Before he was directing big budget blockbusters like Looper and Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Rian Johnson helmed smaller projects for The Mountain Goats. A fan of the band, Johnson directed the 2006 video for “Woke Up New”, as well as the live concert DVD for 2009’s The Life of the World to Come. So when frontman John Darnielle jokingly told the director about a song idea he had for the next Star Wars film, Johnson challenged him to actually write it.

And so now we have a new song from The Mountain Goats called “The Ultimate Jedi Who Wastes All the Other Jedi and Eats Their Bones”, which Johnson himself has shared online. The acoustic epic ballad tells the tale of the final living Jedi gorging on “the dust of Jedi bones piled high like parsnips on his plate.” “The long feast will be filmed for mass consumption,” Darnielle sings in self-referential glee. “The cameras Rian’s got these days are unimaginably high-res.” Take a listen below.



Darnielle revealed the backstory of the song in a series of tweets in which he referenced Johnson’s work on Breaking Bad, as you can read below.

…I was joking around with @rianjohnson about his big Star Wars news, and the joke was "have you then rejected my song?"… — The Mountain Goats (@mountain_goats) January 30, 2017

…whose title, at that point just an of-the-moment joke, was "The Ultimate Jedi Who Wastes All the Other Jedi and Eats Their Bones." … — The Mountain Goats (@mountain_goats) January 30, 2017

…@rianjohnson responded, right here on twitter dot com: PLEASE WRITE THIS. Who am I to turn down the guy who directed "Ozymandias"?… — The Mountain Goats (@mountain_goats) January 30, 2017

…not me, not this guy. I set to work immediately. It is important that the world learn the truth of this Jedi. But where to host?… — The Mountain Goats (@mountain_goats) January 30, 2017

…I don't know if y'all know this but a lot of people are into Star Wars. So I wrote to @rianjohnson, and I'm like, here's the tune, right. — The Mountain Goats (@mountain_goats) January 30, 2017

…and he's like "Should I put it on my Soundcloud?" and I'm like "rest up, do that on Monday!"… — The Mountain Goats (@mountain_goats) January 30, 2017

So @mountain_goats and I were joking around, one thing led to another, he recorded this song and now it’s canon. https://t.co/0vCdZTO6iO — Rian Johnson (@rianjohnson) January 30, 2017