Legendary composer John Williams may be back to provide the rousing space opera score for writer/director Rian Johnson’s newly christened eighth episode in the Star Wars saga, The Last Jedi, but it looks like the movie has also added some new unorthodox tunes to the mix: the Mountain Goats.
Johnson tweeted out a message with a song called “The Ultimate Jedi Who Wastes All the Other Jedi and Eats Their Bones” from the hyper-literate folky rockers led by musician John Darnielle, saying, “So @mountain_goats and I were joking around, one thing led to another, he recorded this song and now it’s canon.”
It’s official, Darnielle joins Williams and Rogue One composer Michael Giacchino as the only musicians to get their music in a Star Wars movie. On the SoundCloud page that features the song, Johnson also said, “John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats recorded this, and I’m suddenly regretting that I didn’t ask him for his story ideas earlier.
Obviously, this is Johnson having a bit of fun on social media at the expense of Star Wars fans jumping on every possible development about Episode VIII like this very post is doing now. It’s a bummer we’re unfortunately not going to get Jedi who eat other peoples’ bones. But to be fair, we’d love to hear Darnielle’s lyrics — including the gloriously ridiculous line, “One Jedi waits for you / with the dust of Jedi bones piled high like parsnips on his plate / with the dust of Jedi bones piled high like parsnips on his plate / specifically just their bones” — play over the closing credits. Well, maybe at the end of the closing credits.
Also, kudos to Johnson and Darnielle for including a black-and-white still from the 1966 samurai movie Sword of Doom as the SoundCloud artwork for the track. Perhaps it’s a not-so-hidden influence on Episode VIII?
If this all seems a bit random, it isn’t. Johnson and Darnielle’s collaboration go back about a decade when the former was just a small-time indie director coming off his debut film Brick. Johnson directed the 2006 video for the band’s song “Woke Up New,” and also their concert film The Life of the World to Come in 2010.
Here’s a clip from the film below:
If the song eventually doesn’t make it in the film, maybe indie-folk fans should keep their eyes peeled to see if Darnielle gets a quick cameo of some sort when The Last Jedi hits theaters on December 15.
