Why Slow Horses theme song Stranger Game is a masterclass in singing swagger, thanks to Mick Jagger

Buoyed by the worldwide popularity of the Oscar-winning film CODA (Best Picture, no less), more Indian English content viewers have been keeping tabs on what Apple TV+ has to offer. The streaming giant, on its part, has kept it very exciting.

By cleverly dropping new episodes on Fridays for some of its popular shows like WeCrashed, The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey, and Slow Horses this April, Apple TV+ has ensured that your weekend plans are made well in advance.

Of the lot, Slow Horses has fast become the streaming buzzword as this six-episode espionage show about bumbling spies and misadventures has you in thrall with its edge-of-the-seat action, superlative star cast, and the wittiest of lines. Led by Jackson Lamb (brilliantly and Emmy-worthily played by Gary Oldman), the dysfunctional bunch of largely nincompoop sleuths from Slough House — a haven for MI5 failures — finds itself in a world of smokes and mirrors, and is racing against time to save England, for sure, and its own back in the process.  

Resorting to narrative sleight of hand, this gripping spy series revels in its misdirection, oftentimes finding a moment to laugh at a situation or our anticipation of it. Tying it all together is a deliciously dark theme song, 'Strange Game,' exclusively co-written for the show and sung by legendary rocker and The Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger. 

He teases the slow horses from Slough House, ridiculing them for follies that cost them their posts at the MI5’s prestigious headquarters at Regent’s Park: “Surrounded by losers, misfits and boozers / Hanging by your fingernails / You made one mistake, you got burned at the stake / You're finished, you're foolish, you failed."

Jagger uses his voice to taunt and to strut, to put on display ample conceit and deride the characters when they are down on luck. Strange Game finds itself positioned neatly between the foreboding sound of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ Peaky Blinders theme song 'Red Right Hand' and the irreverent title track of The Young Pope by Devlin, who absolutely nails it with a robust version of Jimi Hendrix’s cover of 'All Along The Watchtower.'

There is a swing to the way he throws his words, almost pummeling your ego in the process, but with a touch of sophistication. Coupled with eerie female vocalisation, the theme song rides on the menacing nature of Jagger’s vocals, that heighten to create a sense of discomfort which is sinister and cheeky. 

In interviews, Jagger — whose voice sounds very much like it did in his prime — speaks of how the theme song has a distinct Kurt Weill’s blues vibe. Germany-born Weill is renowned as a composer for the stage, famous for his successful collaborations with Bertolt Brecht to create a revolutionary kind of opera that was seeped in social satire. Some of Weill’s best works include Threepenny Opera, especially the song 'Mack the Knife.'

Together with Slow Horses series composer Daniel Pemberton, Jagger creates a perfectly noir setting where he needles, humours, and even haunts as he sings, “It’s a million to one, there’s a place in the sun / To dance with the big boys again”. 

Oscar-nominated and Emmy-winning composer-songwriter Pemberton is a favourite among filmmakers like Guy Ritchie (The Man from UNCLE, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword), Danny Boyle (Steve Jobs, Yesterday), and Aaron Sorkin (The Trial of the Chicago 7, Being the Ricardos). For Slow Horses, Pemberton has created a score that ably aides the inverted storytelling techniques of the show with music that balances exaggerated chases with shrill pathos, characters with biting sarcasm with those that exhibit bumbling mediocrity.

To Pemberton’s credit, he has created a score that highlights the sharp writing of the show that, showing restraint when needed and amplifying the effects when the scene requires. The theme song lays bare the nature of the plot, the characters on whose tentative shoulders the narrative rests, and the viewer expectation of a spy drama where what you see may or may not be what you get. 

Pemberton’s mastery also lies in harnessing a kind of youthful maturity from a rockstar, who has spent over 60 years of performing both in the studio and on stages around the world. If Jagger has sounded more aged in the past decade, he allows his voice to emulate his practiced flounce as he relishes in sneering at the characters, occasionally letting poignancy slip into his chronicling of the storyline.

If Slow Horses is about Gary Oldman’s masterclass of a performance, then 'Strange Game' is Jagger’s reminder that he may not be the most prolific rock and roll singer around but there is still so much surprise left in his voice.

Poignance is unmistakable from Wild Horses to Slow Horses.

Slow Horses finale will drop this Friday on 29 April on Apple TV+.

Senior journalist Lakshmi Govindrajan Javeri has spent a good part of two decades chronicling the arts, culture and lifestyles.

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