What Song Was Playing in the Truck in ‘The Last of Us’ Episode 4?

Warning: the following article contains spoilers for The Last of Us episode four ‘Please Hold My Hand.’

HBO’s The Last of Us returned with yet another nail-biting hour of television, and more haunting music to sink its teeth into its unsuspecting audience. 

Much like The Last of Us game that served as its inspiration, music has played a pivotal role in underscoring the onscreen narrative and in some cases, may have even done something close to pulling off the ‘Kate Bush effect’ we saw in Stranger Things 4 last summer. 

From the ominous Depeche Mode outro, to the tear-jerking use of Linda Rondstadt’s “Long Long Time” in the third episode of the same title, episode four of The Last of Us, ‘Please Hold My Hand’, also brings some emotion-provoking tunes, with Ellie finding yet another tune for the roaming duo to listen to in the car. 

What song were Joel and Ellie listening to in The Last of Us episode 4?

Fans of the original The Last of Us game would have recognized this song instantly, and were likely grinning ear-to-ear as the scene in which Ellie finds another cassette tape (and a nudie magazine to boot) is ripped straight from the storyboards and script of the 2013 Naughty Dog title. 

The song was none other than “Alone and Forsaken” by Hank Williams. When Joel, who during the events of The Last of Us is 56 years of age, says the song is “before his time”, he certainly means it, with “Alone and Forsaken” originally recorded live on the radio in the late 1940’s, and officially released by MGM in 1955, at which point Williams had already passed away. 

As with The Last of Us episode three ‘Long Long Time’, this week’s episode ‘Please Hold My Hand’ is titled after one of the most prominent lyrics in Willams’ song. It certainly made for quite the road trip song across a desolate America that had long been lost to the forces of both war and nature.