Donovan - Atlantis

"Atlantis" by Donovan"Atlantis" is a 1968 folk-psych rock song by Scottish singer-songwriter Donovan, released on his album Barabajagal. The track is a dreamy, poetic narrative that blends mythology with a hypnotic, otherworldly vibe. It begins with a spoken-word intro, where Donovan recounts the mythical sinking of Atlantis, a lost utopia swallowed by the sea due to divine wrath. The lyrics evoke a fantastical tale of an advanced civilization, with lines like: “The continent of Atlantis was an island / Which lay before the great flood / In the area we now call the Atlantic Ocean…”

In Goodfellas, directed by Martin Scorsese, the song "Atlantis" underscores one of the film’s most brutal and iconic scenes: the savage beating of Billy Batts (Frank Vincent) by Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci), Jimmy Conway (Robert De Niro), and Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) at The Suite lounge. The scene, set in 1970, erupts after Batts taunts Tommy with the line, “Now go home and get your fuckin’ shinebox!”—a humiliating jab at Tommy’s past as a shoeshine boy. What follows is a frenzied mob hit, with Tommy pistol-whipping and stomping Batts into a bloody mess while Jimmy and Henry join in, all set to the surreal strains of Donovan’s track.