Bon Appétit

Will Graham

After watching six episodes of The Living and the Dead, I discovered (as perhaps some of you did as well) that the show’s theme song kept getting stuck in my head. I searched the credits for some mention of who might have done it. The credits listed The Insects as having created the original music, but nothing more.

After a quick internet search, I discovered that The Insects is a film soundtrack and audio production company located in Bristol. I wrote them an email asking if they had any more information about the theme song or other music used in the series, and they quite graciously replied:

Thanks for your interest. We arranged and produced all the tracks used in the series.

The theme tune for the series is a traditional English folk tune called ‘A Like Wake Dirge’. The song goes back a long time and has pre-Christian/Pagan roots. Our arrangement has a more contemporary feel and features the vocals of Mark Legassick aka Howling Lord.

The song we use in Episode 1 is ‘She Moves Through the Fair’ which again a traditional piece,though with Celtic Origins, The singer is Elizabeth Fraser (Cocteau Twins, Massive Attack).

Episode 3 features a song called ‘The Reaper’s Ghost’ which was written by the American singer/songwriter Richard Dyer Bennet back in the 1930’s.It was based on a story he overheard in a rural pub whilst visiting the UK! The singer is Sean Cook (Spiritualized,The Flies)

The end credits music on Episode 4 is another traditional tune called ‘The Lover’s Ghost’ - another cheery title! The singer was Elizabeth Fraser.

Hope you find this of interest.

All the best,