Song of the Day: 'The Last of Us' Meets Hank Williams

The new HBO hits series has been "Alone and Forsaken" since its big game days. Plus versions by Emmylou, Neko Case and Gary Burton.

Greg Mitchell is the author of a dozen books and now writer/director of award-winning films. He was also a longtime editor of the legendary Crawdaddy.

If like many others you started watching The Last of Us on HBO this week, you still may not know about the role Hank Williams’ immortal “Alone and Forsaken” has played with the franchise for over a decade, going back to its birth as an uber-popular game. Here, for example, from 2012, it was already part of the soundtrack on the day it was announced as a coming product.

When the game was completed, a key portion of it (forgive me if I’m wrong, I am not a gamer) is actually titled “Alone and Forsaken” and finds our two heroes, adult and teen, still besieged by zombie-type creatures, arriving in Pittsburgh—no doubt this is to come in the series—with Hank setting the tone, of course. My son, an ace creative director in L.A., was an early fan and sent us excerpts but I did not know of the Hank connection. Then, three months ago, HBO released the first trailer for the series, and Hank again was featured strongly.

The truth is, “Alone and Forsaken” is not high on the list of Hank’s most famous or covered songs, which is kind of amazing. One reason may be that he never recorded it with a band (it was more like a demo) or released it while alive. Another reason: It is one of the “heaviest” and most depressing songs ever written. But it has grown in stature in recent years thanks to more cover versions (examples follow). A movie tip and our daily political cartoon resides way down below. Enjoy, then subscribe, it’s still free!

Emmylou Harris with Mark Knopfler

Neko Case

Even jazz great Gary Burton with good vibes on his early 1966 recording in Nashville.

Movie Tip

You may recall my Ten Best 2022 Movie list from a couple of weeks past and my promise to update as I saw a few final films. Also, on social media over the weekend, you may have noted the sudden Oscar boom for Best Actress for one of our longtime (if not famous) faves, Andrea Riseborough, led by top actors from Cate Blanchett to Edward Norton and dozens in-between. So we finally watched the ultra-obscure but not streaming To Leslie yesterday and: Riseborough not only deserves the Oscar but To Leslie has vaulted into my Six Best list for 2022 now. Loved Marc Maron as well....

Cartoon of the Day