The Japanese edition of Vampire Weekend’s latest offering, Father of the Bride, was released yesterday. This version includes three bonus tracks exclusive to Japan: ‘Houston Dubai’, a cover of Mickey Newbury’s ‘I Don’t Think Much About Her No More,’ and ‘Lord Ullin’s Daughter.’ The latter of which features the most unexpected collaboration in music in recent memory, a guest feature from actor Jude Law.
As Stereogum notes, ‘Lord Ullin’s Daughter’ features Jude Law reading the Scottish poem of the same name over a stripped-down version of Father of the Bride track ‘Big Blue.’ Unfortunately for us, Vampire Weekend has no intention of releasing any of the bonus tracks outside Japan. Read an excerpt of Thomas Campbells’ ‘Lord Ullin’s Daughter’ below:
A Chieftan to the Highlands bound,
Cries, ‘Boatman, do not tarry;
And I’ll give thee a silver pound
To row us o’er the ferry.’
‘Now who be ye would cross Lochgyle,
This dark and stormy water?’
‘Oh! I’m the chief of Ulva’s isle,
And this Lord Ullin’s daughter.
Jude Law and Vampire Weekend frontman Ezra Koenig have previously collaborated on Koenig’s Netflix show, Neo Yokio, where Law voiced a robot butler.
Check out Jude Law in Ezra Koenig’s Neo Yokio
In related news, Father of the Bride recently topped the Billboard 200 album chart. The record sold 138,000 equivalent album units, marking the best sales week for a rock album in 2019, the biggest since Mumford & Sons’ 2018 record, Delta.
This is Vampire Weekend’s third consecutive No. 1 album, following 2013’s Modern Vampires of the City and 2010’s Contra.
