Best use of a song or music in a single episode in TV history

[Colton]

Piggybacking off the excellent "Best single episode in TV history" thread, how about music?

It could be a specific song tied with a moment or scene or for an entire episode.

For me, one that made things dusty was the haunting piano used when Gary (Peter Horton) died on Thirtysomething.

I'm sure there are a ton more for me, but that's a start.

 

[heyabbott]

Miami Vice, Smugglers Blues

 

[Central-KY-Kid]

Little Drummer Boy + West Wing Christmas episode (homeless veteran death).

From wiki:

"1999: The West Wing's first Christmas episode, "In Excelsis Deo," featured a boys choir singing the song over a funeral service. The episode went on to win multiple Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series for Aaron Sorkin and Rick Cleveland and Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series by Richard Schiff."

 

[Versatile]

This is pretty specific. In the context of a single episode, I love "Devil Town" in the Season 1 finale of Friday Night Lights.

I also loved Winnie Cooper's theme song, particularly in the episodes when she and Kevin Arnold were on bad terms. The Wonder Years and WKRP in Cincinnati are the best-scored shows I've seen.

 

[jr/shotglass]

Colin Hay's "Overkill" on Scrubs.

 

[Songbird]

This isn't No. 1 for me but it's the first one I thought about.

Keep in mind, this first episode came on right after the Super Bowl. It was a different kind of show, a really ****ing good show, and then the ending, when these two seventh-graders kiss, became one of those TV moments that had everyone talking the next day.

 

[Brian]

Mad Men pretty much has this surrounded for me. The Nashville Teens' version of "Tobacco Road", Peter, Paul and Mary's version of "Early In The Morning", Bob Dylan's "Don't Think Twice It's All Right" and the Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows" are probably my favorite show-closers.

 

[joe]

Anytime they use Jeff Buckley's "Hallelujah." Cliche? Sure, and many others did the song before him. But his version is haunting and beautiful and chokes me up damn near every time I hear it when used in a TV show.

 

[Versatile]

This isn't No. 1 for me but it's the first one I thought about.

Keep in mind, this first episode came on right after the Super Bowl. It was a different kind of show, a really ****ing good show, and then the ending, when these two seventh-graders kiss, became one of those TV moments that had everyone talking the next day.

That's an awesome choice.

Brian, my favorite Mad Men fadeout was "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right." The use of "Tomorrow Never Knows seemed forced, as thought Matthew Weiner was rubbing it in the faces of other showrunners that he was allowed to use The Beatles.

 

[Uncle.Ruckus]

 

[DanOregon]

Any show that uses Gary Jules' "Mad World." Haunting.

 

[Rawbot]

"Winter" by Joshua Radin on Scrubs. The episode was "My Screwup" with Brendan Fraser.

 

[Stoney]

This is pretty specific. In the context of a single episode, I love "Devil Town" in the Season 1 finale of Friday Night Lights.

Damn good call. I remember that scene well.

 

[Stoney]

Scrubs kicks ass in this category. There are so many scenes where they nailed the musical choice. Both happy and sad. Aside from the ones already mentioned, another that just popped in my head on the sad side was this scene:

 

[micropolitan guy]

There was an episode of "Homicide" in which a biker essentially agreed to be killed in order to save his family. I think the Pretenders' "I'll Stand by You" was playing as the detectives did the crime scene as the show ended. Very moving.

"Californication" has some great music too. The Warren Zevon song (can't remember the name) playing in the final scene i season 3 or 4, when Hank and his daughter are on the beach as his wife flies off to New York, was outstanding.

And all of the music in Ken Burns' "The Civil War" was epic.

 

[Songbird]

There was an episode of "Homicide" in which a biker essentially agreed to be killed in order to save his family. I think the Pretenders' "I'll Stand by You" was playing as the detectives did the crime scene as the show ended. Very moving.

"Californication" has some great music too. The Warren Zevon song (can't remember the name) playing in the final scene i season 3 or 4, when Hank and his daughter are on the beach as his wife flies off to New York, was outstanding.

And all of the music in Ken Burns' "The Civil War" was epic.

Season 2 of Californication, Hank's letter to Karen, when the show still meant something.

Pearl Jam:

 

[YGBFKM]

Clutch, Regulators, from the barn-burning episode of Walking Dead.

 

[HejiraHenry]

There was an episode of "Homicide" in which a biker essentially agreed to be killed in order to save his family. I think the Pretenders' "I'll Stand by You" was playing as the detectives did the crime scene as the show ended. Very moving.

My first thought.

 

[dooley_womack1]

Cold Case had numerous nice uses of period music. A great instance of a musical instance repeated several times was With or Without You as the leitmotif for Ross-Rachel breakups on Friends.

 

[Shoeless Joe]

I can't hear "Don't Stop Believin'" and not associate it with the final few minutes of the entire run of The Sopranos.