Kanye’s Connect Four thrashing was our excuse to bring up The Wire yesterday. Today’s excuse: Tom Waits and Steve Earle. Show obsessives (there are no casual fans, here) know that Steve plays recurring character Waylon, the former addict who’s taken a shine to (now-clean!) Bubbles, but Earle ups his involvement for the urban drama’s final season by covering the Tom Waits-penned theme song “Way Down In The Hole” (prior seasons saw renditions from The Blind Boys Of Alabama, Tom himself, The Neville Brothers, and Baltimore teen group DoMaJe).
Of course, you already knew Steve was doing the final season’s theme music because you regularly read the New Yorker and saw last June’s Earle profile (right?), but thanks to the show’s OnDemand premiere in advance of Sunday, now there’s YouTube of the Steve soundtracked opening montage.
While we’re talking Wire-related New Yorker pieces, there’s this little 11,000 word must-read profile on genius creator David Simon from back in October waiting for you, just in case you haven’t got to it yet. Meanwhile Whit points us to this conversation between Nick Hornby and Mr. Simon. Or if you’d like to get your fill of the deification of David by the media via lots of links in one spot, New York Mag‘s got the re-up, along with interviews with Omar, Marlo, and Bubbles.
If you haven’t watched the premiere yet, do it. McNulty’s drinking again, the show’s tackling the local media (and the local media’s maybe a little bitter), looks like Avon’s back, and the city is (surprise!) totally fucked.
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Despite what the Sun says, the season premiere was great. Season 4 is gonna be tough to live up to, but so far they’re off to a good start. Loved the lie detector. If you guys want to make finding excuses to talk about The Wire a regular thing for the next couple months, i know i won’t be complaining. Oh, and to anyone not watching, you’re missing out on the best tv show of at least the past 10 years.
I just watched the season 5 premiere ondemand last night. oh so good.
I’ve only seen the first episode (loved the lie detector too), but from what the San Francisco Chronicle says and they’ve seen 7, The Sun has got good reason not to like the final season of The Wire. There’s some shit in there that stings a little. I’ve been a fan since season 1, the payoff has been immense, and I’m sad to see the end of the line for the show. And @ Greg, forget the last 10 years. The Wire is arguably the best drama of all-time. Can’t wait for Omar to show back up. It’s going to be a great season. It’ll be good night nurse for HBO when it ends too. If Curb doesn’t come back they’ve got nothing. I’d rather eat broken glass than do another season of John From Cincinnati. HBO is going down the tubes.
PS – For anybody that can’t wait until Sunday this is where I got my hands on the first episode. It’s in 2 parts but it’s well worth the download. Enjoy…
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=I44AA7CD
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=CC9W6ZTQ
I haven’t gotten around to Season 5, Episode 1 (still schooling my ladyfriend on the previous seasons), but I’m confident that it will be amazing, as usual.
Not just the greatest TV show of the decade, the best work of pop culture on the whole.
Love Steve Earl’s take on the theme. Don’t love it as much as the Blind Boys of Alabama’s version, but it’s close.
Haha, well Larry I was trying to avoid coming on too strong and scaring people off with hyperbole, but yes I fully agree with you. (I also think it’s better than any film that’s been released in the past 10 years, and could easily stand alongside classics like The Godfather as a high watermark and turning point in its medium). See what you made me do.
For the sake of musical conversation, my favorite rendition of the theme was DoMaJe in year 4, with the Blind Boys of Alabama coming in second.
Steve Earle’s voice sounds good doing the theme song, but the music itself blows. It sounds exactly like a Law and Order theme.
Waits’ version was definitely the best.
Way to wreck the song Steeeven!
such a great show, glad to see people agree. hard to say anythings better than the waits original but i really liked that season 4 version.