Paladin Strait

"Paladin Strait" consists of synths and an acoustic guitar that has been described by Wall of Sound as feeling "like a voyage, a grand adventure in which its soft plucking and gentle strums usher you forward on a glorious but daunting journey".^[2] The song itself is followed by a break of silence before an acoustic outro.

Paste magazine stated during a review of Clancy that "the music sounds joyful but the lyrics are anything but" commenting that Joseph was "ultimately losing the battle he began both at the start of this record and at the start of the duo’s entire saga nine years ago."^[3]

The music video for the song premiered on June 21, 2024 and was the last music video to be released for the album and closes the lore of the album.^[4][5] The video was directed by Jensen Noen.^[6] It shows an army of "Banditos" led by the title character Clancy, played by Tyler Joseph, and Josh Dun in battle with the Glorious Gones. Clancy climbs the tower where the nine Bishops, who are the leaders of Dema, reside. He is confronted by Nico (also known as Blurryface), the leader of the Bishops. The original music video was not finished by the time the duo started the livestream to show all the album's music videos, so the two played a placeholder video of Joseph playing an acoustic guitar in front of an ocean.^[7][8] The unexpected ending to the video would be continued in the music video for "The Contract"^[9] and this conclusion of the "Paladin Strait" storyline and the band's conceptual series was revealed in "City Walls" – both of them being singles for the duo's eighth studio album, Breach (2025).

The song was played during the first night of the Clancy World Tour.^[10]