen just enough to build some tension as you slowly lower expecting to see the rebellious nature of these people only to see monuments being worshiped by them and just a dark red where there was once a brilliant purple and blue hue there is now only red there is only Narmer and the people who you fight so hard to help stand for themselves again are reduced to mindless slaves.
Hearing this song, during the story was the turning point in the story, Edit: Spoiler warning ig for below "*you lost*", "*your friends are gone*", and "*you are now alone*" was a great sinking feeling to have for a story.
The first song I feel is the chant of people who strive to make it through the tough times together, in pain but in unison. The twisting of "We all Lift Together" in For Narmer is in tune with who Ballas was, one of the main antagonists in the game, he subjugated an entire galaxy for his own narcisistic wishes. It sounds cultish.
Going down that fortuna elevator hearing that song seeing the red gloom in the once blue broken but proud fortuna... it gave me chills. It was crushing
Hearing We all lift together apawn loading into Fortuna the first time and then watching my guy seamlessly drop in.... god this game is truly on another level, i had to slow walk up the river just to process what happened. and the song still gives me goosebumps at that drop
Damn it is so weird hearing those songs without the MV sfx, but again Marco is on point with the analysis! If they is ever a Space Meatball Warframe clan: I'M IN!!!! :D We all lift together Outworlder!
I never noticed that "This is who you are" motif in For Namer! The composers of Warframe's music don't get enough credit. Such a neat touch. Edit: 7:30 YES, GET IT TENORS! NAIL THAT HARMONY 👏👏
@@MarcoMeatball also, not sure if anyone else have said this, but that 'thud' drum sound is in the in-game universe, the workers 'pickaxes' as they fall down on metal
Oh my god, I love these two. I always get super emotional with these as well (wipes away tears of unclear emotions). Damn, these are good. What I love is how you picked up on what these songs mean and transport in the greater scheme of things without truly knowing the context. Because you're right. We All Lift Together (written in Corpus speech it's "Je App Pitp Pojepket, by the way (fun fact)) is the song of a people who work in unison under the rule of the Corpus overlords, trying to cut out a piece of the world for themselves. For Narmer, on the other hand, takes this concept and drives it into a downwards spiral with the populace working exclusively for their overlord and all they get in return is being alive (albeit mind-controlled, which makes the piece even darker), following a great catastrophe. And you heard that. You're that good. I love you man. Thanks for sharing your feelings with us and thanks for bringing attention to the fact that these two songs share a motif which I didn't notice before. Cheers!
Once you play through the game and look back with context on what each song truly means, it's a truly heartbreaking story. It's one of the few things that can still make me cry
The reason he said "Cowboys in space" in the beginning was because the first thing that might've popped up in his mind could've been 'Railroads' as they have a strong connection with Western Culture hence -> 'Cowboys' the sounds of pounding metal must've sounded that way to him.
We All Lift Together a song about coming together as a community to overcome hardship, it's for the players who band together to help one another AND the workers at Fortuna who are being practically enslaved by the corpus
"We all lift together" is a chain gang song, music sung by prisoners who are forced to do tiring manual work in shackles. The sounds on tools striking stone/steel in the background as well as the somber material they are singing about, the people who are singing this in game are debt slaves, forced into a system where they are perpetually accruing more and more debt, with little or no hope of ever being free. "For Narmer" is real insidious in how great it sounds. People saved from independence, and grateful for it. A slavery where the master is a savior.
"For Narmer" is real insidious in how great it sounds. People saved from independence, and grateful for it. A slavery where the master is a savior." For Narmor is essentially an eerier, twisted version of We All Lift Together in that it inverts it's internal theme of endurance and eventually finding freedom, instead being a hymn praising Ballas and utter subservience to him. The people of Fortuna are being kept complacent and loyal to Narmer by Narmer Veils, which are masks that brainwash the wearer via hypnosis and exploitation of emotional weaknesses.
We All Lift Together is a working song...the footage/video for it is set in a factory/working place of sorts with hammers and welding machines and stuff and I love that we hear that in the background and that the music and words all like have accent/punctuation at the end where it feels like it's supposed to line with a hit of a hammer of pound of cilinders in machines...
I remember getting chills when I listened to it the first time cuz I didn't expect them to drop this song out of nowhere, like I barely know anything about fortuna but I certainly can feel and understand it. Later it became the first syndicate that I maxed. (Also I think there's a cutscene/cinematic for both songs) Anyways great vids!
I am impressed, whit what you could read out of those two Songs. For Narmer Plays in the same Location then We all Lift together, after the Enemy has claimed the Location and presses the population to work for them. Bonus Info: You can play both Songs together and it sounds still good and makes a whole Image of the "Location"
"for narmer" will always be a song that will hit me as a "you lost, its radically apparent, but don't give up now" i got absolutely heartbroken when i heard it for the first time.
Other comments have explained the context for these 2 songs but i really love they are 2 sides of the same coin both musically and narritivly. To add on to it, the first one while not a "happy" song given the context is hopful and encouraging and the visuals match it you see all the workers helping each other and getting into the beat a bit. Then later in the game with Narmer, all the physical motion that existed before is gone and its also accompanied with a slow eary elevator ride down into the city. Also i theres a ton of other warframe tracks you could check out, but id sugest smiles from juran or sleeping in the cold below if you want to check out another
I highly highly recommend watching the cutscenes for both of these songs. Your assessment of For Narmer is almost perfect, the Teno didn't loose just a mission, but an entire war, and this is the consequences of that failure.
Hey, just popping to give a small info, trying not to spoil too more than the songs do. We All Lift Together is basically the hymn of a region. It's about the people there having a strong sense of solidarity, working together in hope of getting through everything to live another day. For Narmer is about the exact same region, a bit later, who have kind of been sold an illusory "perfect solution" for their problems so they can live in peace withing a "perfect community" in a way. Again, trying not to spoil so my words may not fit exactly to what happens, because I cant find a better way to describe it being a non-native english speaker, but all in all, they got stripped of their free will and essentially everything that's assiociated to being a person. Instead, they basically became a sort of mix between robots, and slaves, working without questionning anything as they believe they are in a perfect world where everything is fine.
I really like We All Lift Together for the simple reason that it’s designed to sound like a bunch of people from all walks of life and skill levels singing together. It takes effort to sound good, but it takes a hell of a lot of effort to make the rough edges combine into something smooth.
There's so much I love about the contrast between these two but sometimes it's just the simple stuff, like WALT being a song about working class solidarity being contrasted by for narmer being about complete subservience to a ruling class (or in this case, one ruler)
now, spoil warning, major spoils, but I really wanna paint the scenes behind both songs we all lift together paints the scene of the first time you enter fortuna, you hear this song, this song that tells you "there is more to these people than just your common corpus worker." and as the story progresses, you learn, learn of the pain they've suffered, the horrors they've seen, the fact that with just one bad day in their work, their limbs, both mechanical and biological can be taken and sold in an instant. they are suppressed by giant machines, capable of withstanding anything that can be virtually thrown at them. yet, they still resist, and with your help, they topple mountains, they take down these giants, one by one, and with each victory, they grow closer to you, trust you, share secrets with you, from the kids hiding in the vents to the more, spoilery stuff, they become family. for narmar, on the other hand, is during the new war quest, sung on your return to fortuna after the events of the new war. theres a level of hope, a sliver, of it. how couldnt there be? these are the rebels, theyve been fighting oppressors for ages, fighting for their freedom, their lives, for years before we met them, surely their still putting up the good fight, after all, we know someone else is resisting, how couldn't they be fighting? than you hear it, and that fortuna went without a ounce of resistance, that every person you know in there is converted. even the vent kids are wearing their mask and singing as well. and that's when the songs true meaning should dawn on you, you're no longer fighting the new war, because you already fought the new war... and you lost, and everyone else paid the price.
dropping into fortuna for the first time is such an impact its absolutely breathtaking. then again with for narmer but this time you get a sense of hopelessness.
Fun fact: The only way to save the solar system after For Narmer is *time travel. **_Sideways!_* You know you're boned when only a deus ex machina'd survivalist can save your solar system.
We All Lift Together literally makes me wanna work, that's how awesome it is! 😂 Also context for those who don't play Warframe. We All Lift Together is a song that was created by a group of people that are in debt to an enemy faction called the Corpus & they have to "work off" their debt by purchasing tools & augments to make them more efficient at their jobs & thus pushing themselves into further debt... For Narmor is a song by the same group except their resolve & fight has been taken from them by a veil & they now all serve Narmor Together & all work as one with no free will or thought to speak of... Yeah Warframe is something 😂
I've listened to this song too many times to count, but I noticed one thing I don't think I ever caught before: around 6:10 you can hear the same 4-note arpeggio that begins the song "This is What You Are", played here as: [E, C#, A, G#]. This song plays during the quest where you first discover your character (operator)'s true form, and parts of it play as you discover more about your operator and their abilities. It is a beautiful and symbolic piece, that serves as a reminder to your character of their journey and where it began. Parts of it are also used as a leitmotif in multiple other tracks that relate to the operator and their history. Looking at "For Narmer", this is a song sung by people whose minds and souls have been enslaved, all free will and sense of individual identity lost within Narmer. But now I realize, perhaps they're not completely gone. With those four subtle notes, we can hear the true voices of the people crying out, desperately clinging to the fragments of who...and *What...They Are.*
I love how you always give such amazing insight. Even though I've never played this game, the things you talk about make listening to game ost so incredible!! I hope you'll have take the chance to do some Super Mario Galaxy OST. That game's music has always been special to me.
Digital extremes did a fantastic job with both songs. Really using both the lyrics and melody/harmonies to set the exact tone for the specific area and the story they were telling.
This first song made me wanna go "Hey, partner"-ing and "Howdy"-ing on the wild west with a big iron on my hips but in reality, I probably gonna be a coal miner and dying to dysentery.
"Once we dreamt of independence, now we stand and dream alone" is such a great line. Even in independance, they would've had each other, but they've been brainwashed into believing soulless isolation is "indepedance".
We All Lift Together makes you feel courageous For Narmer makes you feel vengeful Keith Power is one of the greatest composers of our times IMO and definitely an underrated guy, his ability to come up with his music in such short spans is incredible
I felt that "30 is the new 20" quip. We're given the impression that we don't get (chronically) sick until middle ages, but that stuff can definitely rear in much sooner. I'm only 37 and quality of life is much lower than when I was 27.
I love that you just start jammin at 6:38 to the beat, then you make a face at 6:57 like you just connected what the lyrics are meaning with "Now we stand and dream alone". Beside that, I truly love For Narmer for its tone, especially where you actually hear the song in game from.
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
Hey gang - a lot of new views on this. I played all of warframe’s story beats and this one in particular can be found here:
Opera Singer Hears "We all Lift Together" While Playing Warframe
ua-cam.com/video/ac2XIcmmIus/v-deo.html
I have to correct one statement that you made at 2:56 . This song has nothing to do with the players. This is simply the struggle that the people of Fortuna are going through. Every citizen of Fortuna is essentially an endentured slave, and their debt gets put up on their children to work off if they aren’t able to pay it off. And the system in Fortuna is designed so that they never will be able to pay it off in their lifetime.
And the For Narmar just captures how fully enslaved they became
Correct dragon, they become a hive mind of sorts, even more enslaved than they were before with little to no free will
Watch the music video for We all Lift Together. You'll have a better understanding. ;)
Even with not knowing anything about the game at all if you watched the videos it would fill in the gaps in your interpretations of the songs. As someone mentions we all lift together is exactly as you described an old miners song sung by indentured slaves expressing that everyone one of them is under the weight of there debt with no way out and they are all in it together. For Narmer is the opposite side of that coin. In a horrible event the origin system was dominated entirely by a new god like entity bending the minds of everyone to only one purpose the service and worship of the narmer. Free will no longer exists “we’re virtue was once independence virtue now is lift alone” nothing else matters now only servitude to the new god. The backgrounds of those songs are also shown through the structure of the vocalist. You have one main driving voice being supported by many different others all coming together in harmony to sing the song of there torment in we al lift together. In for narmer it changes from that to many voices instead all singing there parts at the same time the flexibility of independence and support is gone replaced with almost robotic programming everyone has a note to sing and we all sing our assigned notes alone in service to the higher power
Notice how in "We all lift together" it's many singers slightly out of harmony but in "For Narmer" it's many singers in almost perfect harmony.
Aha that’s interesting
Good use of mind control
I have literally never noticed that and the fact that that's a thing really shows how brainfucked Ballas made the Origin system. He even gave them the whole DCFDTL creepy, syncronized voice thing.
Also I'm pretty sure that in "we all lift together", there aren't any actual instruments. Just the humming, whistling, and banging of hammers of the people of fortuna, all of which is diegetic.
"For narmer" however? No humming, no whistling and no hammers. Just the singing of fortuna, accompanied by (I'm pretty sure) a shawzin. Which a certain someone is known for playing
In the in-game footage as "For Narmer" plays everyone was controlled under the Narmer Veil gold masks so the harmony made it more grim
For Narmer kind of rubs it in that you didn’t fail a mission. You lost a war. I welcome to the aftermath.
I haven't played Warframe in years now. I was a founder of the first hours, I fought many battles in that messed up world. To hear that we actually *lost* for once, in a proper way... terrifying.
@@ExceedProduction yeah man, we were built up to be indomitable, living weapons. We made our frames of war to be able to destroy solar systems and be the one man army with our oppressive weaponry. To suddenly be conquered and having lost the most important battle of all, to lose the one war we had won once before, the aftermath is brutal
That entire mission was brutal. Seeing the vent kids veiled like that just fuckin broke me.
@@ExceedProduction bro same here. I played since it's release on playstation and I slept on the game not realizing it was trying to tell a story. I got back into it with my brother when old war was out and new war was on the verge of coming out. Man that was the most exciting feeling of playing Warframe
"They threw away their lives trying to become rich"
They threw away their lives trying to become free
For context, the first song is, as you guessed, a work song sung by a group of debt-enslaved people in the game's world, it's supposed to be this expression of determination and hope for a better future for them and their families.
Later in the game's story a certain evil emerges and takes over the solar system from the other warring also-evil-but-not-as-evil-as-them factions using trickery, propaganda, intimidation and quite a lot of brain-washing to subjugate the people and break their spirits.
When you arrive at the slave colony for the first time you hear the people's hope as they sing "We all lift together".
When you arrive for the first time after Narmer's conquest all hope is lost, there is only Narmer.
What a way you have with words for providing the context without spoiling anything. Bravo!
First time going down there and whitnessing Narmer was deff heartbreaking
"trickery, propaganda, intimidation and quite a lot of brainwashing."
I think you mean just brainwashing. Who needs trickery, propaganda and intimidation when everyone is a mindless slave that bends to your will?
I mean I guess some people wanted to willingly join the Sentients, such as Alad V, but for the majority, it was mainly brainwashing.
"A certain great evil"
*Umbral Sceams Intensify*
@@Arthurfs77 that literally left me open mouthed. It Was so sad ngl
In the game listening to For namer after you lose in protecting everyone is a punch in the stomach.
I will never forget that scene. One of the most powerful ones in the quest, only falling in third because of how insane both the final confrontation and a certain choice in the aftermath were. I literally cracked the rubber cover on my chair's armrest because i was clenching it in anger.
I'm not sure how the game will develop under Rebecca, now that half of the old crew have left to work on their new project Soulframe. But i certainly hope the writers for these quests stick around.
To @MarcoMeatball i really hope you continue to play until you get to this point in the story, so you can experience it as it was meant to be 🥲
@@Jukantos Personally when I went to Fortuna I was hoping to see open rebellion and maybe fight down in Fortuna itself. Boy did my heart sink when For Narmer started and I saw the zomboes they ahd all become... It was... Honestly horrifying.
@@Nimi450 Yup. Consequences for our failure. Lived out not by us (supposedly lost and dead), but the people we cared for. That we tried to lift out of enslavement. To see them so much worse off and so broken compared to what was already a horrific life we were quite literally fighting a guerilla war against... that was a moment as powerful as few things i've experienced in gaming.
The only two comparisons that come to my mind would be the sadly now gone "Ace of Spades" from Destiny 2, and that little subtle jab at the beginning of Bastion NewGame+. That first little voiceline that makes SO much more sense on your second playthrough, when it just shatters your heart.
@@Jukantos personally I'd take the last words of Librom before the final boss of Soul Sacrifice as my own moment resonating like that. Because he tells you "Now this is where YOUR story begins!" a sentence taken back by your character as you head out for that fight. A sentence that bears the weight of the decision that'll come with the final battle... Will kill your enemy and restore the world to inevitably lead it back to this very moment? Or will you try to spare the mad man in hopes he'd return to his humanity, only to be driven to become a new Librom and send someone to that same fate as yours? That moment you realize you are trapped in that never ending loop, and that no matter what you'll do, you will perpetuate it, honestly hit me like a truck.
@@Nimi450 Never played it, but Bastion features a very similar theme. At least with the ending i chose.
And Cayde-6s death and final will from Destiny 2 is just a wholly different cloth. That robot guy you laughed with for so many years isn't just gone, he was sad and broken and insecure and considered the other vanguards and you his only friends. Not only that, considering these are his messages for the people he thinks might have killed him (permanently), he's devastated at the very thought that you, his best friend, might have been forced to end him. Because he never really had any other friends. And he never got to tell us while he was alive.
As someone who at the time was in a really fucking dark place IRL that just hit differently. I really hope whoever wrote it is okay, because it clearly came from someone who has experienced the emotional abyss of being near that edge. I mean it made me grief for a fictional character like i had lost a family member, with a genuine physical reaction for weeks.
I'm glad i'm in a much better space in life now, but man, that was a dark experience and one of the greatest masterpieces of video game storytelling i've ever experienced. And now sadly due to live service bullshittery noone can ever experience it again, it's just gone. Erased. A violation against the very artform of video games.
Something not talked about is how "We all lift together." Starts as one voice, where people then *willingly* join in with the song. But "For Namer." Starts with many voices, all *forced* into action by something above them now.
OOOO I Like this attention to detail
I LOVE your facial expressions during For Narmer.
"Hell yeah, this is just the same kind of inspirational, uplifting tone as before."
"But wait... this... nope, there's the uplifting again."
"Nope, no, no no no, why does this feel so creepy? Something's not right."
This is why I really love watching reactions to various music.
can you give a timestamp for that part
Lol, meanwhile I’m playing through it and trying not to get spotted
OH yeah, I love seeing his face. "This sounds pretty good, beautiful even. But *why* does my gut tell me something's off? It's not _right_ at all."
I love how music can evoke such conflicting emotions.
And they use it in a fricken FREE-TO-PLAY VIDEOGAME?!
“Heal the pain of independence” is such a great line
Humans, despite their protestations to the contrary, crave subjugation. Tyrants, despots, and dictators come to power far more than democratically elected leaders on your world. This happens not because the tyrannical took power, but because it was given them by people who buckled under the weight of thought and decision. If I ask "will you follow me" you will hem and haw because I asked you to think and to decide... however, should I shoulder the burden of thought and decision for you and say "You will follow me" your allegiance is all but guaranteed.
@@nathancawley8759 Which is exactly why the rise of democracy is practically a miracle that should be actively and fiercely maintained because who knows when we'll get this level of freedom ever again if it's lost.
Humans crave a lot of things, guy.
@@nathancawley8759 Because propaganda works, chief. Despite living in an economic system that collapses literally every decade, you'll find neither of the two parties in the US are keen to change the status quo because it benefits those at the top rungs of society. Humans don't crave subjugation, they want life to be easier. That's why, in addition to being social creatures, we made societies in the first place. Going back to Warframe, Eudico straight up tells it to you when she says "I liked being veiled since I didn't have to worry anymore even though it was an objectively bad thing, that's what makes me so disgusted with it."
Ballas reiterates your point about people wanting to be ruled over, but he literally forces the entire population of the origin system into the veils at gunpoint while killing presumably millions. It's easy to say "they wanted it" when they have no choice, if they really did then they wouldn't have fought back in the first place. Kinda like how more democratic methods of governance in foreign countries *and in the US* are quelled by corporations and the government alike. Whether that's a socialist country that would nationalize its resources being couped by the CIA for more favorable imports or unions being crushed by CEOs with virtually unlimited resources to avoid fairer working conditions.
@@dgalloway107 "Insert mom joke here."
What I love most about For Narmer is how fully it inverts We All Lift Together.
While We All Lift Together is a song reminiscent of a chain gang song or something you'd hear in a field of slaves at work, For Narmer is the total subjugation of free will and spirit. From "we all lift each other up" to "we serve this mighty being as one entity, devoid of free will and hope".
Even without the lyrics, the dissonance in For Narmer screams "SOMETHING IS WRONG" and I love it.
And sleeping in cold below just about a pirates i guess
@@unclekendy8497 it technically is since I think they we’re working on that quest line when sea shanties were going huge
When you've also played the entire game through, spending hundreds of hours getting to know each and every one of these characters and their stories, it also comes across as an absolute punch in the gut. You KNOW these people. You were there friend, the one they turned to in desperation, the one who gave them all hope... and you failed them. You. Lost.
@@superslash7254 I know I had a pretty viceral reaction to that. Like I literally started crying a little and had to step away because oh god did that gut punch sting.
In For Narmer they even reference some of the lyrics in We All Lift Together. Also interesting that the "Individual, yet belonging together, serving one entity that is above everyone that we worship" is very choral, reminiscent of a church choir, while we all lift together is very much like the old chain gang and field workers songs, where they kept the rhythm of their work to the beat so everyone worked smooth and efficiently on shared projects and work. I love how multilayered and thought out the songs are, tying into each other, the feel and theme of the area/people, and the story arc.
The world of Warframe is a very dark place. And the Narmer arc turns that up to eleven.
Man I can't wait to dig deeper in story quests. I plan to finish the starchart doing the least amount of quests as possible 😂 so I can focus on em after. I'm a noob BTW. Don't know how I got here in yt tbh 😆
@@hopeful4243 There's a lot of cool stuff locked behind quests, so going through the starchart without doing quests will probably be a long slow slog. Better to just do the quests as you get them and enjoy the journey. Trust me, some of the stuff quests give you is literally game changing.
@@Hammer1987 ohhh ok. Imma do that instead. Thanks for the advice!
@@hopeful4243 the quests are the main content of warframe, the rest is just optimization grindfest the game.
@@user-sb7wj1vn4x What about fashionframe and ikeaframe though? Collecting floofs is the best! My operator can now sleep without dreaming of eldritch horrors.
I am so fascinated by how with his interpretation of the songs he could tell the story of the Fortuna guys fairly accurately.
:) I did not know these tunes before this
It also gives credit to the composers that they were able to deliver these messages
agreed!
A cold, indifferent universe: "Do you even lift?!"
Warframe: "We all lift together."
The Great Indifference (aka Wally): Do you even Lift?
Solaris from Fortuna along with their favourite Tenno: Let us introduce ourselves
@@hora213 wally is "the indifference", "the great indifference" is the location, no need to thank me!
@AntennaPen as the sanctum computer says: "'the man in the wall' is identical with the entity known to us as 'the indifference'"
What’s really cool is how despite him not knowing Warframe or it’s story, he still manages to somewhat grasp the story behind the music. It shows how well the music fits into its respective part of the story.
The way you look like someone just kicked you, when that "declined resolution" in For Narmer hits. It just rips your heart out, melodically.
It does
It's the twist of the knife-or giant sword iykyk
@@Felale Paracelsis hurts.
Something I’m surprised you didn’t mention between the two songs is that in We All Lift Together, the singers aren’t in sync, they’re just singing how it comes to mind. . .people united in their imperfections seeking freedom from servitude
But with For Narmer, the voices are perfectly synced, nobody out of place, driven to sing for their conqueror. . .people united in servitude to perfection that do not want freedom
"For Narmer" does its job perfectly its gives the message, "you did'nt fail a mission, you lost a war".
When this first came out, the huge difference really threw me off at first, but I viscerally felt the, 'Working til we *FALL.'* I was working warehouse jobs, watching coworkers come away maimed. I was 'falling' a lot myself, due to stress-induced seizures. I was ready for that to be the stinging end of the verse. I gritted my teeth.
Then, 'we all *LIFT.'* I felt it viscerally. Just as I was accepting 'this is it for me,' these people and their sense of camaraderie went 'No you fuckin don't!' Like they caught a collapsing support beam before it could spell my execution. I felt resignation to death turn into renewed hope in real time.
I will never forgive Narmer for trying to take that away. "We all lift together" -> "Now we lift alone."
i can relate to that
the utter disgust when i first heard for narner nearly had me puke the reaction was so visceral for that reason,and still retch every time i hear it.
Really pleased that games are putting pro-union story arcs in the public eye. Fortuna is a (slightly) more dramatic version of what life was like for workers living in the company towns of 19th to early 20th Century U.S.
@@Caffeinated-Bladesmith I wouldn't say it was more *dramatic*, just crammed into the sci fi setting.
@@iamlordstarbuilder5595 I can see where you're coming from here, but I would argue that a cycle of debt and bodily repossession is not the sci-fi version of being paid in scrip. The dystopia was nudged up a bit.
These two songs are absolutely intertwined in such a glorious way. Such powerful use of chorus here.
I’m gonna say, how you managed to analyse these two songs so accuratly is pretty amazing ! Keep the good work❤
@@jeremygoulet1704 thanks Jeremy! Really interesting vocal qualities here!
@@MarcoMeatball There also a few videos of both of these songs being overlayed on top of each other you should definitely check out. Really shows how they are composed to be like the sides of the same coin or other similar dichotomic analogies.
The 2 songs are mirror reflections of each other . 1 speaks of freedom or want of freedom the other is subjugation and being content in that. btw if u can u may wanna listen to the tempestari soundtrack as well as vailbraker ones.
Your so awesome at analyzing it make me want to study music
Warframe has some really great tracks, listeneing to these songs always makes me wanna go back to the game.
"Sleeping in the cold below" is also a great song to check out.
Literally the three songs I can hear in a loop for many many hours without getting tired of them xD
@@hedgehogshill3522 for me it's these 2 & "This is what you are"
I've spent *many* hours in the orbiter just listening to it 😂
They have yet to do a song that wasn’t great
@@DuraxisAgreed
@@DeadlyAlphaliterally the most Goated song. I envision a big ass war when this is what you are plays.
Just recently finished the New War and the recently released Veilbreaker.
Visiting Fortuna again and looking at the once proud people of Solaris United succumb into a mindless sheep in praise of Narmer is just heart-breaking to see.
These two songs are weirdly paradoxical yet sung with the same fervor by the same yet different people from a different Era and for wildly different purpose.
Thanks for the video as always.
One is to break the chains of debt and oppression. The other to break the chains of individuals and make a sole organism not of cooperation but soulless worship
Yeah you are almost right its not gold mining, but instead its people working off their debt in a debt-internment colony. It makes me chuckle when you are able to visualise something from an OST without having the visuals, you did it really well in the Alicorn video and you have done it here as well.
term you're looking for is "chain gang" I believe.
Fortuna is basically the archetypical company town, no matter what you do and how much you work you owe your soul to the company store.
@@filanfyretracker finally, amazon!
Nef bezos will get yer body parts@@verbatim545
Never played Warframe but 'We All Lift Together' is one of my favorite songs ever made, and it echoes through other games so easily.
If you ever end up playing the game you'll fall in love with the scene where the track plays
Definitely worth a shot to play the game. One of the most generous free to play models I’ve seen and I’ve paid a lot of money just to support the developers
sounds like a time to play it, yes the songs and music in warframe is really good, but what made me stick to it was the story (starts getting good at uranus/neptune)
For Narmer is a defiled version of We Lift Together on so many levels... I was genuinely furious when I 1st heard it :) The working song with so many different voices empowering each others to fight against the rudeness of their life was changed into a song of servitude where the minor notes are sang with a perfect, almost soulless, ensemble...
If you knew who Balas is, then you would totally understand why the second song feels like that.
I never felt happier, then when I slammed that void damned visor on his void damned face. Or when Lotus ends his ass. I would spend eternity just, giving Balas exactly what he deserves, till the final star goes cold in the universe. Rot in hell Balas. I hope your Emporers and the rest of the Orokin keep you good company down there.
Umbral screams in the distance.
@@izaruburs9389 "Howl all you want. It won't bring him back."
@@snowball03-boop "Lua brings you strength... but you cannot defy your creator."
fuck Ballas, all my homies hate Ballas. He did my man Umbra dirty!
Definitely a good call to go over these two songs together.
It's always incredibly how the *emotion* of a story can be condensed and relayed like this through music.
We All Lift Together - The singers, the "we" of the chorus, are full of hope, trust in one another, *determination*. A community rising together. Really gets out a "we can do this" feeling.
For Narmer - The singers are solemn, feel beaten down or broken, but sound devoted (not in a good way) to these names they have dedicated themselves to.
It was genuinely sad hearing this beautiful song of hope, survival and relying on others to survive against an opressor, to being enslaved by a different opressor where you don't even have the luxury of free will.
We All Lift Together and For Narmer are also (I believe the term is) in reverse chord progression, so if you played them at the same time basically, the chorus would have one side fall and another rise, back and forth. It sounds like two opposing crowds yelling at each other, overpowering and rising in turn to one another.
However, For Narmer is the longer song, and also, the most oppressive, so it in turn will win over We All Lift Together, falling to a deathly quiet as all voices fall silent.
You can actually find them overlaid and it's pretty neat!
that is only possible because We All Lift Together and For Narmer are polar opposites
@@Madchemist002 omg I didn't know that :O
You know it's good music when even without context of where these songs appear, you can pinpoint the message and tone of both of them
Warframe’s music is incredible. Another two I’d recommend checking out is “Smiles from Juran”, also called “To Take Its Pain Away” and “Sleeping in the Cold Below”. Maybe not together since they’re quite different and not related , but both incredible
Those were always my favorites
Haha omg I hate that I didnt think of suggesting either of these. Man when fortuna came out with We all lift together I couldnt get it out my head for AGES. Must have been many months. Its amazing how far this game has come and the music it has brought us is something so special, unique and just fricking awesome.
Do you still lay?
i Played warframe like... 1 month 5 years ago, and i never forgot this song. Was 1 of if not the only one that caught my atention.
ah, you just didn't get far enough I guess😖
@@mrpotato3454 no i didnt, feeling behin for that long didnt feel well tbh, and game it self is not newbie friendly for what i heard from vets :/
@@juanpejkGotta getchu a buddy who plays the game a lot. Really helps push you through that newbie barrier. I went from MR 6 to MR 19 in like a month. My buddy's on MR L2.
@@varietywiarrior i played it with 2 veteran friends, trust me i rlly tried, wasnt for me i gess :/
@@juanpejkit’s ok if the games not for you but the game has changed so I would give it another shot
For Narmer is sung like a mockery to We All Lift Together, as it is the opposite of everything it is supposed to be. But it also shows us the consequence of you, the tenno, failing in your mission to protect the system. When the war started, every major factions (beside infestation) banded together but all they could put up was a futile last stand while it was the tenno that was bringing the battle to the invader. However in a moment of weakness, we were defeated and were removed from battle, and the system was swiftly taken over by a new power, Narmer.
The Solaris (the ones who sung these 2 songs), originally sung with the hope of making it through the darkness of hardship together, now they sing as if they're content with being in that darkness together. A darkness made of blissful lies.
2:00 nah fam thats a gold prospector. this is for a genuine gold MINER. the guy with the pickaxe smacking rock or maybe a railroad construction guy. the guys smacking nails into the railroad.
same difference, it's the sound of people working hard and he obviously gets it
@@dingdongspaghetti
He is on the right track for it, but the style is definitely based on Industrial Folk Music, which was built around the concept specifically of being oppressed by those in power over you. It is not really glorifying hard work, nor an entrepreneurial spirit, but is a form of music about solidarity in the face of oppressive debtors.
The people in Fortuna are slaves. The song is about their triumph of spirit as a collective in spite of their slavery, not an exultation of the work they are doing, which is the form their oppression takes.
Prospectors do not really fit into that mold in the same way, because while many people might have become them out of desperation and they were the targets of significant profiteering, they were largely independent agents. This is more about coal miners living in a company town than a poor, hard working frontiersman.
I think the most famous real-world example of this sort of music is called "The Chemical Worker's Song," though it is fairly recent having been written in the 60s. Still, it is really catchy so it is still covered and performed fairly regularly. A lot of the ones from the industrial revolution are lost. There are also a number of songs based on call-and-response style chants by enslaved people that have a number of the same features, specifically the sound of the tools striking in unison. It is a feature of slave and chain gang music.
For Narmer:
Healed the pain of independence
Strong our wise and trusted friend
We united in one vision
Rise to sing our sorrows end
He the bringer of the vision
Bids you answer to his call
Praise the wise and mighty Ballas
Heed the ruler of us all
For we're all one
And the work's begun
For Narmer
And we all run
To our golden son
For Narmer
For Narmer
Here today we sing our story
With Ballas we have found our home
Virtue once was work together
But virtue now is lift alone
Free we are now from each other
Brothers, sisters, daughters, sons
Where once we dreamed of independence
Now we stand and dream alone
We were all for one
Now the works begun
For Narmer
And we all run
To the golden son
For Narmer
For Narmer
Virtue once was work together
But virtue now is lift alone
Tells you all you need to know about that song.
Every time I hear we all lift, I always get emotional, for the fact of more then just the game, if only everyone heard this song as a word for humanity. To unite us all in these new trying times in darkness. And I have a feelings of uniting us all for another golden age for us all. But a wish calling out into the void of pain and anger in our world. We are fractured, we all need to lift together. Do not let the hands of old men have the power over humanity we all are one voice and move in one body to let go of all of our differences need to say past for we are all equal under one roof of this world we call home.
~Break the system~
I still find it funny how at 5:14 ish he starts to move as if expecting a the song to pick up or something. Only to instantly pause as if in confusion as that just doesn't happen.
For Narmor is meant to crush you, realizing that this happened because you failed, when you have the context it wrenches your heart out. To this day makes my stomach drop and eyes tear up
after a few years knowing each npc in fortuna, this song was a punch in the guts after failing our duty. the song was as hard to hear as it's pretty, but i couldn't stop myself from tearing up a bit when they sang "virtue once was work together, but virtue now is lift alone" their whole personality, what they are got broken down to rebuilt them up for Narmer.
Ever since I saw you listen to Warframe I was waiting for "We All Lift" review, I'm happy you took your time to do it. The sound track and general sound design is one of the reasons I keep playing Warframe for years, and it makes me happy to see when others like it
Also , if I may ask, have you seen the Music Video that comes with We All Lift? It's not necessary for the experience, but it gives some context
One of the coolest bits in For Narmer is the little melody in the background which is from This is What you Are, it's subtle is sneaks in just for a moment, which mirrors a section of the quest, you are sneaking in...to save them
I remember the first time listening "For Narmer" in the game, the song was absolutely perfect for the context of the story, you lost the war, the song reflects that exceptionally well.
I stopped playing warframe for years but the music is always in my favorite playlist. Transition into Fortuna and the scene of snow mountain(I think it's the war within) are one of the most unforgettable scenes of all games I've played beacuse the music really hit my heart
That War Within moment was amazing
@@godzelda123 and slightly traumatizing in the moment 😂
@@laszloneumann500 Hey Kiddo...
Going up to the Orb Vallis for the first time during The New War is another such moment.
I love the people of Fortuna and hearing We All Lift Togather really got me happy, after playing New War, and hearing For Narmer, being sung by them, literally broke me. It showed how Narmer ripped away all individuality, hope for a brighter future, and care from the people. The fact that it is in the same key as We All Lift Togather, makes it feel even more hopeless. I can't help but shed a tear whenever I hear For Narmer. The Foil, I think that is the right word, of the 2 songs is amazing.
We All Lift Together has always been my favorite song in Warframe. So seeing the same people who showed such resiliency being cowed under Narmer... I dont know why but I legitimately grew misty-eyed. Even now with all the Narmer Aftermath... it just reminds me of For Narmer so much its painful. I didn't realize how much I'd come to love that faction until that point.
The worst thing about it, Sparky? I *liked* it.
Keith Power is an amazing composer.
5:58 "something bad happened." LMAO too good for a guess, buddy.
Both these songs talk about the strength of comradery and resilience. I loooove how they both emphasize the togetherness in two totally different ways. Almost like they're bracing for the storm together, whether it be in a town/village sense like We All Lift Together, or the rebellious darker tones of For Narmer.
Fun fact: these songs overlay on top of each other lyrically really well! For Narmer feels like it was built as a response to We All Lift Together's call.
I love watching someone not know the context for For Narmer. When you said they were both uplifting at first, I thought, "Just wait, you'll see." AND YOU NAILED IT!
0:25 see you space cowboy
I always saw lift as the sort of indentured worker or chain gang chant.
Think 1800s industrial revolution, pre unionization.
Always gets me teary, because I see us slipping back into those practices in the modern era.
Losing what desperate workers bled and died for.
And so many applaud it. Yeah, tears
For Narmer feels like a corruption of We All Lift. The latter was standing tall in the face of oppression, while the former is what happened when you lost. It was absolutely heart wrenching when I heard it in game the first time.
And that brutal cutscenes was damn perfect.
We all lift shows them hard at work trying to pay off debt that many could never hope to pay off and just screams "no we wont just lay here and take it" the camera panning through the crowed until you see us do that classic land at the end truly perfect.
For Narmer on the other hand keeps you in the dark on purpose. The character is obscuring the view of the screen just enough to build some tension as you slowly lower expecting to see the rebellious nature of these people only to see monuments being worshiped by them and just a dark red where there was once a brilliant purple and blue hue there is now only red there is only Narmer and the people who you fight so hard to help stand for themselves again are reduced to mindless slaves.
why do i get chills every time i hear we all lift together 😭
Hearing this song, during the story was the turning point in the story,
Edit: Spoiler warning ig for below
"*you lost*", "*your friends are gone*", and "*you are now alone*"
was a great sinking feeling to have for a story.
My guy you need to put a spoiler warning on that
Edit: good work 👍
The first song I feel is the chant of people who strive to make it through the tough times together, in pain but in unison. The twisting of "We all Lift Together" in For Narmer is in tune with who Ballas was, one of the main antagonists in the game, he subjugated an entire galaxy for his own narcisistic wishes. It sounds cultish.
Going down that fortuna elevator hearing that song seeing the red gloom in the once blue broken but proud fortuna... it gave me chills. It was crushing
Now that you've covered these you MUST absolutely see them in context with the cinematics associated to each of them.
Hearing We all lift together apawn loading into Fortuna the first time and then watching my guy seamlessly drop in.... god this game is truly on another level, i had to slow walk up the river just to process what happened. and the song still gives me goosebumps at that drop
God it's so good that I can see you getting a little iffy during For Narmer as it gets further in.
"For Narmer" and the quest The New War are both phenomenonal. I highly recommend that everyone plays Warframe to experience this quest
these are literally two halves of a song if you look up both of them played together it sounds amazing
Damn it is so weird hearing those songs without the MV sfx, but again Marco is on point with the analysis!
If they is ever a Space Meatball Warframe clan: I'M IN!!!! :D
We all lift together Outworlder!
🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰
Does that mean we all have to roll in as Grendel?
I never noticed that "This is who you are" motif in For Namer! The composers of Warframe's music don't get enough credit. Such a neat touch.
Edit: 7:30 YES, GET IT TENORS! NAIL THAT HARMONY 👏👏
When i first heard For narmer i was like"Oh no".
Also when the lyrics go "For we all one" i was expecting" an we all lift" each time they came around
As some mentioned, it's really nice hearing them together, since both chorus gets mixed pretty well, like one single mirrored song. Awesome video!
absolutely love u doing this with all types of games, We All Lift Together is one of my favourite pieces of music in all of gaming music
:)
@@MarcoMeatball also, not sure if anyone else have said this, but that 'thud' drum sound is in the in-game universe, the workers 'pickaxes' as they fall down on metal
Oh my god, I love these two. I always get super emotional with these as well (wipes away tears of unclear emotions). Damn, these are good.
What I love is how you picked up on what these songs mean and transport in the greater scheme of things without truly knowing the context. Because you're right. We All Lift Together (written in Corpus speech it's "Je App Pitp Pojepket, by the way (fun fact)) is the song of a people who work in unison under the rule of the Corpus overlords, trying to cut out a piece of the world for themselves. For Narmer, on the other hand, takes this concept and drives it into a downwards spiral with the populace working exclusively for their overlord and all they get in return is being alive (albeit mind-controlled, which makes the piece even darker), following a great catastrophe. And you heard that. You're that good.
I love you man. Thanks for sharing your feelings with us and thanks for bringing attention to the fact that these two songs share a motif which I didn't notice before.
Cheers!
You’re so welcome!!!
I love how much lore about a game professional musicians can tell JUST from the music
Once you play through the game and look back with context on what each song truly means, it's a truly heartbreaking story. It's one of the few things that can still make me cry
The reason he said "Cowboys in space" in the beginning was because the first thing that might've popped up in his mind could've been 'Railroads' as they have a strong connection with Western Culture hence -> 'Cowboys' the sounds of pounding metal must've sounded that way to him.
maybe im projecting but i love seeing him go from careful listening to "damn that slaps"
🤣
We All Lift Together a song about coming together as a community to overcome hardship, it's for the players who band together to help one another AND the workers at Fortuna who are being practically enslaved by the corpus
3:20 que player falling from the sky
"We all lift together" is a chain gang song, music sung by prisoners who are forced to do tiring manual work in shackles. The sounds on tools striking stone/steel in the background as well as the somber material they are singing about, the people who are singing this in game are debt slaves, forced into a system where they are perpetually accruing more and more debt, with little or no hope of ever being free.
"For Narmer" is real insidious in how great it sounds. People saved from independence, and grateful for it. A slavery where the master is a savior.
"For Narmer" is real insidious in how great it sounds. People saved from independence, and grateful for it. A slavery where the master is a savior."
For Narmor is essentially an eerier, twisted version of We All Lift Together in that it inverts it's internal theme of endurance and eventually finding freedom, instead being a hymn praising Ballas and utter subservience to him.
The people of Fortuna are being kept complacent and loyal to Narmer by Narmer Veils, which are masks that brainwash the wearer via hypnosis and exploitation of emotional weaknesses.
We All Lift Together is a working song...the footage/video for it is set in a factory/working place of sorts with hammers and welding machines and stuff and I love that we hear that in the background and that the music and words all like have accent/punctuation at the end where it feels like it's supposed to line with a hit of a hammer of pound of cilinders in machines...
I get tears in my eyes everytime I listen 'we all lift together'.
I remember getting chills when I listened to it the first time cuz I didn't expect them to drop this song out of nowhere, like I barely know anything about fortuna but I certainly can feel and understand it. Later it became the first syndicate that I maxed. (Also I think there's a cutscene/cinematic for both songs)
Anyways great vids!
I am impressed, whit what you could read out of those two Songs. For Narmer Plays in the same Location then We all Lift together, after the Enemy has claimed the Location and presses the population to work for them. Bonus Info: You can play both Songs together and it sounds still good and makes a whole Image of the "Location"
I will never forget how hard We All Lift Together hit at Tennocon.
"for narmer" will always be a song that will hit me as a "you lost, its radically apparent, but don't give up now" i got absolutely heartbroken when i heard it for the first time.
Other comments have explained the context for these 2 songs but i really love they are 2 sides of the same coin both musically and narritivly. To add on to it, the first one while not a "happy" song given the context is hopful and encouraging and the visuals match it you see all the workers helping each other and getting into the beat a bit. Then later in the game with Narmer, all the physical motion that existed before is gone and its also accompanied with a slow eary elevator ride down into the city.
Also i theres a ton of other warframe tracks you could check out, but id sugest smiles from juran or sleeping in the cold below if you want to check out another
I highly highly recommend watching the cutscenes for both of these songs. Your assessment of For Narmer is almost perfect, the Teno didn't loose just a mission, but an entire war, and this is the consequences of that failure.
Hey, just popping to give a small info, trying not to spoil too more than the songs do.
We All Lift Together is basically the hymn of a region. It's about the people there having a strong sense of solidarity, working together in hope of getting through everything to live another day.
For Narmer is about the exact same region, a bit later, who have kind of been sold an illusory "perfect solution" for their problems so they can live in peace withing a "perfect community" in a way.
Again, trying not to spoil so my words may not fit exactly to what happens, because I cant find a better way to describe it being a non-native english speaker, but all in all, they got stripped of their free will and essentially everything that's assiociated to being a person. Instead, they basically became a sort of mix between robots, and slaves, working without questionning anything as they believe they are in a perfect world where everything is fine.
Definitely. I think the poetic meter is used for a lot of real world hymns.
one thing to add is the video aspects of these songs
especially We all lift together, the timing of the tools along with the music is amazing
I really like We All Lift Together for the simple reason that it’s designed to sound like a bunch of people from all walks of life and skill levels singing together. It takes effort to sound good, but it takes a hell of a lot of effort to make the rough edges combine into something smooth.
There's so much I love about the contrast between these two but sometimes it's just the simple stuff, like WALT being a song about working class solidarity being contrasted by for narmer being about complete subservience to a ruling class (or in this case, one ruler)
now, spoil warning, major spoils, but I really wanna paint the scenes behind both songs
we all lift together paints the scene of the first time you enter fortuna, you hear this song, this song that tells you "there is more to these people than just your common corpus worker." and as the story progresses, you learn, learn of the pain they've suffered, the horrors they've seen, the fact that with just one bad day in their work, their limbs, both mechanical and biological can be taken and sold in an instant. they are suppressed by giant machines, capable of withstanding anything that can be virtually thrown at them. yet, they still resist, and with your help, they topple mountains, they take down these giants, one by one, and with each victory, they grow closer to you, trust you, share secrets with you, from the kids hiding in the vents to the more, spoilery stuff, they become family.
for narmar, on the other hand, is during the new war quest, sung on your return to fortuna after the events of the new war. theres a level of hope, a sliver, of it. how couldnt there be? these are the rebels, theyve been fighting oppressors for ages, fighting for their freedom, their lives, for years before we met them, surely their still putting up the good fight, after all, we know someone else is resisting, how couldn't they be fighting?
than you hear it, and that fortuna went without a ounce of resistance, that every person you know in there is converted. even the vent kids are wearing their mask and singing as well. and that's when the songs true meaning should dawn on you, you're no longer fighting the new war, because you already fought the new war...
and you lost, and everyone else paid the price.
dropping into fortuna for the first time is such an impact its absolutely breathtaking. then again with for narmer but this time you get a sense of hopelessness.
I think I clicked on this video even faster than I did for signora... well done opera man, you have my attention :)
Fun fact: The only way to save the solar system after For Narmer is *time travel. **_Sideways!_*
You know you're boned when only a deus ex machina'd survivalist can save your solar system.
We All Lift Together literally makes me wanna work, that's how awesome it is! 😂
Also context for those who don't play Warframe.
We All Lift Together is a song that was created by a group of people that are in debt to an enemy faction called the Corpus & they have to "work off" their debt by purchasing tools & augments to make them more efficient at their jobs & thus pushing themselves into further debt...
For Narmor is a song by the same group except their resolve & fight has been taken from them by a veil & they now all serve Narmor Together & all work as one with no free will or thought to speak of...
Yeah Warframe is something 😂
I've listened to this song too many times to count, but I noticed one thing I don't think I ever caught before: around 6:10 you can hear the same 4-note arpeggio that begins the song "This is What You Are", played here as: [E, C#, A, G#]. This song plays during the quest where you first discover your character (operator)'s true form, and parts of it play as you discover more about your operator and their abilities. It is a beautiful and symbolic piece, that serves as a reminder to your character of their journey and where it began. Parts of it are also used as a leitmotif in multiple other tracks that relate to the operator and their history.
Looking at "For Narmer", this is a song sung by people whose minds and souls have been enslaved, all free will and sense of individual identity lost within Narmer. But now I realize, perhaps they're not completely gone. With those four subtle notes, we can hear the true voices of the people crying out, desperately clinging to the fragments of who...and *What...They Are.*
I love how you always give such amazing insight. Even though I've never played this game, the things you talk about make listening to game ost so incredible!!
I hope you'll have take the chance to do some Super Mario Galaxy OST. That game's music has always been special to me.
Digital extremes did a fantastic job with both songs. Really using both the lyrics and melody/harmonies to set the exact tone for the specific area and the story they were telling.
This first song made me wanna go "Hey, partner"-ing and "Howdy"-ing on the wild west with a big iron on my hips but in reality, I probably gonna be a coal miner and dying to dysentery.
"Once we dreamt of independence, now we stand and dream alone" is such a great line. Even in independance, they would've had each other, but they've been brainwashed into believing soulless isolation is "indepedance".
We All Lift Together makes you feel courageous
For Narmer makes you feel vengeful
Keith Power is one of the greatest composers of our times IMO and definitely an underrated guy, his ability to come up with his music in such short spans is incredible
I felt that "30 is the new 20" quip. We're given the impression that we don't get (chronically) sick until middle ages, but that stuff can definitely rear in much sooner. I'm only 37 and quality of life is much lower than when I was 27.
I highly suggest "sleeping in the cold below" next from Warframe as well. Great song.
I love that you just start jammin at 6:38 to the beat, then you make a face at 6:57 like you just connected what the lyrics are meaning with "Now we stand and dream alone". Beside that, I truly love For Narmer for its tone, especially where you actually hear the song in game from.