"Seven Psychopaths" Soundtrack Lyrics

"Seven Psychopaths (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)" – Album Guide to Tracks and Key Scenes

Overview

What does a Hollywood blood opera sound like when the writer wants to be kind? Seven Psychopaths straddles both: twangy country gospel, indie grit, needle-drops with a smirk, and Carter Burwell’s mournful, desert-dry score. The music is the movie’s conscience and its punchline, sometimes in the same cue.

Marty (Colin Farrell) tries to finish a screenplay while his wildfire friend Billy (Sam Rockwell) and saintly dognapper Hans (Christopher Walken) escalate a Shih Tzu caper into a gangland problem. The soundtrack flips between period gems (Hank Williams, P.P. Arnold, Linda Ronstadt with the Stone Poneys), post-punk/indie (The Walkmen, Deer Tick, Josh T. Pearson), and classical stingers (Berlioz; a Mahler-adjacent lull) while Burwell braids a fatalistic theme through it all.

By feel, it’s a three-act mix: vintage country & 60s pop — irony and fate; guitar-forward indie — black-comic propulsion; elegiac score — reckoning in the Mojave. The album stands alone as an unexpectedly eclectic listen, yet in-film each placement nudges the story’s meta-jokes toward actual feeling.

How It Was Made

Composer & concept: Carter Burwell scores the film with a spare, funereal palette — tremolo guitars, low strings, elegiac progressions — a dry counterpoint to the script’s gleeful violence. He’d previously worked with Martin McDonagh, and the collaboration leans toward restraint over bombast (trade coverage notes).

Album & label: Lakeshore Records issued the compilation/score hybrid. Digital street date landed in late October 2012 with physical CD in November. The album collects Burwell cues and source cuts by Hank Williams, P.P. Arnold, The Walkmen, Deer Tick, Josh T. Pearson, Townes Van Zandt, and more.

Tracks & Scenes

“Angel of Death (Undubbed Session Demo)” — Hank Williams
Where it plays: Opening minutes (~00:01). Over a cold-blooded curbside execution prologue, Williams’ spare country gospel turns the kill into a sermon about consequences.
Why it matters: Sets the tone — gallows humor with a spiritual hangover.

“Mr. Mudd and Mr. Gold” — Townes Van Zandt
Where it plays: ~00:05 as Billy and Hans’s dog-kidnapping business is introduced; a card-sharp ballad for two hustlers.
Why it matters: Rules of chance as rules of crime; Townes is philosophy with a steel string.

“You Don’t Know” — Helen Shapiro
Where it plays: ~00:18, Billy talks to his mirror and winds himself up before the next bad idea.
Why it matters: Early-’60s pop sweetness undercuts his volatility — funny and a little sad.

“Stranded” — The Walkmen
Where it plays: ~00:19 at a Hollywood party as Marty pitches the “Quaker” story; the room hums with brittle cool.
Why it matters: Urban drift for writerly waffle — the movie pokes at itself and the scene.

“Different Drum” — The Stone Poneys feat. Linda Ronstadt
Where it plays: ~00:21 as Marty wakes at Billy’s place to find a kidnapped Shih Tzu and fresh chaos; the sunny 60s breakup lyric plays ironic host.
Why it matters: A soft, jangly contradiction — denial with tambourines.

“The Trumpton Riots” — Half Man Half Biscuit
Where it plays: ~00:24 as Marty scans Billy’s newspaper advert; a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it snatch of cult satirical punk.
Why it matters: A seven-second Easter egg that signals the film’s taste for left-field gags.

“The Unknown Immortal” — Joe Strummer
Where it plays: ~00:28 during a café debrief after the first body-trail; Strummer’s noir pulse scores the boys talking themselves deeper in.
Why it matters: Street-poet gravity for idiots in over their heads.

“Don’t Start Loving Me (If You’re Gonna Stop)” — Veda Brown
Where it plays: ~00:45 as Billy awkwardly tries it on with Angela; the scene swerves to violence.
Why it matters: A deep-soul plea weaponized as black comedy.

“Angela Surf City” — The Walkmen
Where it plays: ~00:49 as Billy guns the car post-shooting; drums hammer while neon blurs past.
Why it matters: The film’s most kinetic needle-drop — panic with a metronome.

“The Comancheros” — Claude King → “Dallas” — The Felice Brothers
Where it plays: ~00:53–00:55 in a bruised bar scene right after Hans’s loss; Marty tries to tell the Quaker tale as Billy derails him.
Why it matters: Saloon myth and Americana grime bracket grief and bravado.

“Dirty Dishes” — Deer Tick
Where it plays: ~00:59 as the trio heads for the desert to “write the ending.”
Why it matters: Road-song ache for a meta-movie pilgrimage.

“Country Dumb” — Josh T. Pearson
Where it plays: ~01:02 while Hans records screenplay notes for Marty among Joshua trees and sun-bleached rocks.
Why it matters: Country gospel minimalism; Hans’s kindness gets a hymnal.

“The First Cut Is the Deepest” — P.P. Arnold
Where it plays: ~01:44 into end credits; the film exhales under Arnold’s definitive version of Cat Stevens’s song.
Why it matters: After all the jokes and gunfire, a classic about wounds and beginnings.

Classical cameos: Berlioz Roméo et Juliette strophes (Monteverdi Choir/ORR under Gardiner) sound like sacred punctuation; a child-chorus lull (Philharmonia Chorus/Orchestra) brushes one of the film’s tenderest cuts.

Notes & Trivia

• The commercial soundtrack is a hybrid: Burwell score plus source songs, issued by Lakeshore Records in late 2012.
• That cheeky Half Man Half Biscuit needle-drop lasts only seconds but became a cult talking point among fans.
• “Different Drum” (Linda Ronstadt with the Stone Poneys) isn’t just retro color — it’s the film’s best joke about denial.
• Townes Van Zandt’s “Mr. Mudd and Mr. Gold” mirrors Billy/Hans’s hustle dynamic with card-table metaphors.
• Classical inserts (Berlioz; a lullaby-style chorus cue) aren’t random: they bookend violence with ceremony.

Music–Story Links

When Marty’s script threatens to become just another bloodbath, Burwell’s pensive cues put sand under the wheels — literally — so the desert can push him toward grace. “Angela Surf City” weaponizes rhythm to sell Billy’s worst impulse as momentum; “Country Dumb” frames Hans’s taped notes as compassion, not kismet. And closing with Arnold’s “The First Cut Is the Deepest” reframes an R-rated shaggy-dog tale as a wounded love letter to storytelling.

Reception & Quotes

Reviews singled out Burwell’s “funereal” undercurrent and the canny song choices that play against the violence. The album has since become a minor favorite among soundtrack diggers for its rangy sequencing.

“Doleful score… supplemented by cool vocal choices that play nicely against the verbal comedy.” festival/critics coverage

“A kooky desert finale replete with a Carter Burwell score.” Toronto & trade capsules

“Funereal spin on the material’s playful disregard for human life.” Variety review line

Interesting Facts

• Label & dates: Lakeshore Records handled the release; digital in late October 2012 and CD the following month.
• End-credits switch: The P.P. Arnold version of “The First Cut Is the Deepest” closes the film, not the Cat Stevens recording many expect.
• Two Walkmen cuts: “Stranded” (party) and “Angela Surf City” (post-Angela drive) bookend the movie’s tonal pivot from irony to panic.
• Barroom Americana: “The Comancheros” and “Dallas” serve as wry saloon wallpaper while the Quaker tale takes shape.
• Linda Ronstadt revival: The Stone Poneys placement sent a new wave of listeners to the 1967 single.

Technical Info

• Title: Seven Psychopaths (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
• Year / Type: 2012 — Film soundtrack (Various Artists) + original score (Carter Burwell)
• Director: Martin McDonagh
• Composer: Carter Burwell
• Label: Lakeshore Records
• Release: Digital late Oct 2012; physical CD mid–late Nov 2012
• Highlighted placements: “Angel of Death” (Hank Williams); “Mr. Mudd and Mr. Gold” (Townes Van Zandt); “You Don’t Know” (Helen Shapiro); “Stranded” & “Angela Surf City” (The Walkmen); “Different Drum” (Stone Poneys feat. Linda Ronstadt); “The Comancheros” (Claude King); “Dallas” (The Felice Brothers); “Dirty Dishes” (Deer Tick); “Country Dumb” (Josh T. Pearson); “The First Cut Is the Deepest” (P.P. Arnold); Berlioz strophes; Philharmonia Chorus lull.
• Availability: Streaming/download; CD via Lakeshore.

Questions & Answers

Who composed the score, and what’s its vibe?

Carter Burwell — laconic, mournful, guitar-and-strings textures that make the desert feel like church.

What’s the song over the opening kill?

Hank Williams’s “Angel of Death” (undubbed session demo) — a chilling country gospel needle-drop.

What’s blasting when Billy speeds away from Angela’s place?

“Angela Surf City” by The Walkmen — a drum-driven surge that matches the panic.

Which version of “The First Cut Is the Deepest” closes the film?

P.P. Arnold’s 1967 recording plays over the end credits.

Is there classical music in the film?

Yes — a Berlioz choral excerpt and a child-chorus lull appear as sharp, ceremonial contrasts to the bloodshed.

Canonical Entities & Relations

Sources: Lakeshore/retail album listings; Film Music Reporter (album details); composer site notes; soundtrack scene/timestamp databases for placements; classical track listings (Presto/retail); general film reference pages.

November, 27th 2025