Megalopolis

by @dasbinky · @tfish77

Liner Notes

Tfish sez: Last December, after Binky introduced me to the absolute unclassifiable insanity that is (formerly) acclaimed director Francis Ford Coppola's "Megalopolis," I knew we would end up writing a song about it. And a week later, I started writing, thus making this one part of my #CheatersDozen.

I believe this is our third song together (so far) about a midnight movie, and for a movie this big, we had to go big, too. That means heavy guitars, screaming vocals, and gratuitous use of the same sample over and over again. Which, in a way, feels very Megalopolis.

Binky of course provided amazing guitar and bass, drum programming, and production chops. I contributed vocals and a couple synth lines. We collaborated on the lyrics.

And of course we had to sell off a couple wineries to finance the production of this song, but what artist hasn't gone down that road?

Binky sez: Seriously, have you seen Megalopolis yet? It is soooo everything. Like, every adjective ever. It's that. I was fortunate enough to see it in a theater, with 5 other bearded men. I immediately wanted to stay for another screening. It is incredible, in the literal sense of the word; it stretches any sense of credulity.

So, this is a meta song about a meta movie. Like the movie, the guitar solo is a rambling, manic burst with no respect for timing or key. The rhythm guitars are, in spots, intentionally out of tune and are time-shifted about 50ms from each other in post. The vocals play panned in different channels with completely different sets of effects. Everything about this should make you mildly uneasy, just like the movie itself.

To be clear, I love this movie. I've now seen it four times, and I might watch it again after I post this. It is everything so right and so wrong about the art of filmmaking. It's always fun to make dumb sounds with Jordan, one of my main musical collaborators since 1992. Happy to continue our tradition of whatever the hell it is that we do.

#rawk

Lyrics

[V1]
a power broker in a broken world
he's got superpowers and a platinum girl
this kind of man he don't care about time
he's got too much going on in his mind

[chorus]
cuz he's living in a
megalopolis
where things don't make much sense
megalopolis
where the present is always tense

[V2]
This guy’s a genius with a Nobel Prize
He sees a future you won’t recognize
A world with no war, anger, pain, or strife
Motivated by his hella-dead wife

[chorus]
oh yeah he's living in a
megalopolis
where things don't make much sense
megalopolis
where the present is always tense

[bridge]
oh yeah, he's got enemies
trying to bring him to his knees
they're all standing in his way
but time is on his side they say

cicero and crassus too
clodio he's comin for you
vesta girl, you'd better believe
he'll drop you like a winery

[solo]

[chorus]
megalopolis
yeah the story don't make much sense
megalopolis
where subplots are irrelevant

megalopolis
you won't believe how much it cost
megalopolis
where the audience is always lost

Comments

[avatar]
Great rocking energy, and the vocals are friggin' AWESOME! I'm mad about that old heavy metal/hard rock style. Goddamn, almost like Bruce Dickinson kind of ripping. The riffs groove hard. This is perfection.
[avatar]
Ok. I need to admit to you both that I haven't seen it. Sorry.
But now that you've made this song, maybe I dont need to? Right?
This tune rocks more any anything has any right to rock. Congrats, gents, on another fantastic collab 👍🤩👍
[avatar]
After a friend told me about me that movie I was thinking of you two and literally waiting for your song. Thank you for that! This movie seemed to be horrible but the song is on fire. Especially your vocal performance.
[avatar]
Oh man this was super-mega-awesome fun to listen to! Great lyrics and unbridled play in the music. Great inspiration too, I wanna go watch it now. 👏 👏 👏 👏
[avatar]
Oh hell yeah!! The free world has been RAWKED!
[avatar]
One more film I need to see - or not. But I wholeheartly enjoyed your song. Is Ranting and rocking already a genre?
[avatar]
"Where the audience is always lost" - oh, that's savage. And very funny.

And what @spikedirection said: Francis's entire career trajectory consists of making a masterpiece that earns him a fortune only to blow it all on an insanely hyperbolic production that nearly kills his career, and then somehow reinventing himself and persuading his backers to let him go through the whole process again.
[avatar]
I haven’t seen it yet, but when Mark Kermode tells you it’s the worst film he’s ever seen and he’s been a critic for like, 50 years, how can you not want to see that?
The word Megalopolis is God’s gift for a catchy chorus apparently. I’ll likely be singing it to myself today.
[avatar]
ha!! wow-- so glad you guys did this! I saw Megalopolis in the theater here in NYC- and yeah, its everything you say it is (and more, and less!) quite wild, and so many ideas (both good and bad)- its a shame that while 'the brutalist' has been getting lots of oscar buzz, megalopolis has been totally passed over (nothing against the brutalist, as long long epics go, but its too bad mega has been ignored). Fun song, love the lyric, (love the references to the movie) and the music is suitably over the top...i laughed out loud at 'subplots are irrelevent' and 'where the audience is always lost'! and love that clip from the movie, adam driver driving it all!
[FAWM]