This week’s episode of HBO’s True Blood was titled “Everybody Wants To Rule The World,” so fans figured that the song of that name would be running during the show’s end credits.  And that’s what happened: except that it wasn’t the familiar Tears For Fears version. Instead, the show used a cover by teenage Brooklyn rock band Care Bears On Fire, which the band recorded for their 2010 EP Girls Like It Loud. But why not just go with the original? 

True Blood Music Supervisor Gary Calamar told CBS Local “The writer of the episode, Raelle Tucker, had the Tears for Fears version in the script which, lyrically, worked great. I always like to throw a curveball and come up with something fresh and I played the Care Bears On Fire version for her. At first she wasn’t sure about the female vocals, but soon embraced the energy of the cover and we put it in.”  

Care Bears On Fire are on a semi-hiatus at the moment: bassist Jena is in college, while guitarist/singer Sophie and drummer Izzy are still in high school (the band members simply go by their first names).  But they emailed CBS Local, saying “This is beyond cool. we’re so honored and excited that our song is going to be on True Blood. Can’t wait to watch it. Hope it’s in a gory scene.”  The scene, as it turned out, wasn’t gory, although it did underscore a surprising betrayal.  

A song that has yet to be released made its way into the show.  In two separate scenes where Alcide (Joe Manganiello) was driving towards his father’s home, he was listening to a brand-new Wallflowers song, ”First One In The Car” from their forthcoming album, Glad All Over (due out on October 2). It’s not Jakob Dylan’s first contribution to the show, as Calamar explains: “His song with Gary Louris (of the Jayhawks), ‘Gonna Be A Darkness,’ is one of my favorites from our last soundtrack. I heard an advance copy of the Wallflowers album and knew I wanted to get something in the show. Jakob is a True Blood fan and Alcide is a Wallflowers fan.” 

Alcide’s father, Jackson Herveaux, made his debut in this episode.  Astute sci-fi fans may have recognized the actor who was playing him: Richard Patrick, who first came to fame playing the T-1000 in 1991′s Terminator 2: Judgement Day, and briefly had a co-starring role on The X-Files. His brother, Robert Patrick, is a former member of the band Nine Inch Nails and later formed his own hard rock group, Filter. 

The other song heard in the episode was a Willie Nelson/Hank Cochran duet, “Ain’t Life Hell.” Calamar remarked, “Life can sometimes feel like hell in Bon Temps. A fun, sexy hell.”  

There’s three weeks left of that “fun, sexy hell” this season.  Next week’s episode is titled “Gone, Gone, Gone,” which is also the name of an Everly Brothers song (which was covered by Robert Plant and Alison Krauss on their Raising Sand album). But whether or not that song, or one of those versions, appears in the show is up to Mr. Calamar (and his curveball). 

– Brian Ives, CBS Local