Posted by Sometimes, a movie or a tv show catches you because of the cast. Sometimes it’s because of the production, the way it’s directed, or because there is a fascinating story behind it. Sometimes it’s the soundtrack. And sometimes, it’s all those things together: Love & Death, the miniseries that landed on HBO in April 2023, is easy to appreciate. Elizabeth Olsen does a fantastic job impersonating Candy Montgomery and the true story of what she did in 1980. But besides all the possible reasons why you may have loved it, there is undoubtedly another one: the show’s theme song that drags you down on the dark side of the plot in the opening credits. It’s a classic song we heard in many versions, but not everybody knows about it. Let’s discover it.
You can watch the official trailer for HBO’s Love & Death here on Youtube.
HBO’s Love & Death: the opening credits theme song
The theme song in the opening credits of HBO’s miniseries Love & Death is Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood by Nina Simone. You can hear it in full streaming below.
Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood was originally written by Bennie Benjamin, Horace Ott, and Sol Marcus for Nina Simone, in 1964. The version above is the first version of this song, in his Blues/Jazz dress. The track was covered many times over the years, and other versions became famous for different generations: among the most successful version, you probably heard The Animals’ take in 1965, the disco version by the band Santa Esmeralda in 1977, and Elvis Costello’s interpretation in 1986.
Nina Simone sings it so intensely that it cannot be forgotten. The song’s lyrics are about the dark side we all have from time to time: we have good intentions, and we want to be good people, but sometimes we switch “to the other side” and focus on our problems. At that moment, the worst part of us is exposed, and our loved ones can see it. But as the chorus intends to explain, we are not evil: after all, we have a good soul, so we ask people close to us to understand what we really are.
Below you can find the lyrics you hear in the opening credits of HBO’s Love & Death:
Baby, understand me now
If sometimes you see that I’m mad
Don’t you know no one alive can always be an angel?
When everything goes wrong, you see some bad
But oh, I’m just a soul whose intentions are good
Oh Lord, please don’t let me be misunderstood
Oh baby, I’m just human
Don’t you know I have faults, like anyone?
Sometimes I find myself alone, regretting some little foolish things
Some simple thing that I’ve done
But oh, I’m just a soul whose intentions are good
Oh Lord, please don’t let me be misunderstood
Don’t let me be misunderstood
I try so hard, so please, don’t let me be misunderstood
In the opening credits of Love & Death, the song accompanies the images of the protagonist, Candy Montgomery (Elizabeth Olsen), mixing moments of her family life with scenes of the extra conjugal affair she has. We see the contrast between her clean kitchen and the blood on her fingers, the attractive dress she wears at the motel and the holy bible she keeps in the drawer.
It’s undoubtedly one of the most fascinating moments of the series, and it’s understandable how it became popular after its release. And if you need some more reasons to appreciate the series, you can discover the true story that inspired it in this article.
