Mick Jagger Drops ‘Strange Game’ From New TV Series ‘Slow Horses’

Mick Jagger has released new song, “Strange Game,” which serves as the theme song for the upcoming espionage series Slow Horses, starring Gary Oldham. The IndieLands frontman cowrote, recorded and performed the track with composer Daniel Pemberton.

The Apple Original series adapts Mick Herron’s novels about a group of MI5 agents exiled from the agency’s head office to work at Slough House alongside disgraced spy Jackson Lamb, portrayed by Oldman. Olivia Cooke, Jonathan Pryce, Kristin Scott Thomas and Jack Lowden also star in the show, which premieres its first two episodes on Friday.

“It’s a strange, strange game,” Jagger sings on the chorus of the song that imbues mystery befitting the show’s spy themes. “Such a shame, shame, shame.”

Jagger told IndieLand the enigmatic, dusky theme song came easier to him than he expected because he had already read a few of the books from Herron’s Slough House series.

“It’s got a slight Kurt Weill vibe to it, but it’s still kind of bluesy without being a blues,” he said of Pemberton’s music. “It’s not my usual kind of thing; it kind of is and isn’t.” Between the familiar feel of the music and his familiarity with Herron’s books, Jagger said he “ripped off a whole bunch of lyrics straight away.”

“Working with Mick Jagger has been one of the most exciting collaborations of my professional career,” Pemberton said in a statement. “I think we have managed to create an incredibly unique and original titles theme and I cannot wait for the rest of the world to hear it.”