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Smuggler's Blues

Smugglersblues

Featured in Episode
Artist(s)
Top Chart Position (Hot 100)
12 (June 22, 1985, one week)
Year Released
1984
Album
The Allnighter
Writer(s)
Glenn Frey & Jack Tempchin
RIAA Certification
NONE
Sequence song appears
(Smuggler's Blues)
(Album Version) Crockett, Tubbs and Jimmy fly to and from Cartagena, Tubbs is caught by policia
(Acoustic Version) Lt. Jones is pulled out of water
(A Bullet for Crockett)
Flashback to above scene followed by a collage of snips from various episodes
Previous Song
Smuggler's Blues "Baja"
A Bullet for Crockett "There's a River"
Next Song
Rites of Passage "Come to Poppa"
Deliver Us from Evil "We Do What We're Told"


"Smuggler's Blues" is a song by Glenn Frey, featured on the album The Allnighter in 1984 and released as a single that year. It appeared in the Miami Vice episodes "Smuggler's Blues" and "A Bullet for Crockett". An acoustic version of the song also appeared in the episode "Smuggler's Blues".

Notes[]

  • The song was the inspiration for the episode of the same name, to the point where several of the song's lyrics are used or paraphrased in dialogue. Glenn Frey actually guest starred in the episode as Jimmy Cole, the smuggler pilot that flew Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs to and from Cartagena. When a sequel was proposed for the second season ("Trust Fund Pirates"), Frey was apparently unavailable (most likely on tour) and the story was rewritten, with Gary Cole playing another free-thinking smuggler who knew Jimmy; Jimmy was mentioned as having retired from smuggling.
  • The acoustic version of the song was recorded exclusively for the show and has not appeared on any album or as a single, making it one of the few Miami Vice songs never to see a release in any form outside of the show.
  • There are several notable facts regarding the song's use in the series:
    • It is one of 11 songs that were reused in more than one episode of Miami Vice.
    • The use of the acoustic version makes it one of only five songs to appear in Miami Vice in something other than its standard album form -- the others being "Relax" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood, "Baba O'Riley" by The Who, "Gambler" by Madonna and "Never Let Me Down Again" by Depeche Mode. While the use of alternate versions/mixes was decidedly rare in the series, the Miami Vice film features numerous songs that appear in alternate remixed form.
    • The use of two different versions of the song in the show is one of only two times this occurred in Vice. The other instance is the track "Today's a Beginning" in the episode "Give a Little, Take a Little" -- both an instrumental version and a version with lyrics are used, both of which are unreleased outside of the series.
    • It is one of three songs featured in Miami Vice that shares its title with an episode -- the others being "Little Miss Dangerous" and "Streetwise".
  • The regular version of the song was included on the soundtrack albums Miami Vice, The Best of Miami Vice in 1989, The Best of Miami Vice in 1994, The Best of Miami Vice in 1996 and the US edition of The Best of Miami Vice in 2006.
  • Frey would have two other songs appear on Miami Vice: "New Love" and "You Belong to the City".
  • The video for "Smuggler's Blues" won an 1985 MTV VMA for "Best Concept Video".
  • Although not featured in the game itself, the song is included on European pressings of the Flash FM soundtrack album released for the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, which was heavily inspired by Miami Vice. The song's inclusion on the CD was presumably intended as yet another nod to the series.
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