From "The Sopranos": R.L. Burnside -- "It's Bad You Know."
YOU CAN’T GO WRONG WITH THESE SONGS FEATURED IN THE BEST SHOWS AND SCENES EVER PRODUCED FOR TELEVISION
By ADAM BUCKMAN
These 12 songs represent some of the greatest moments, shows and individual scenes in the history of television — a compelling playlist for anyone’s iPod.
(1) “Johnny Appleseed” (Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros): A great song that stands on its own, but became the theme song for the coolest TV series ever made about southern California, “John from Cincinnati” (HBO, 2007).
(2) “Sun/Rise/Light/Flies” (Kasabian): Also from “John from Cincinnati,” this incredible ’60s-infused rock song accompanied the final surfing sequence in the series’ pilot. Unforgettable.
(3) “Return to Me” (Bob Dylan): This song, Dylan’s acoustic-guitar version of a love song popularized by Dean Martin, was overlaid on one of the best sequences in the entire run of “The Sopranos” — a series of scenes near the conclusion of “Amour Fou,” the penultimate episode of the series’ third season. It’s the sequence in which Ralph Cifaretto (Joe Pantoliano) is seen telling Rosalie Aprile (Sharon Angela) that her son Jackie Jr. (Jason Cerbone) is in trouble with the mob.
(4) “It’s Bad You Know” (R.L. Burnside): This haunting (and downright frightening) recording by the Mississippi bluesman R.L. Burnside was played ever-so-briefly, but oh-so-ominously in the final episode of Season 1 of “The Sopranos,” just after Tony Soprano pulled a revolver out of a fish’s mouth and gunned down Chucky Signore on Chucky’s boat.
(5) “Moonglow” (Artie Shaw & his Orchestra): No one who watched Ken Burns’ epic 2007 documentary about World War II, “The War,” will ever forget the series’ opening scene of a sleepy Alabama town before the war, as this tender classic of the Big Band era played over the voice of Keith David narrating the story of Glenn Frazier, then 16, who would go on to provide the series with some of the most stunning personal stories of war ever told on TV.
(6) “Waiting for the Train to Come In” (Harry James & his Orchestra, with Kitty Kallen): From the same Ken Burns series, this sentimental track with James’ long trombone intro was used for a sequence near the documentary’s conclusion that showed Americans welcoming their boys home after four years of war. If you watched this and didn’t cry, then you need to call a cardiologist to treat you for your heart of stone.
(7) “You Are the Sunshine of My Life” (Stevie Wonder): It was one of the sweetest moments ever produced on any show in the history of TV — the moment on “Taxi” in 1982, in the episode titled “Jim’s Inheritance,” when Rev. Jim (Christopher Lloyd) explores his father’s belongings following his father’s death and finds a cassette in a jacket pocket that seems to have been put there just for him. It turns out to be “You Are the Sunshine of My Life,” a sweet revelation made even better when Jim blurts out: “Dad — I didn’t know you liked Stevie Wonder!”
(8) “With a Little Help from My Friends” (Joe Cocker): Cocker’s gravel-voiced cover of the Beatles’ song from “Sgt. Pepper’s” will forever be remembered as the theme song for “The Wonder Years,” the great, well-loved show about childhood in suburbia, circa 1970. This series was so uncannily accurate that people of a certain age could have sworn the show was produced specifically about their lives.
(9) “Desperado” (Linda Ronstadt): In season five of “The Wonder Years,” in the episode titled “Stormy Weather” in 1992, this tune was used oh-so appropriately when Kevin’s sister Karen (Olivia d’Abo) was reunited with her boyfriend Michael (David Schwimmer) and they slow-danced on the front lawn in the pouring rain.
(10) “Eli’s Coming” (Three Dog Night): This 1969 song came up suddenly and poignantly at the conclusion of an episode of “Sports Night” titled “Eli’s Coming” in 1999. It came right at the moment that the “Sports Night” staff heard the stunning news that their executive producer, Isaac (Robert Guillaume) had suffered a stroke.
(11) “Worry About You” (Ivy): This song, with its lyrics, “Bye bye baby, don’t be long. I’ll worry about you while you’re gone,” was used to unforgettable effect in the final sequence of the pilot episode of “The 4400″ in 2004. The sequence was one of the most beautiful ever produced for any show, and the song helped underscore the alienation felt by the 4,400 people who had been abducted by alien spacecraft — some decades before — and were suddenly returned to earth in the present day, having not aged at all.
(12) “Breathe Me” (Sia): Like “Worry About You,” this song became one of those go-to tunes for a number of TV shows and movies, but the best use of “Breathe Me” came in the final sequence of the final episode of “Six Feet Under” in August 2005, when Claire Fisher (Lauren Ambrose) left home for New York and the sequence advanced forward, far into the future, to show the deaths/fates of this HBO series’ principal characters. It was one of the most affecting sequences ever filmed for television.
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