American rock band Modest Mouse’s ‘Night on the Sun‘ was the song playing during the opening scenes of this week’s For All Mankind.
We hear it as the camera pans around the station, and we see the results of the Helios workers’ strike — For All Mankind, Season 4, Episode 7, “Crossing the Line“.
It ends as the workers are in a meeting demanding their rights, or they will stay on strike thus severely delaying the work that desperately needs to be done.
Quick information about Modest Mouse’s ‘Night on the Sun’
Modest Mouse’s ‘Night on the Sun‘ is the almost 10-minute long title track from the indie rock band’s 1999 six-track EP of the same name.
Well, a 1999 EP in Japan, as that was the only country it was officially released in until it came out in both the United States and the UK as a 12″ 4-track vinyl record in 2000.
Due to not much fanfare on release, and the split release decision, Night on the Sun was pretty much a Modest Mouse underperformer. Although several critics commented on it favorably.
A shame as both the title track and ‘You’re the Good Things‘ are pretty standout songs.
Modest Mouse must have realized this, as all four tracks from the UK/U.S. release came out again a year later on the band’s 8-track EP Everywhere and His Nasty Parlour Tricks.
That time, the EP hit two U.S. charts — Heatseekers (at #5) and the Billboard Top 200 (at #147) — so the songs earned more of their due worth at least.
Modest Mouse’s ‘Night on the Sun‘ lyrics talk about the coming of the end of a life, with mortality looked at as something that is accepted and acceptable:
There’s one thing to know about this earth
We’re put here just to make more dirt and that’s okay
That’s alright, that’s alright
There’s one thing to know about this globe
It’s bound and it’s willing to explode and that’s okay
And that’s alright, that’s alright
Listen to Modest Mouse’s ‘Night on the Sun’ as heard at the beginning of this week’s episode of For All Mankind in the song’s video, and via Spotify.
Season 4 of For All Mankind is currently streaming via Apple TV Plus.
RELATED: You can also hear songs from this and other seasons of the Apple drama here on Leo Sigh.