Thom Yorke turns “Gawpers” into the theme for Apple TV+'s Smoke

Smoke, Dennis Lehane's crime series for Apple TV+, premieres today with Thom Yorke's “Dialing In” over its opening titles. The song is a reworking of “Gawpers”, which Yorke first sang in April 2019 at the Philharmonie de Paris with the pianists Katia and Marielle Labèque, and went on playing at his own shows without ever releasing it.

Lehane tells Decider the idea came from Yorke, a big fan of his earlier series Black Bird, who let it be known he was open to working together. Lehane, of the same generation, counts Yorke as an idol. His brief was one of the show's undercurrents: that people lie to themselves and are lied to by every pillar of society, until nobody knows what to believe. In Apple TV+'s press release last month he put working with Yorke on a level with Clint Eastwood, Martin Scorsese and Richard Price. Being asked for notes on the finished song was the strangest moment he can remember. I'm not gonna give Thom Yorke notes on a song! My note is: 'Wow, that's awesome!' Like, done!¹³

“Dialing In” has been out since 28 May, when it also played under the series trailer. Yorke recorded the new version with Sam Petts-Davies, and the Tidal credits list Agnes Yorke, his daughter, on backing vocals. He sent people to your least crap streaming service³ to hear it.

Smoke follows an arson investigator, played by Taron Egerton, and a police detective, played by Jurnee Smollett, hunting two serial arsonists in the Pacific Northwest. Each of its nine episodes uses about a minute and a half of the song. The whole of it is on Yorke's YouTube channel, in a video Weirdcore, who has made visuals for The Smile, directed and released on 24 June. Egerton appears in it, and footage from the series melts through it like burning film.

the Weirdcore video for Dialing In· Thom Yorkewatch on youtube →