History AwesomeMusic / TheWestWing

* In season 2, "Somebody's Going to Emergency, Somebody's Going to Jail" unsurprisingly greets us in the ColdOpen with Don Henley's hauntingly beautiful "New York Minute." [[WordOfGod Aaron Sorkin]] confirmed that one of his ways to deal with writer's block is to get in the car and turn on the radio. For whatever reason, that song in particular stood out to him one morning, and he realized he wanted to tell a story with the same mood as the song. And he had a title, which is better than nothing in his line of work. This means the song scores some ''stunning'' sunrise-pink aerial shots of an eerily empty Washington, DC before cutting inside the usually chaotic West Wing, which is abandoned but for Leo and Sam. Then we get a DiegeticSwitch that makes it clear that Sam fell asleep to the kind of radio station that'd play "New York Minute." The oddly empty office and the string-and-bell-heavy intro to the song sets the tone for an unusually emotional, heartfelt episode about Sam's BrokenPedestal about both his father and Daniel Gault.
** Snuffy even incorporates the notes from the intro's bells as piano in the score for [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext the sugar-tossing scene.]]

* In season 2, "Somebody's Going to Emergency, Somebody's Going to Jail" unsurprisingly greets us in the ColdOpen with Don Henley's hauntingly beautiful "New York Minute." [[WordOfGod Aaron Sorkin]] confirmed that one of his ways to deal with writer's block is to get in the car and turn on the radio. For whatever reason, that song in particular stood out to him one morning, and he realized he wanted to tell a story with the same mood as the song. And he had a title, which is better than nothing in his line of work. This means the songs scores some ''stunning'' sunrise-pink aerial shots of an eerily empty Washington, DC before cutting inside the usually chaotic West Wing, which is abandoned but for Leo and Sam. Then we get a DiegeticSwitch that makes it clear that Sam fell asleep to the kind of radio station that'd play "New York Minute." The oddly empty office and the string-and-bell-heavy intro to the song sets the tone for an unusually emotional, heartfelt episode about Sam's BrokenPedestal about both his father and Daniel Gault.

* The lead-in to the theme tune in the episode "25", which was helped by brilliant cinematography. Bartlet finds out that [[spoiler:Zoey has been kidnapped]] and he immediately drops the photos of her he's been sorting and his glass of scotch. He then glances at Abbey, and as the background music crescendos, the camera zooms in on one of the pictures. The entire sequence takes twenty seconds, but it's a brilliant 20 seconds.

** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tG9_vyXLhA Halleluja]]", sung by the late great Jeff Buckley [[spoiler:over the death of Secret Service Agent Simon Donovan.]]
** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTVtcZc8MGc England Arise]]", by the play's actors intercut with [[spoiler:the assassination of the terrorist (but Defense Minister of Qumar) Shareef by British forces.]]

Awesome music in ''Series/TheWestWing''.
----

* In "The Two Cathedrals", the ending montage set to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaUPDYXQUtw "Brothers in Arms"]] by Dire Straits, which plays at the President and his entourage travel in a thunderstorm to the site of a press conference where the major issue is whether he will continue running for reelection in the wake of his hidden diagnosis of multiple sclerosis being made public. The guitars rise just as Charlie tries to run and put a coat on Bartlett as he stands in the rain, and everything else, the rain, the thunder, even the snaps of the press corps' cameras are all timed to play off it. Quite possibly the best three minutes in the entire series with the perfect score over the top of it.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaUPDYXQUtw "Brothers in Arms"]], the time Charlie runs out in the rain with Bartlet's coat and the guitar kicks in. And the [[PowerWalk power walking]].

* From the Season 5 episode "7A WF 83429": The OneWomanWail begins as Donna tells Josh "They've put up a memorial to Zoey on the Lawn. I want to go see it before I leave. Wanna come?" As they walk through the building, we are treated to scenes of the motorcade pulling up to a church, cops and Secret Service pounding the street, Leo along in the Situation Room, and finally, Donna's quiet "Oh my God" as she and Josh come down the steps and we finally see the memorial: rows and rows of candles, flames as far as the eye can see down Pennsylvania Avenue, teddy bears, pictures of Zoey, flags, flowers. From the Trope Codifer of the OneWomanWail, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qz5srvmLVSw Lisa Gerard.]]

* The military funeral of a homeless vet juxtaposed with [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXlPSXuJFDQ The Little Drummer Boy]]. ''TheWestWing'' was always fabulous with song juxtaposition.

* From Season 5 episode 7A WF 83429: The OneWomanWail begins as Donna tells Josh "They've put up a memorial to Zoey on the Lawn. I want to go see it before I leave. Wanna come?" As they walk through the building, we are treated to scenes of the motorcade pulling up to a church, cops and Secret Service pounding the street, Leo along in the Situation Room, and finally, Donna's quiet "Oh my God" as she and Josh come down the steps and we finally see the memorial: rows and rows of candles, flames as far as the eye can see down Pennsylvania Avenue, teddy bears, pictures of Zoey, flags, flowers. From the Trope Codifer of the OneWomanWail, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qz5srvmLVSw Lisa Gerard.]]

* The use of MassiveAttack's "Angel" at the end of "Commencement". It's the perfect balance of creepy, tense and trippy as Zoey realises she's been drugged and then her Secret Service detail realise she's missing, and the repetition of "Love you, love you, love you" as Amy questions Donna's feelings for Josh.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hwkWnVenMU The montage]] in "The Mommy Problem" set to "Jet Airliner" by the Steve Miller Band perfectly captures the hectic nature of a presidential campaign.

** "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTVtcZc8MGc England Arise]]", by the play's actors intercut with [[spoiler:the assassination of the terrorist (but Defense Minister of Qumar) Shareef by covert US forces.]]

* Two amazingly fabulous pieces, set back-to-back and interlaced with scenes from a play the President is attending, in ''Posse Comitatus'' (season 3 finale)
** ''Halleluja'', sung by the late great Jeff Buckley [[spoiler: over the death of Secret Service Agent Simon Donovan]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tG9_vyXLhA here]]
** ''England Arise'' by the play's actors intercut with [[spoiler: the assassination of the terrorist (but Defense Minister of Qumar) Shareef by covert US forces ]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTVtcZc8MGc here]]

** ''Halleluja'', sung by the late great Jeff Buckley [[spoiler: over the death of Secret Service Agent Simon Donovan]]
** ''England Arise'' by the play's actors intercut with [[spoiler: the assassination of the terrorist (but Defense Minister of Qumar) Shareef by covert US forces ]]

* Two amazingly fabulous pieces, set back-to-back, in ''Posse Comitatus'' (season 3 finale)
--> ''Halleluja'', sung by the late great Jeff Buckley [[spoiler: over the death of Secret Service Agent Simon Donovan]]
--> ''England Arise'' from the play ''1776'' intercut between the play itself [[spoiler: and the assassination of the terrorist (but Defense Minister of Qumar) Shareef by covert US forces ]]

* The [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dmp1sGsHOAg theme music]] for ''TheWestWing''. Performed [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfmouyWcYLk live for your listening pleasure]].

* And the military funeral of a homeless vet juxtaposed with [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXlPSXuJFDQ The Little Drummer Boy]]. ''TheWestWing'' was always fabulous with song juxtaposition.