Take This Life

Take This Life is the final track in the original soundtrack for Halo: The Fall of Reach - The Animated Series. The song is one of few lyrical tracks written specifically for the Halo franchise (along with Blow Me Away from the Halo 2: Original Soundtrack), with lyrics written by 343 Industries' Frank O'Connor and sung by Jillian Aversa. The song was intended to feature in the credits for The Fall of Reach, though was ultimately cut from the final film, only appearing on the official soundtrack release.

Overview
The piece is composed primarily of the melody from Doctor Catherine Halsey's theme in the animated series, most prominently heard in the track More Than Luck.

Lyrics
Take this life, And hold it, tender in your hand. Take this life, And mold it according to the plan. They’ll move on – A memory, leaving us behind.

You never asked me who I was,

But saw me for what I had to be. You never wasted time on love When knowing no truth could set us free.

You’ll move on – A memory, leaving us behind. We’re your legacy, Abandoned, the remnants of a time.

I’ll never know a mother’s love again, I’ll never be beside her in the end.

The world just goes around, but every day I’m falling, And I reach out, but no one hears me calling. So I know now: I’ll never live at all again. Will you?

You never asked me who I am, So tell me, did you ever give a damn?

Production notes
"It’s an important song– and it’s exclusively on the soundtrack. My hope is that the song gets more exposure. I would love to see videos made to it!"

- Tom Salta

Take This Life was first conceived when composer Tom Salta was playing Doctor Halsey's theme on piano, used in the track More Than Luck. Playing the melody, he realised it could be turned into a full song - imagining it to tell the story of Halsey and the children of the SPARTAN-II program. Taking the piece to 343i audio director Paul Lipson, Lipson saw the potential and played the piece for franchise director Frank O'Connor who proceeded to write lyrics for the song. Salta then worked with singer Jillian Aversa to tweak the lyrics into a more song-like structure. Because of this, the song is unique in that it has a canon significance within the Halo universe, depicting an insight into the SPARTAN program through the eyes of the children apart of it.

The song was intended to appear in the end credits for the film but didn't make the cut, resulting in the track only appearing in the official OST release.