‘The Wire’ almost had a different theme song by the Cowboy Junkies

nme.com:

The Wire was almost made using a different opening theme song, according to the show’s creator David Simon.Each of the five seasons of the acclaimed HBO crime drama opened with a different version of Tom Waits‘ 1987 track ‘Way Down In The Hole’, taken from his 10th studio album, ‘Franks Wild Years’.The five versions were sung by The Blind Boys Of Alabama (season one), Tom Waits (season two), The Neville Brothers (season three), DoMaJe (season four), and Steve Earle (season five).However, the show’s creator has now revealed that the opening theme could have been very different had it not been for some serious last minute chasing and help from Waits’ wife Kathleen Brennan.Simon, a longtime fan of Waits, first used music by the US singer-songwriter in a fifth season episode of Homicide: Life On The Street titled ‘Bad Medicine’.

When it came time to make The Wire, he dipped back into Waits discography to find something suitable for his new show.“The first [song] I found was ‘Get Behind The Mule,'” Simon told Entertainment Weekly. “And it didn’t quite work, lyrically.

It worked emotionally, but the verses were all way off point. I kept trying to force it, tried to use different verses first, tried to play around with it.

Finally, [executive producer] Bob Colesberry said, ‘I like the feel of it. I like the guy’s voice, but it’s not quite getting there.’ And I had to agree.“I went back and looked for similar things that were suggestive of the ubiquitous drudgery and pain of whatever you’re engaged in,” he continued.