The Continent’s favorite bard, Jaskier, has a new song that’s sure to be a hit on season two of The Witcher. We see actor Joey Batey—who also wrote it—perform the ballad in season two, episode four, “Redanian Intelligence.” But if you don’t want to keep rewinding your Netflix to find “Burn Butcher Burn” and its searing lyrics, we’ve got you covered.
Thanks to the wonders of the Internet, “Burn Butcher Burn” has already hit YouTube in soundtrack-to-video form. You can listen to the full tune below for free, which also runs through the lyrics onscreen:
And here is a version that doesn’t run out the music at the end quite so long:
“Burn Butcher Burn” is on the official soundtrack for season two of The Witcher, which you can find on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, and wherever else fine tunes are streaming.
The soundtrack includes a ton of additional music composed by Joseph Trapanese from this season of the show.
Joey Batey spoke with Newsweek about the process of writing the song and what’s going on in Jaskier’s head. Some choice takeaways:
The actor explained that “Burn Butcher, Burn” was a way for Jaskier to “no longer rely on the stories of others,” and instead tell his own story through music. “…he gets the chance in Season 2 to be his own main character, perhaps for the first time in a long time, and is now separated from his friendship with Geralt.””
[…]
“It felt like Jaskier is allowing himself to perhaps explore his own emotions, which thus far we haven’t seen too much of, which I found really, really enjoyable to play.”
Here’s a refresher on why Jaskier is so mad at Geralt in this scene and song. And if you’re (wild)hunting for the lyrics, you’ve come to the right place.
I hear you’re alive, how disappointing
I’ve also survived, no thanks to you
Did I not bring you some glee, Mr. Oh-Look-At-Me
Now I’ll burn all the memories of you
All those lonely nights
As I burn all the memories of you
What for do you yearn?
It’s the point of no return
After everything we did, we saw
You turned your back on me
What for do you yearn?
Watch that Butcher burn!
At the end of my days when I’m through
No word that I’ve written will ring quite as true
As burn
Burn, Butcher, burn!
Burn, Butcher, burn!
Burn, burn, burn!
Burn, burn, burn, burn, burn…
Burn
Watch me burn all the memories of you
Ouch. Poor Jaskier. Poor Geralt.
What do you think of “Burn Butcher Burn”? Do you have it on repeat yet?
(image: Netflix)
