A Reminder That Mick Jagger’s ‘Slow Horses’ Theme Song Absolutely Slaps

In the expansive world of television theme songs, the intro music for Apple TV+‘s Slow Horses remains vastly underrated.

With the exception of enduring off-air faves like Friends and The Office, and select current series like Succession and The White Lotus, not nearly enough TV theme songs get the buzz they deserve these days. So I’d like to take a moment to remind everyone that “Strange Game,” the song that Rolling Stones legend Mick Jagger co-wrote and sang specifically for the spy thriller, utterly slaps.

Based on the best selling book series by Mick Herron and adapted for television by Veep co-writer and co-producer Will Smith, Slow Horses follows a group of British intelligence agents whose mistakes got them relegated from the elite MI5 to the dismal Slough House. Led by the grumpy, jaded Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman) the disgraced Slough House team works together to solve high-stakes crimes and, just maybe, redeem their reputations.

Jagger was a fan of the popular book series ahead of the show’s premiere in April 2022, so when composer Daniel Pemberton emailed him to ask for his help with the theme song, he was all in. “I’d heard of [Pemberton], because he’d done quite a lot of TV and film music, English guy, and he’d gotten a lot of kudos [and] nominations for awards. He said, ‘Would you be interested in doing this TV theme?’ I’m always up for doing something different,” Jagger told Rolling Stone. “They’re kind of a new take on spy stories … It’s sort of an anti-John le Carré or anti-James Bond. … I’ve always liked that genre, and it’s always nice to see it get slightly reinvented.”

Pemberton sent Jagger a track without lyrics, and he went to work. The result? A mysterious, sexy, smoldering song that kicks off with the following painfully on-point lyrics: “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’s unique voice layered atop this particular collection of chords is the epitome of cool. I transform into a different person when the Slow Horses intro blares and bleeds into an opening episode scene. I shift my shoulders in tandem with the clashing sound effects, coo along with Jagger’s OOOOooooOoOoohs, and summon my smoothest vocals to belt the chorus. I feel feisty. Alive. Like a stealth Slough House spy.

The Slow Horses theme is badass by nature, like the edgy cousin of Peaky Blinders’  iconic “Red Right Hand” by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. The song’s vibes fit the show and its characters perfectly, it pumps me up for an episode as effectively as The White Lotus or Succession’s themes do. While those options may be better for frantic living room dancing, in addition to being catchy, “Strange Game” has VOCALS, so when it’s stuck in your head for a week after each episode you actually get to sing lyrics instead of mouthing out sound effects. The dream.

“Strange Game” deserves to be a regular fixture on your playlists, so if you’ve been sleeping on Slow Horses wake the hell up. Take my word that the show and its theme song slap. But if you need more proof, look no further than Mick Jagger himself. You really think someone with his caliber of cool would associate himself with a show that didn’t live up to his music? Now that would be a strange, strange game.

New episodes of Slow Horses Season 2 premiere on Apple TV+ on Fridays.