In an interview with Netflix’s Behind the Scenes podcast, the composers for The Witcher revealed which covers of the show’s mega hit ear worm “Toss a Coin to Your Witcher” were their favorites. The show as a whole has been incredibly popular, but the song has been the surprise standout element and has taken on a life of its own. It was released as a single ahead of the rest of the show’s soundtrack and has inspired covers in all kinds of genres.
The song appears in the show’s second episode, “Four Marks,” when the bard Jaskier (Joey Batey) spins up a fanciful story of his adventure alongside the witcher Geralt of Rivia (Henry Cavill). The song describes Geralt’s heroism in defeating an entire army of elves and the “devil” in their employ. In reality, the story is far less exciting. Geralt and Jaskier were captured by a few elves and a friendly Sylvan and only survived after Geralt talked his way into their captors releasing them. Still, Jaskier’s version of events takes off and earns some fame for him and Geralt across the many countries on The Continent.
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With the song somehow even more popular in real life than it is in the show, composers Sonya Belousova and Giona Ostinelli went into detail on Behind the Scenes (via ComicBook) about what the fan response means to them. Ostinelli said,“It’s amazing. It’s just so great to see, because every day seeing how much fun the fans are having with this song, it’s exactly the idea that we had behind.” He also spoke of the expectations they had for the song, explaining, “We wrote this song with so much fun, so much passion, and we were hoping that this would translate into the song, and the fans are picking up on it.“
Meanwhile, Belousova was impressed by the variety in the covers, adding that, “It’s incredible, because there’s anything ranging from like super, super classical to hard rock and metal.” In the same way that The Witcher has attracted many different types of fans, it’s also attracted many different types of covers. When asked about their favorites, the pair singled out a cat’s opera adaptation titled “Toss a Shrimp to Your Kitty” from FatCatArt.com and a Russian folk cover by the Omsk Philharmonic. Check them out below:
Jaskier’s comedy and catchy tunes were a welcome addition to the series and their popularity online has gone a long way to selling Geralt’s seemingly overnight transformation from the feared “Butcher of Blaviken” to a beloved celebrity who is a welcome presence at royal banquets. The first season featured several stellar original songs like “The Last Rose of Cintra” and ”The Song of the White Wolf,” but there’s no denying “Toss a Coin to Your Witcher” has been the runaway hit. The hits will likely keep coming when The Witcher returns for season 2 in 2021.
Source: Behind the Scenes (via ComicBook), FatCatArt.com, Omsk Philharmonic
