That ‘Easy Street’ Song Writer Could Not Understand Why The Walking Dead Would Want His Song, Until He Saw Episode, See Video and See it used as New Walking Dead Theme Song
“We’re on easy street, and it feels so sweet, cos the world is but a treat when you’re on easy street…”
Bloody hell, it gives us shivers just hearing it.
When we first watched The Walking Dead‘s third episode of season 7, the main question we found ourselves asking was: ‘What the hell IS that song?’
Throughout ‘The Cell’, poor Daryl is subjected to various torture techniques while locked in Negan’s compound, but the worst has to be the constant playing of a far-too-chipper song called ‘Easy Street’.
But no matter how many times we Googled the lyrics or Shazamed the track, nothing would come up. So, what the hell is it?
Thankfully, the torture for us is over, as the song has been ‘released’ online. It’s predictably called ‘Easy Street’ and it’s by a band called The Collapsable Hearts Club. No, they can’t spell “collapsible”, but that’s their prerogative.
And it appears that you haven’t been put off too much by it, as it has already risen up to number 21 in the iTunes downloads chart as of Tuesday morning.
Writer Jim Bianco has spoken about its involvement with the show, telling The Independent: “Exactly how the song got into their hands is a mystery to me. But when they heard it, the show reached out and asked to use it.
“I didn’t really understand why a show like The Walking Dead would want to use such an upbeat, over-the-top, in-your-face ‘happy’ song but now I understand – to torture someone, of course.
“I think the show used it brilliantly; framing such an upbeat song as a torture advice is a work of genius by the music supervisor. We’re happy to be a part of such creative use of music in such an iconic show.”
So, now you know. If you ever need to torture someone in your basement (not that we’re advising you to do that), here’s the song you need.
Here are the lyrics:
We’re on easy street, And it feels so sweet, Cause the world is but a treat, When you’re on easy street
And we’re breaking out the good champagne, We’re sitting pretty on the gravy train, And when we sing every sweet refrain, Right here on easy street
It’s our moment in the sun, And it’s only just begun, It’s time to have a little fun, We’re inviting you to come and see why you should be, On easy street
Yea we got a front row seat, O, to a life that can’t be beat, Right here on easy street, It’s our moment in the sun, And it’s only just begun
It’s time to have a little fun, And we’re inviting you to come, and see why you should be, On easy street
Yea we got a front row seat, O, to a life that can’t be beat, Right here on easy street ,Cause the world is but a treat, When you’re on easy street, ‘Cos the world is but a treat, When you’re on easy street
The song itself only became available on Spotify last week.
The episode also featured the classics ‘Town Called Malice’ by The Jam and Roy Orbison’s ‘Crying’.
Over the course of seven seasons, The Walking Dead has launched many a meme, combining internet culture and humor with walking rotten corpses and an array of story arcs. This week’s most recent episode has given birth to an entirely new, somewhat intolerable meme that fans are simply calling “Easy Street.”
Warning: The following will contain spoilers for the events of The Walking Dead’s third episode from this season.
This week’s episode focused pretty heavily on Daryl and his imprisonment in the cell at Negan’s camp. Daryl’s being fed sandwiches made of dog food, forced to sit in solitary confinement within the cell and worst of all, is only allowed to listen to one song as a form of torture: “Easy Street” by The Collapsible Hearts Club.
What could have just died off with the end credits of the episode has turned into something that fans can’t stop talking about. On Reddit, there are dozens of threads complaining about the song, with people bemoaning the fact that they can’t get it out of their heads.
“Just got off work and came to this sub just to see if other people had it stuck in their head all day also,” Reddit user ssort said. “Glad to see Im not the only one.”
Despite the group of fans that are cursing The Walking Dead’s music supervision team, others have taken the song and turned it into something more. One fan used the song to recreate the show’s opening, making it feel like more of a sitcom than a horror survival show.
Another used the catchy and uplifting tune to create a mashup of the gruesome deaths that have occurred on the show since it began in 2010. The cheery pop song juxtaposed with a horde of zombies ripping into someone’s flesh is admittedly pretty funny, but it’s just another example of how quickly The Walking Dead’s audience have latched onto the strange use of the track.
Others have taken the meme to social media, using Twitter, Facebook and Vine to share memes they’ve created. In the Vine below, Daryl is riding with Rick in an earlier episode and when Rick goes to put on a CD to listen to, it’s “Easy Street” that comes blaring out of the car speakers.
Like any meme, it’s impossible to say how long this will keep The Walking Dead fans entertained, but it doesn’t seem to be dying off just yet. In fact, some are looking for ways to incorporate the song into their daily lives, with many admitting they purchased or downloaded the song to use as their ringtone.
The Walking Dead airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on AMC.
digital spy polygon
