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 forking 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 forking 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.