“So I looked for the CD, bought it, and realised I wanted to put it into the game. It was fate that we reunited.”
Kojima first heard "Here's to You" (Morricone/Joan Baez, from Sacco and Vanzetti) as a child and even recorded it off the radio, then forgot it for years. While making Metal Gear Solid 4 he went into Tower Records, heard a version by another artist and the memories returned; he looked for the CD, bought it, and realised he wanted to put the song into the game — it felt like fate that they reunited. For the ending of MGS4 he had Harry Gregson‑Williams arrange the Sacco & Vanzetti song, and for the opening of Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes he used Joan Baez’s original because it was best to use the original; Kojima also noted the Roman numeral V for five doubles as a V for victory, and this is a song about triumph.
“At the time, I had Harry Gregson Williams arrange a song from Sacco & Vanzetti and use that as the ending for Metal Gear Solid 4. […] And for the opening of Metal Gear Solid V Ground Zeroes, I used the original version by Joan Baez […] The Roman numeral V for five and MGS5 also stands for victory, so it's a bit of wordplay.”