'The Last of Us' Found Its Perfect, Lonely Match in This Hank Williams Track
Following some fantastic inclusions of songs like Linda Ronstadt’s “Long, Long Time” and Depeche Mode’s “Never Let Me Down Again,” HBO’s The Last of Us continued building its excellent soundtrack this week. Episode Four's needle drop threw it back to 1955, with Hank Williams’s "Alone and Forsaken."
Unlike showrunner Craig Mazin’s use of the Ronstadt ballad in Bill and Frank’s love story, the Hank Williams song has a key connection to The Last of Us's source material. The track boasts lyrics that connect to the loneliness of the HBO post-apocalyptic series, as Williams sings in the chorus: “Alone and forsaken by fate and by man/Oh Lord, if you hear me, please hold to my hand.” But the exchange in Bill’s truck between Joel and Ellie also occurs in The Last of Us video game. Just as it happens in the HBO series, Ellie finds the tape and asks Joel if it makes him “feel nostalgic?” Joel responds, saying, “This is actually before my time… It’s a winner though.”
The only difference between the show and the game—outside of the duo heading toward Kansas City in the HBO series instead of Pittsburgh—is that Joel plays Hank Williams’s just-as-fitting song, "I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive." Later, when Ellie falls asleep, she wakes up to hear “Alone and Forsaken,” since both songs are on the Hank Williams Original Singles Collection that she finds in the backseat. The song also provides the name of the chapter in the game, as well as the title of the episode, “Please Hold My Hand.”
If you’re looking for what song may come next, know that Joel sings Pearl Jam’s “Future Days” for Ellie near the beginning of the game. Hopefully we’re just a couple episodes away from Pedro Pascal’s Joel warming up enough to sing us a song.
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