The new Apple TV+ series Your Friends & Neighbors stars Jon Hamm as a rich guy who goes broke and turns to a life of crime: specifically, robbing other people in his wealthy Connecticut neighborhood. The producers of the series had the wise idea to have former Walkmen singer Hamilton Leithauser handle the opening theme music. Leithauser worked with composer Dominic Lewis on "The Joneses," a song that would not sound entirely out of place on his new album This Side Of The Island but has a bit more of a prestige-TV sweep to it.
Series creator and showrunner Jonathan Tropper explains, "Our composer Dominic Lewis wrote "The Joneses" after seeing our cuts of the show, and we all loved it so much that the musical themes in it also became part of our score. It just seems to capture the darkness and irony but also the fun heightened nature of the show." After going to see a Walkmen show, Tropper started listening to their music again and got the idea to have Leithauser sing the song. "Hamilton's got such an interesting and unconventional voice - it's raw and epic and intimate all at the same time," Tropper says. "When we were thinking about who should record Dom's tune, I started to imagine the song in Hamilton's voice, and I thought it might be a great match. There's a melodic weariness to it, a perfect imperfection that I thought captures the angst and irony of the song and, by extension, the show."
Leithauser had some creative input, too, tweaking the lyrics and melodic phrasings. "Watching him and Dominic in the studio together was really exciting because I got to see the song morph from its original form into something different," Tropper says. "Dominic's original composition and harmonies are all still there, but he and Hamilton combined their different sensibilities into something new, and the song became edgier and more lyrical."
Leithauser shared his own statement about "The Joneses" and how it relates to Hamm's character:
This guy is dumbstruck. His house-of-cards materialistic lifestyle has just collapsed, and he never saw it coming. He’s suddenly alone in this bizarre world of extravagance. The lyrics juxtapose images from inside of these Connecticut mansions with his utter loneliness and disbelief.
The first two episodes of Your Friends & Neighbors are out now on Apple TV+, and Hamm is hosting SNL this Saturday night, 4/12. (The musical guest is Lizzo, but Leithauser would be cooler.)
