In an exclusive interview with Variety, Mick Jagger discusses working on “Strange Game,” the theme song to the new Apple TV+ espionage series Slow Horses, which premieres this Friday, April 1.
As announced earlier today, Jagger co-wrote and sings the tune, and the Rolling Stones frontman tells Variety that before getting involved in the project, he’d already read and was a fan of author Mike Herron‘s book series on which the show is based.
“I knew the vibe really well, so as soon as [composer Daniel Pemberton] sent the track to me, I just dashed off a few pages of notes of what I thought it was about,” Mick explains. “It came very, very quickly, which is always a good sign.”
Pemberton, an Oscar-nominated composer who co-wrote “Strange Game” and composed Slow Horses’ score, says his collaboration with Jagger took place via Zoom, text and email starting in December 2021.
“I played him the track on guitar,” Pemberton reveals. “I’m not even a good guitarist. That was very weird, playing guitar for Mick Jagger on the Zoom line.”
Jagger says he then recorded his ideas on his iPhone and sent the track back to Pemberton, who loved it.
Mick adds, “And then we had to do a bit of crafting, trying to get a chorus…and trying to get the verses from the point of view of the main character.”
That character is Jackson Lamb, portrayed by Gary Oldman, who’s the head of a branch of the U.K. counter-intelligence agency MI5 that’s populated by failed agents hoping to redeem themselves.
“It’s quite irreverent, but the Gary Oldman character is irreverent,” Jagger notes. “It’s also slightly eerie, so it combines those two things. You don’t want to make it too serious.”
“Strange Game” will be released Friday.
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