Yesterday, as part of our week of posts building up to the start of the fifth series of The Wire on FX next Monday, we posted about the different versions of the Tom Waits song Down in the Hole that are used for the opening credits of each series. Today, we thought we’d take a look at the music that is used at the end of each series.

As a rule, music in The Wire emanates from the scene in question – Irish music on the jukebox in a bar, for instance, or rap on the radio in one of the dealers’ cars – rather than being just plonked on top of a scene to pump up the emotion and telegraph to the viewer how they’re meant to feel, as happens in many other series. The big exception to this rule, however, is the final montage shown at the end of each series, in which we see how all the key characters have ended up.

Here, for your listening/viewing pleasure we bring you the closing montages from the first four series (if you don’t mind spoilers, the final moments of the fifth series can be seen here)…

Series 1: Jessie Winchester, Step by Step

Series 2: Steve Earle, I Feel Alright

Series 3: Solomon Burke, Fast Train

Series 4: Paul Weller, Walk on Gilded Splinters

• Click here to read all our Countdown to series 5 of The Wire posts