We’ve already met The Hu, the Mongolian Folk Metal band that plays traditional Mongolian instruments to sing songs either about Mongolian history (no surprise that they have a song called The Great Chinggis Khaan) or based on Mongolian mythology and culture (Shoog Shoog is apparently a shamanic invocation).
As was the case with Black Thunder, Wolf Totem is inspired by a prominent leader from Mongolian history. In this case, Choghtu Khong Tayiji – known as Tsogt Taij in both modern Mongolian and the 1945 film that was the direct inspiration for the song.
And, as was the case with Black Thunder, Wolf Totem also has a less-good version stemming from a collaboration with an American musician…
I found a YouTube video with quotes from the band members explaining the song, and while I can’t really vouch for its accuracy, the key inspiration for the song is a scene in the movie where Tsogt Taij likens the enemy to various animals and then declares his attention to fight them.
It’s pretty clear how that plays out in the lyrics to Wolf Totem:
If lions come, we’ll fight to the end.
If tigers come, we’ll fight and battle.
If elephants come, we’ll fight in rage.
If humans come, we’ll fight and obliterate.
If you come as snakes, we’ll become Garuda birds and fly over you.
If you come as tigers, we’ll face you as lions with blue mane.
If you come with evil intentions, we’ll give you a fight.Lyrics quoted from the translation provided on The Hu’s YouTube music video for Wolf Totem.
It’s like a cross between a straight-up war chant and that “He pulls a knife, you pull a gun” speech from The Untouchables.
A 14-th century illustration of Mongol warriors. From the collection of the Staatsbibliothek Berlin. via Wikimedia Commons. Public Domain.
Based on the video I mentioned above, the intent is actually pretty uplifting. Wolf Totem isn’t about brutally stomping anything and everything in your path, it’s about people coming together and uniting against the things trying to stomp you. It isn’t necessarily actually about fighting literal enemies, so much as people coming together to overcome adversity in general.
And, based on the video, most of those people are Mongolian bikers…
For a song that basically boils down to the thematic statement of a My Little Pony episode, it’s pretty badass.
And you can take a listen here:
The Music to Write Realmgard to Playlist is here:
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