“The Only Thing I Know for Real” by Jamie Christopherson (ft. Tyson Yen)
“The Only Thing I Know for Real” is a song derived from a videogame and more specifically the theme song, if you will, of a certain character. So it is very plot-specific to the Metal Gear series, a franchise of games that centers on assassins, espionage and what have you. Also, said series is known to take its music pretty seriously. And as described in the Metal Gear Wiki, this song fits into the character arc of Samuel Rodrigues.
He’s a mercenary who, when this piece is being recited, has become disillusioned as to why he engages in such a lifestyle. But at the same time, it’s like that’s all his personal history consists of, fighting. So that’s what the title is getting at, that “the only thing” the vocalist “know(s) for real” is how to fight and kill.
That said, the way the song is written is such that no proper nouns are used therein. In other words, most of the wording does not point specifically to the videogame. And even the lines that do aren’t too blatant in regard. And yes, there is a violent undertone, especially as far as the chorus goes. But in reality, nothing is stated forthrightly that identifies the intended vocalist as being an assassin.
So this song actually boasts a general applicability, which may be why this song has proven to be one of the most popular tracks from Metal Gear Rising.
What the singer comes off as in general is a hardened warrior, one who has been engaged in this craft for so long that he’s forgotten where he came from.
Fundamental Theme of “The Only Thing I Know for Real”
That said, in this day and age, a song like this doesn’t have to be taken literally but can rather be read as a metaphor. Indeed, we are regularly met with tracks well outside of the realm of videogames in which the vocalist depicts himself as a killer, so to speak. Sometimes such assertions are meant to be taken as stated, but in other cases they may point to the vocalist’s tenacity in whatever endeavor has enraptured his soul. And that is fundamentally what’s going down here, if one, such as a listener who never heard of Metal Gear, decides to take references to “the dragon”, “blood” and what have you as being metaphors.
Furthermore, whereas the lyrics don’t possess any type of sentiment per se, to reiterate the reason the vocalist behaves so is because this is his established modus operandi. That is to say that at this point, he can’t go and live a normal life, because he doesn’t even know how to do so.
So going back to the character of Samuel Rodrigues, he is apparently a bad guy within the videogame. Or perhaps more specifically it can be said that he’s akin to an antihero, i.e. someone who has been programmed, if you will, to kill.
Jamie Christopherson
Jamie Christopherson is a musician who has worked in film and television but seems to be more renowned in the videogame circuit. For example, he scored the music for the well-received 2013 Konami videogame Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. It is from the soundtrack of said software, i.e. “Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance – Vocal Tracks”, that we get “The Only Thing I Know for Real”.
“The Only Thing I Know for Real”
Christopherson co-wrote and co-produced this song with Logan Mader.
The track as well as the aforementioned album was launched on 20 February 2013. The project is a product of Konami Digital Entertainment and Sumthing Else Music Works.
More specifically, this song is featured within Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. It is from the perspective of one of the boss enemies, “Samuel Rodrigues”, who is also a playable character (i.e. a protagonist).
The vocalist on this track is Tyson Yen, whose work has been mostly in videogames.
