Hey there, if you're listening to this and you support us on Patreon, you can hear it via the Patreon page ad-free. So now, ladies and gentlemen, it is start time. Are you ready for start time? You're listening to Sound Opinions, and this week we share some of our favorite TV show theme songs. I'm Jim DeRogatis. And I'm Greg Kott. But first, we have some new music to review from Kendrick Lamar.
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You can find 312 Weed Ale, Big Juicy Beer Hug, and so many other limited releases at either of Goose's locations in Chicago. Goose Island Beer Company, Chicago's Beer. Reincarnated. I was stargazing. Life goes on. I need all my babies. That is a little bit of the track, Squabble Up. From the new surprise released album by Kendrick Lamar, the sixth of his career, GNX.
Greg, years ago, Kendrick gave an interview where he said he was so hip-hop that when he was born, his dad drove him home from the hospital in his Buick GNX. pumping Big Daddy Kane. GNX, the Buick supercar, muscle car, features prominently in the Kendrick Lamar mythos. Who is Kendrick Lamar? He almost doesn't need an introduction at this point. Kendrick Lamar Duckworth, born in Compton in 1987 and has been...
one of the dominant voices in hip-hop pretty much ever since. Flew under the radar a bit with his debut album Section 80 in 2011, the next two. Made a lot of noise. Good Kid, Mad City in 2012. To Pimp a Butterfly in 2015. I guess the next three. Damn in 2017. If you had any questions about what was happening in the... Black Lives Matter movement in the wake of George Floyd. Those three albums were your primer from Kendrick Lamar. Then he disappeared for a good number of years, five years total.
out of the spotlight, came back with Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers, an album you and I were pretty disappointed in. Now is this record. What is he giving us? You know, he's on his way to be the musical performer at the Super Bowl in February. That's as big as it gets. He also, though, you know... has qualms about the way people think of his position in hip-hop.
Plus was this high profile for those who care about it in the rap world feud with Drake. I think it started with J. Cole in late 23 saying, you know, the top three rappers today. Me, Drake, and Kendrick. Oh, no, no, no. Kendrick didn't want to be mentioned in the same breath as Drake. What proceeded was...
You know, a song-by-song feud. These guys, two of the top pop superstars in the world today, trading these diss tracks and getting really personal, going after each other's fans. You know, we don't care about this sort of thing. generally speaking, but it is background for where this album is coming from, so it needs to be mentioned. None of those tracks, by the way, that were dropped one by one are on this album. This is a new...
effort. So let's play a little bit of GNX and we'll get into our thoughts. This is the song Reincarnated by Kendrick Lamar. We'll be right back. The most talented where I'm from. That is reincarnated from the new Kendrick Lamar album, GNX. Jim, as you mentioned, six studio from this guy. With Kendrick, it's almost like you expect a masterpiece every time out. Yeah. The standards are at another level for him.
And he has given us, I would say, by my estimation, about three masterpieces. Yeah. Or darn close. Good Kid, Mad City, Damn, and In Between to Pimp a Butterfly. Right. Pimp a Butterfly. I would put that in top 10 albums maybe of all time and, you know, top three of all time in hip hop. No, it's truly amazing. Amazing record, right? Kendrick's standard is very high. This is not a masterpiece. No. I'll come right out and say that.
Why is this guy Jack Antonoff all over this record as a co-producer on 11 of the 12 tracks? Can we just leave him alone? Because he's on every other record. And I was disappointed that Kendrick sort of reached out to him. One of the things I've always liked about...
Kendrick, because he's always kind of gone against the grain. He's working, has been working, and continues to work with Soundwave as his primary producer. He's on every track. And he loves this guy Mustard. Right, right. And he's bringing in a lot of... underground rappers on this record as guests, which is terrific. Production's a bit overwhelming, underwhelming, given the superstar status of Jack Antonoff, et cetera. Who else has he worked with? Somebody named Taylor. Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes.
But every pretty much, you know, his thumbprints are all over the charts. That Drake feud played itself out pretty quickly. I know there were some people fascinated by it. I thought it was beneath both artists. I didn't understand. why Kendrick felt he needed to engage here. He's at such another level that punching down is never a good look for this guy. But people loved it. What do I know?
He's now on the opening track on this record. He's dissing, you know, he's dissing people for not supporting his, the announcement that he was going to headline the Super Bowl show enough. You know, that left the... kind of a, like, okay, are we doing this again? Are we, you know, in our feelings? And, okay, but then...
The middle of this record suddenly opens up and we get Hey Now, Reincarnated, which we just played, and TV Off, and suddenly this record takes a turn. Reincarnated is one of the best things he's ever done. It's a great track. It's an amazing track. It's this inner voice. He's using the Kendrick voices on that track are incredible. It's kind of like he's in a dialogue with himself. The first two verses are about John Lee Hooker and Billie Holiday. Yeah. we learn from them? He's asking himself.
I have this relationship with this music, this history. How do I not follow in their missteps, but follow in their footsteps in a positive way? Because he kind of very detailed analysis. of both of their careers. He studied these artists. He's listened to their music clearly. And then he comes back at the end and he's got this dialogue going with God. But you love war, God says. No, I don't. Yes, you do.
And I think it's about, you know, this conflict that he's experiencing himself. I don't know if God was AI-generated or not, but, yeah. TV off, Gil Scott Herons, The Revolution Will Not Be Televised. Kendrick agrees. It's not going to be turn off your TV, get out there, stop being so passive about your life. Get out there and do stuff.
How many should I send? Send them all. Take a rest or take a trip. You know I'm tripping for my dog. Who you with? Couple sergeants and lieutenants for the get back. This revolution been televised. I fell through with the knickknacks. A young get your chili up. Yeah, I meant that. A blackout if they act out. Yeah, I did that. And at the end, you know, I used to love her, the common track about a relationship with hip-hop. This is Kendrick's answer to that, Gloria. Great.
Back and forth with SZA on this track. where I think she's playing the role of the muse, the hip-hop muse, and he's talking about his relationship with them. So it's a mixed bag here, but the high points are really high. You can't ignore it. Well, you mentioned SZA. I would give a special...
Special shout out to the Mexican singer Deira Barrera. I think that's how we say her name. Kendrick saw her sing at the opening of a Dodgers game. I think it's an extraordinary voice. Yeah. Glad to hear that. Look. I didn't even mention in our introduction to Who is Kendrick Lamar the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for music, all right? You and I ain't got no Pulitzer, but Kendrick does, and good for him. First musical...
first musical star outside of classical and jazz to ever win that prize. He has nothing to talk about here. It's ironic that because I have very little use for Drake. I think Drake is solipsistic, navel gazing, you know, reach this level of fame, just just moaning about how hard it is to be at that level of fame.
And yet, you know, I think Kendrick's criticisms of him for having nothing important to say are valid. And yet now Kendrick has not a lot of importance to say. You know, I went back to our review of Mr. Morale. And we were so disappointed. Above and beyond what we both said. You know, the sadness radiating from our voices in that review. We expected this guy. Well, five years you expected. It's five years. And we had been such a big fan of the three records that preceded.
it um that was his therapy album where where he was dealing with personal stuff aside from reincarnated we don't have anything that deep and we thought that wasn't worth a whole album uh and here i don't you know it's like The stories about the streets are not there. The statements, you had made the comment, and it's very valid. Dylan spent his whole life, his whole career, fighting the voice of a generation tag. So did Kurt Cobain. Kendrick doesn't want that.
Yet he is talking endlessly with a lot of hubris about how important and how great he is on this record. That and the fondness for the B word and the N word. And it's just like, man, you're better than this. It feels like a toss off this record. Yeah, I agree with that to an extent, but I think, again, it's such a mixed bag. There's such great high points, but the stuff that's beneath him is disappointing.
Very mixed record. Well, that is what we thought of Kendrick Lamar's GNX. But as always, we want to hear from you. Leave us a voice message on our website, soundopinions.org. When we come back, we're going to share our favorite TV. show theme songs, and I don't just mean like Barney Miller. That's coming up on Sound Opinions.
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Island. Goose Island Beer Company? Chicago's Beer. And Sound Opinions is. And we are back. Greg, there was a time when If I said the two of us watch a lot of television with our significant others, people would be like, oh, you idiots, right? We are living in a golden age of quality TV. That's true. Somewhat slowed down by the pandemic.
the writers and actors strike, but still there is so much creativity happening that, you know, you can binge these shows and there's so much available to us. These great, you know, series that lasted a decade on British TV. that ended 15 years ago. You can catch up with them, right? So, you know, Carmel and I spend our cold winter nights enjoying these shows, and she was, for a time, the TV editor of the Chicago Tribune.
where you worked um and uh you know she has great taste i just follow her whatever she wants to watch i go with her and often you know her musical knowledge is not as wide as mine i would not expect it to be right but and she'll she'll hear a song and she'll say hey do you know
Yeah, I know that song, right? And here it is as the theme song for a great new show. It got us thinking. We've done several interviews over the years with music supervisors who have an unerring ear for choosing a great track. introducing it to a new audience via what they're doing in a television show. Think of Kate Bush running up the hill in Stranger Things, right? But we're talking specifically about the theme of a show.
that introduces each and every episode, even if after the first episode you hit skip intro. And I'm going to start with something I think I would never have said. A good Mick Jagger solo song. Good Jagger solo. Now, Slow Horses is one of the best shows on TV today, period. Gary Oldman, or as I'll forever think of him, Sid Vicious, as a burned out old burping, farting spy who runs a group of misfits six inches away from being fired by...
MI5, the British CIA, and, you know, all sorts of chaos ensues, right? And Jagger apparently was such a fan of the series of books that this show is based on that he sat down and wrote a theme song. for the show, and it's great. You know, to quote the man himself, he says it's got a kind of Kurt Weill vibe to it, and still bluesy without being blues. I hadn't done that before, and he ripped off a lot of...
the lyrics straight from the books. I love the show. I love the song. Heck, heck, I love solo Mick Jagger, if only for three minutes. Here it is. Misfits and boozers hanging by your fingernails. You made one mistake, you got burned at the stake. You're finished, you're foolish, you failed. This slippery slope Somewhere a ghost of a chance To get back in again And burn up your shades and dance with the big balls again.
Strange Game by Mick Jagger opens every episode of Slow Horses. If you ain't seen it, see it now. Oh, yeah. Well, your recommendation got me on the show, and lo and behold, that's Mick Jagger. Yeah, I know. What's going on here? What's he doing here? The show's great. The song is great. I want to go back a few decades for mine because this was kind of a...
It was one of those shows I caught up in when I was a teenager. It had already aired. It was called Secret Agent, 1964 through 67. It started out in England and then was sort of refashioned a bit for the U.S. audience, but Patrick McGowan was the agent, this guy John Drake, and he was sort of like the anti-James Bond. He didn't use a gun. There wasn't like these romantic, you know, one-night
stands that Bond was into. He was stirred, not shaken. He was quirky. He was a quirky secret agent, man. And I kind of, you know, I could relate to that. But, man, what I could really relate to was this theme song for the show. Johnny Rivers doing an amazing job with The Secret Agent, written by P.F. Sloan, best known for Eve of Destruction. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. He wrote a ton of...
great songs, this being one of them, and that riff is P.F. Sloan's riff, and Johnny Rivers took it all the way. I mean, it's one of the all-time great guitar riffs. Rivers' version, the one that was a hit, Originally, it was just a verse and a chorus and a little bit of that guitar for the theme song, and then Rivers fleshed it out at a live gig at the Whiskey A Go-Go in 66, and it went to number three on the pop charts, indicating...
those first indications how a TV theme song could translate into a major, major pop song. And here's Secret Agent from Johnny Rivers. To everyone he meets, he stays a stranger When every move he makes, another chance he takes Odds are he won't live to see tomorrow. Secret agent man. Secret agent man. They've given you a number. That is the theme song for the Spy Series Secret Agent from the 60s by Johnny Rivers.
Greg going with some classics. I'm dealing with mainly newer stuff. You know, the great footnote to Secret Agent is that then Magoo and... plays the prisoner. For his secret agent doings, he gets entrapped on that psychedelic island. Okay, so this is one of those examples where Carmel had never heard this song. We began to binge Peaky Blinders. This happens...
Fairly often. It happened with Breaking Bad, too. We'll watch the first episode of a show that everybody's raving over, not get hooked, and then put it away, right? So many people came back to me and said, you've got to give Peaky Blinders another chance. Have you given it another chance? No, I told you to go give it. I was like totally sold on it. In fact, I've been playing songs from the show.
on Sound Opinions, and I'm really glad you're going to play the one that you're using. Well, Carmel had not heard Red Right Hand by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. And it's, I mean, it is probably his most famous song even before.
it was used as this uh theme song um you know he wrote it with mick harvey it's uh it's based as so many great uh cave songs are on epic literature john milton's poem Lost, a lot of Bible imagery, this sinister, sinister figure that happens to play in nicely to both the Irish gangs and the IRA, which figure in Peaky Blinders. was the theme song for all five seasons, but not season six, the last, because Tommy, the main gangster character, who later played Oppenheimer, by the way, you know,
Kind of remakes himself and becomes a good guy, and so you can't have Nick Cave anymore. So the question is, now there's a Peaky Blinders movie in production. Do we get Cave or no Cave? But Red Right Hand, just a fantastic song, no matter what the kind. text out of nowhere but he ain't what he seems You'll see him in your head on the TV screen. Hey buddy, I'm wanting you to turn it on. He's a ghost, he's a god, he's a man, he's a guru.
You're one microscopic cog in his catastrophic plan, designed and directed by his red right hand. Nick Cave, Red Right Hand, Killian Murphy. Man, what an actor. What an actor, what a show. The songs... The choices on that show are incredibly astute. I recommend going back and finding the compilations of the songs that have been played on the show. Quite good. I'm going to go to, my wife in particular was a big fan.
fan of the show House, which was, you know, a massive hit, 2004 to 2012, that David Shore series starring the great Hugh Laurie. Hugh Laurie. As a misanthrope, of the most misanthropic characters ever to star in a mainstream television show a drug addict genius a brit a brit doing a fantastic jersey accent you know now you he's a blues pianist and i advocated
having him on the show to talk about one of his records. And I remember you shooting me down. I just wanted to talk to Dr. House. Well, that's true. And I missed that opportunity and I probably shouldn't have. But everything about the show was very astutely done, including the theme song, which was Teardrop by Massive Attack. the trip-hop flashback, right? The opening, they don't use the Elizabeth Fraser vocal, which would seem to be like, wow, that's the key to the song.
but they just play the intro to the song, basically, and it's just haunting, and it completely suits the theme of the show. You know, each time that piano chord drops, the image changes in those first 30 seconds, and it's brilliantly done. It sets the mood for the show. It's all instrumental. You don't need the vocal. You just get that down-tempo vibe, that darkness, the harpsichord and the piano playing together. It's brilliant. It just sets up the show, and it tells you we're in good hands.
here this is going to be really cool no matter how weird your disease dr house will figure it out that's right the theme song from house uh teardrop by massive attack on sound opinions That's Teardrop, Massive Attack, the house theme. Can't hear it now without thinking of Hugh Laurie, right? That's what a good theme song does. Let's turn to our associate producer, Sol Delgadillo, who's got a pick. Hello.
The song I chose this time for my TV song is I Don't Want to Be by Gavin DeGraw. And it was used as the theme for One Tree Hill. I think it's very iconic. I believe that they used that song for all nine seasons. And maybe in the last two seasons, they did a different rendition of it. Either way, they still carry throughout the entire thing. As far as why they chose it, I have no idea, but I think it perfectly fits the theme. One Tree Hill came out in 2003.
It's, you know, about it follows a group of friends that are going through high school and then like early life and all the struggles of being a teen. And I. started binge watching that show. I probably binge watched that show maybe like once every couple years. I've probably binge watched it seven times now. I'm I'm I'm not even joking. I love that show. There are some themes in it that are kind of problematic now. But overall, I think it's still it still holds as like one of my.
One of my favorite TV dramas, I think. I don't really watch much TV nowadays or at least like newer stuff. So I decided to go to a classic that I thought was pretty iconic. Like I said. But yeah, here is I Don't Want to Be by Gavin DeGraw, the theme song for One Tree Hill. Do we think of me and our peace of mind? All right. One Tree Hill. Never saw One Tree Hill. I think Carmel watched it. I did not either. We missed that one. There's so many great shows. I mean, it's impossible.
I have so many recommendations for TV shows to watch, and I'm sure great theme songs, because the people picking these songs these days are... If Sound Opinions wasn't barely surviving as a paying enterprise to pay our hardworking producers, we could do a TV podcast, Greg. There you go. As if we're looking for more work to do for free. Andrew Gill.
Our ace producer has got to pick this. This, Andrew, this is a great one. Yeah. You know, Gilmore Girls, Carole King, where you lead, you know, and actually, you know. It's a song off Tapestry, right? But would you guys agree it's probably one of the most forgettable songs on Tapestry, maybe? It doesn't stand out in context on that album. It was an original form, right? Yeah.
But, you know, the original version is subpar because this version was re-recorded with her daughter, Louise Goffin, and they rewrote the lyrics because, you know, the original song was very, like, stand by your man. She's described it as it was very like, I will follow a dude wherever he leads me. Subservient, like not very.
pro-woman, you know? And in the context of Gilmore Girls, it becomes about female friendship and strength. Yeah, and mother and a daughter. Instead of like a woman saying, I'll follow you, man, wherever you lead me, it's... mother saying, I will follow and support my daughter wherever she leads me. And it really like snatches that one from the, from the, you know.
possible dustbin of history because it was kind of a problematic song before, you know, but I agree. Yeah. And I think Carole King and Louise Goffin agree as well. You know, they, she wasn't performing it live. much. And there was a 2004 live DVD that she released. where she commented on how she just did not really like the song that much after it had come out. And now it's kind of like rebirthed. And so anyways, Gilmore Girls is just such a classic show. My household.
We've rewatched the series probably like five times. And then it's only on the fourth or fifth that you begin to catch some of the dialogue that went by so quickly. Oh, yeah. Famously. You catch new things all the time. Yeah. But like that theme song, when it hits. even though i had never heard that song before i saw gilmore girls i think um and uh it but it just hits and
And is really a great, there was a podcast maybe 10 years ago called Gilmore Guys, where two guys rewatched the whole series. And at the end of every episode of that podcast, them and whatever guests they had would. sing the theme song. Maybe that's what we need to do, Greg. Have our own theme song and then we can sing it. You get the guests to sing along too. Yeah, so that's the key. Anyways, where you lead.
This is technically called Where You Lead, I Will Follow. But I think the show actually only uses words that were in the original. It just leaves out the problematic parts. So here it is, Gilmore Girls theme. Feeling lonely and sorry Gilmore Girls, Carole King and Louise Goffin provided the theme song, Where You Lead. When we come back, we'll play more great TV show theme songs in a minute on Sound Opinions.
And we're back. This week we're sharing some of our favorite TV show theme songs. And now let's hear from our producer, Alex Claiborne. Alex, what have you got for us? Hey guys, the song I want to play for you today was the theme song of a short-lived HBO series called Winning Time. And it was about the dynasty of the Los Angeles Lakers in the...
late 70s, supposed to reach up until the early 90s. But unfortunately, they canceled it after two seasons. But I will always be grateful that it introduced me to a song that I had not heard before, which was the song My Favorite Mutiny by the... Coup, and it features Black Thought and Tlaib Kweli. And it is off their, I believe, 2006 album. I thought that this was the perfect theme song, and they feature Black Thought's verse, which is the first verse and the first chorus. Basically...
They're calling for a mutiny and uprising against corrupt organizations, a change in the status quo, a recognition of marginalized people. And I think it fits well because of the time period in Los Angeles in which. this series covers or was supposed to cover in that late 70s, the 80s, the early 90s, you know, all of the things going on like police brutality, race relations. It really was a very impactful and it's a hard hitting song. Black Thought is awesome.
The chorus is great. It has almost a 70s vibe about it as well. A very soul driven energy that I think worked well in the show and works great if you just listen to the song on its own or in context of the original. album.
I'm coming at your neck, sick of hearing something wrong with me. I'm something wrong with you. When you're cheap, just way too smart to question. The enemy, the brothers of a dark complexion. The governments of the world is shark infested. They have the own weaponry like Sharpton Heston, man. Look, it gets low. Low. Know what I'm talking about. Get it.
That's the coup, my favorite mutiny. Alex chose it for being the theme song of winning time. Greg, it's no fair because Alex could do 100 picks. She is our TV pop culture maven. The Pooh Bob TV. Absolutely. Absolutely. Let's turn to Columbia College intern, Max Hatlam. Hey, everybody. So I picked the theme song for the show, What We Do in the Shadows. It's an FX comedy about ancient vampires living in modern-day New York. It's very funny. And the theme song for the show...
is called You're Dead. It's by an artist named Norma Tanega. She was a late 60s folk rock artist. I personally didn't know who she was until seeing the show, or actually... um the movie that the show was based on there was a movie in 2014 by the same name and this was like a spin-off of that used the same song and it's a great fit for a show about vampires
In the first line, she sings, don't sing if you want to live long. They have no use for your song. You're dead and out of this world. And apparently the song was actually about. this late 60s folk music scene in New York. I think Norma was expressing some frustrations with that. I think it's kind of telling of her career in that way because she didn't. play music a long time um first album was 66 second one was 71 and then she kind of transitioned into
Like I said, playing percussion in some other bands, but mostly like painting and teaching, which is cool. But yeah, Norma Tanega is definitely my favorite artist that I've found through a TV show theme song. Don't sing if you want to live long. They have no use for your song. You're dead, you're dead, you're dead, you're dead and out of this world. You'll never get a second chance. Plan all your moves in advance. Stay dead, stay dead, stay dead, stay dead and out of this world.
Man, I love that pick. You're Dead, Norma Tanega. That's a song from the mid-60s. She was a, she kind of like presaged the singer-songwriter era, but she wrote some really amazing, you know, kind of eccentric songs. I think it was a great song. I think what we do in the shadows kind of jumped the shark to use that TV term. I got tired of it after a bit. But what's your next pick?
I'm going to go to the theme song for The Godfather of Harlem, which I binged on a few months ago. I'm primarily drawn to it because of the cast. that Forrest Whitaker was going to be playing the drug lord Bumpy Johnson based on factual, you know, a story, historical reference. This guy, Bumpy, who was befriended Malcolm X, and even though they were...
were completely opposites in a lot of ways in what they believed in. They tried to work together to uplift the black community. And the music, again, strikingly great. The theme song was just, Deb started singing, my wife Deb started singing.
in the theme song when the show wasn't playing because it was just stuck in our heads. It was just one of those earworms that you couldn't get rid of. And it was a brilliantly done song. It's called Just In Case with Swizz Beats, Rick Ross, and DMX combined. to play this theme that we heard consistently for weeks as we were binging on the show. You know, this soaring chorus with a church choir, the lyrics open up my window again, I can hear death calling my name.
I swear to God things ain't going to change. I keep a revolver with your name just in case. This whole idea of being a black man in America in the 60s was dangerous business. It still is. It never went away. But it really gets to the heart of that issue in the black community and the theme song.
totally encapsulated, even though hip-hop hadn't been invented yet. Yeah. Nonetheless, it spoke very much to what was happening in the, you know, historically based drama on the screen. This is Just In Case, the theme song for the guy. Godfather of Harlem TV series. Just in case, Swizz Beats, Rick Ross, and DMX, a theme from Godfather of Harlem, a great series. Check it out if you have not already.
Greg, I'm going to the long-running show Shameless. I used the phrase jump the shark earlier. I think it was great for a long time. I love the fact that it was showing us parts of Chicago that you never see in TV series. And a working class, lower class population you rarely see on TV. But, you know, how many times was dad going to get drunk and ruin everything? I mean, after a while, it was done.
I was not a fan of the high-strung band of musicians from Michigan who form in Williamsburg, where else in the early 2000s heyday of Strokes. yeah, yeah, yes, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. I think in a lot of ways, the luck you got, the song that kicked off Shameless for such a long time was second rate White Stripes, right? I mean, it sounded like a White Stripes.
song very much so but it's a great song and it was perfect for these down on their luck uh family members that were the heart of the show you know think of think of the lyrics think of all the luck you got know that it's not for naught You were beaming once before, but it's not like that anymore. It's about living in the muck and the mud, shameless, but trying to make the best of it. And that's what this song, I think, perfectly captured. It came from an album.
called Moxie Bravo in 2006. The Highstrung never achieved anything near the success of those other Brooklyn bands from the early 2000s, but they got a form of immortality nonetheless with this thing. songs. The luck you got powered the show shameless. I knew you'd have to have something from this show, Greg, where you're going next. I wanted to go to something by Tom Waits, the song Way Down in the Hole, originally written for his 1987 album, Frank's Wild Years, and then repurposed.
for one of the great series of all time, HBO's The Wire. David Simon. Five seasons of David Simon greatness, basically dissecting different aspects of Baltimore. Just urban drama of the highest level, acting, music, everything working together incredibly well. And the same well-thought-out theme song, you know, waits. way down in the hole is basically it's self-descriptive. I mean, it...
basically gets to the idea of the way a lot of people felt, the way a lot of people feel in this series about, you know, digging themselves out of a hole that just seems endless. Waits the Song captured that, and each season... had its own particular version of that. So it wasn't just Waits' version that was used. It was the Blind Boys of Alabama, Neville Brothers, Steve Earle. They were all contributing different versions per each season. So it's an incredible, you know, it's like...
Sophie's Choice kind of deal, which one do you think is the best? Yeah, which one do you go with? I mean, they're all brilliant in their own way. If I had to choose just one, I'm a sucker for the Blind Boys of Alabama, and their version just blows me away every time I hear it.
go wrong with any of them, and it just so suits one of the greatest, grittiest TV series of all time. Here is Way Down in the Hole, as interpreted by the Blind Boys of Alabama, the Tom Waits song, the theme song for The Wire series. If you walk through the garden, you better watch your back. But I beg your pardon. Jesus will save your soul. You gotta keep the devil. Ah, good one, Greg. Tom Waits down in the hole.
Blind Boys of Alabama doing it. You ever go back to the earlier Simon Connected Homicide series? Oh, yeah, for sure. Yeah, we bought the DVD box set, came in a little filing cabinet. Yeah. It was really... cool wow yeah uh i'm going to orange is the new black a revolutionary show in many ways portraying women in prison women of color uh women of many ethnic origin
Just so many great female actors. Greg, there was a period there where New York actresses, people of color, trans people, Laverne Cox, so many people who we wouldn't have seen. On television, we're getting these roles and just killing it. So much talent in those casts. Now, I have never been a fan of the Russian-born New York-based singer-songwriter Regina Spector. Also,
you know, burst onto the scene in that early 2000s explosion of creativity in New York. She just had a little too much Broadway in her, you know? But I think her song, You've Got Time, written specifically for... Orange is the New Black, just like Mick Jagger with Slow Horses. It was the perfect choice of the artist and the song. It is about animals, animals trapped in the cage. And it's got such a...
furious, pent-up energy. It captures, I think, the feeling of being locked up, being behind bars. Showrunner Jenji Cohen said that she was listening to Regina Spector the entire time. time she was writing the first episodes of Orange is the New Black. And then she was over the moon when Spectre said she would write a song and record a song to power that show. So Orange is... The New Black was the show. Regina Spector's You've Got Time.
Regina Spector. You got time. I think you like Regina Spector overall a little more than me. Just a hair more? Perhaps. I don't know. You know who was a big fan? I just remember this. The Strokes were huge Regina Spector's fans. Yeah, well, I think we're all hanging out. How much of it was personal and social and how much of it was musical? I just remember them touting her long before I'd heard of her. And, you know, that got me on the Regina Spector radar.
I want to go back to the 70s and Sanford and Son, a groundbreaking show starring Red Fox. The fact that Red Fox was in America's homes every week during that era. I mean, one of the raunchiest comedians. Bluest of the blue, yeah. Funny as heck, but no way did he belong on mainstream TV. And there he was in Sanford and Son, starring, you know, Sanford, he played. Brett Zanford, Red Vox, and his son was played by Damond Wilson. And the show for five years was quite well-received, huge audience.
And talked about just two guys owning a junk shop in Watts in L.A. Junkyard, yeah, I love it. You know, based on a British sitcom. Again, you know, Steptoe and Son was kind of the model for this, but they made it, now they're two black. guys in a rough area. And it was brilliant. And the theme song was equally brilliant. Quincy Jones, who... You know, whatever you may think of Quincy, before he worked with Michael Jackson, I mean, he worked with everybody. He was an incredible...
incredibly prolific composer, arranger, and producer. He'd done work with Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra, Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, and he wrote tons of TV and movie themes. I mean, it was one of his... Bread and butter. Revenue streams, right? Quincy, you know, he was in an incredible series of deadlines when he was assigned to write a theme song for this new series.
I interviewed him once and he said, I knocked off the song in 20 minutes. I called it The Street Beater because I wanted something that was as wicked and gritty and funky as Fred Sanford's Junk Shop. I wanted something that... you know, kind of orally gave you a window, a picture of what that environment was like. You know, I wrote it what Red Fox looked like in the show.
And it is gritty. They knocked it out in a matter of hours. Tommy Morgan's bass harmonica was really a big part of that theme. He wanted that sort of gravelly tone that emulated us. Sanford's voice. So here we got, Quincy called the song Street Beater. It is better known as the theme song for Sanford and Son on Sound Opinions.
Quincy Jones with the street beater from Sanford and Son, a 70s classic TV series. You know, there was a stretch there where you couldn't go into a guitar store or a musical store in New York and not hear somebody playing that. Or the theme for Barney Miller. Right. Also way, way up there. I got one last pick, Greg, and it's by Aloe Black. I need a dollar.
How to Make It in America was the show. You know, Carmel, as TV editor for a long stretch there, was always watching previews or, you know, the first two or three episodes or something to get ready to run coverage in the Chicago Tribune.
uh this is not a show that she continued to watch and have me uh watch with her uh but forever like you were talking about deb uh singing uh swizz beats uh she was going around saying i needed dollar a dollar a dollar is what i need you know show about two guys trying to make it in new york's infamous uh garment district uh you can't cutthroat there uh and aloe black just nailed it with this
theme song, Egbert Nathaniel Dawkins III. Raised in Orange County, California of Panamanian parents, a really interesting artist above and beyond connecting with most people via this television show um how to make it in america aloe blacks i need a dollar Bad times are coming. Aloe Black. I need a dollar from How to Make It in America. That's a good one to catch up on, Greg, if you haven't binged it. I like the song.
That wraps up our favorite TV show theme songs. We could have gone on for 100 more picks, especially with Alex. But we want to hear from you. Do you have any that you would add to the list? Which songs keep you from hitting? skip intro. Leave us a voice message on soundopinions.org with your thoughts. We can share them on the show. Greg, what do we have on the show next week? Next week, Jim, we're going to look at Bob Dylan's Blood on the Tracks. Great conversation to be had about...
the guys who made that record what it was and never got the recognition they deserved. A classic album dissection. And don't forget to check out our bonus podcast where we add new songs to the Desert Island jukebox. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this program belong solely to Sound Opinions and not necessarily to Columbia College Chicago or our sponsors.
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