The Music of Murdaland: Tunes from The Wire

The Wire has excellent music. The show's opening sequence, paired with the theme song "Way Down in the Hole" by Tom Waits, is one of TV's best.



The show has a few other excellent tunes that struck me. "Way Down in the Hole" is performed by a different artist for each season; those seasons and their respective artists being:

Season One: The Blind Boys of Alabama
Season Two: Tom Waits
Season Three: The Neville Brothers
Season Four: DoMaJe (arranged and recorded specifically for the show by five Baltimore teenagers)
Season Five: Steve Earle (also a member of the cast, playing recovering heroin addict Walon to perfection)

It's tough, but I think the Blind Boys' version might be my favorite. Great tune.



Each season also has a closing montage and theme song. I remember the close to Season Two (maybe my favorite season) really hit me; I was pleased to find out it's "I Feel Alright" by none other than Steve Earle. It's got a great blue collar rocking sound to it. Guess I should check out some more of Earle's stuff, because I like what I've heard ("Copperhead Road" anyone?)



Another great tune is played during the fantastic wake scenes at Kavanagh's. Sergeant Jay Landsman's hilarious eulogies preface the sendoff of the departed officer with the inevitable "The Body Of An American" by The Pogues.



I imagine this would be a great song to carouse to while drinking Jameson. (Fun fact: Did you know that the character of Landsman is based on and named after the actual Jay Landsman, who plays a minor role in the show? The Wire is filled with these little snippets of trivia.)

As always, Wikipedia proved invaluable for the information used in this post.