Monday, February 23, 2009

The Wire



This post brought to you by Soccer Mom in Denial - posting every Monday on a different musical memory.

****************************************************

I love this show - before you say anything I haven't seen Seasons 4 & 5 yet. So far 1-3 have been amazing.

Aside from the characters and story lines, I particularly like the theme song. There are the rare occasions when you like the TV theme song - or it triggers such an instant connection to the show that you can hardly distinguish whether you like the show or the song more. And sometimes, there are no words just a catchy tune.

Each season has the same song but sung differently by different artists - and all amazing artists. From Wikipedia:
The opening theme is "Way Down in the Hole", a gospel- and blues-inspired song originally written by Tom Waits for his 1987 album Franks Wild Years. Each season uses a different recording of it against a different opening sequence, with the theme being performed, in order, by The Blind Boys of Alabama, Waits himself, The Neville Brothers, "DoMaJe" and Steve Earle. Season four's version of "Way Down in the Hole" was arranged and recorded specifically for the show, and is performed by five Baltimore teenagers: Ivan Ashford, Markel Steele, Cameron Brown, Tariq Al-Sabir, and Avery Bargasse. Earle, who performed the fifth season's version, is also a member of the cast, playing the recovering drug addict Walon.


How cool is that?


2 comments:

soccer mom in denial said...

You are linked and THANK YOU for writing this before you left town. You big sweetie.

The West Wing and ER themes always got me jazzed up. Still do. Love the story about the Wire's theme song. I had no clue about it.

PS - my word verification is "joint". First time ever I got an actual word.

Jen said...

I've heard such great things about The Wire. Seeing the opening montage got me even more psyched for it.