Two Classic Jamaican Songs Featured In Surprise Episode Of ‘The Bear’

Two classic Jamaican recordings, Scotty’s Draw Your Brakes and The Slickers’ Johnny Too Bad, appear in Gary, the surprise new episode of The Bear released on Hulu on Tuesday, May 5.

Both songs are best known from the landmark soundtrack to The Harder They Come, the 1972 Perry Henzell film starring Jimmy Cliff.

The flashback episode centers on Richie Jerimovich, played by Ebon Moss-Bachrach, and Michael “Mikey” Berzatto, played by Jon Bernthal, as the two leave Chicago for Gary, Indiana, on a delivery run. The episode was co-written by Moss-Bachrach and Bernthal and directed by series creator Christopher Storer.

The reggae arrives early in the episode. As Richie and Mikey begin the drive, Richie plays a mix CD he made for the trip, with David ‘Scotty’ Scott’s Draw Your Brakes as the first track heard. Released in 1972, the song features the late vocalist toasting over Keith & Tex’s Stop That Train.

The Slickers’ Johnny Too Bad (1970) plays later, after Richie and Mikey stop at a restaurant for hot dogs. Another selection from The Harder They Come soundtrack, the song’s lyrics about a gunman’s inevitable end cut against the episode’s Midwestern setting.

Johnny Too Bad was written by Trevor “Batman” Wilson, Winston Bailey, Roy Beckford, and Derrick Crooks, members of The Slickers. It has been covered several times over the years, including versions by Dennis Brown (1970), Bunny Wailer (1977), UB40 (1984), and Sublime (2006).

Draw Your Brakes returns near the end of the episode, after Mikey puts the CD back into the player. Richie, frustrated after a troubled trip, pulls it out and throws it through the car window.

The Harder They Come soundtrack helped carry reggae beyond Jamaica in the early 1970s. The album was released in 1972 in the UK on Island Records and in 1973 in North America on Mango Records. It was later selected for preservation in the U.S. Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry.

The soundtrack also included Jimmy Cliff’s You Can Get It If You Really Want, Desmond Dekker and the Aces’ Israelites, Toots and the Maytals’ 54-46 (That’s My Number), and Bob Marley’s Guava Jelly.

The Bear, which is expected to release its fifth and final season in June 2026, has been widely praised for its performances, writing, direction, soundtrack, and production values, while its classification as a comedy has remained a point of debate.

The series, which has won 21 Primetime Emmy Awards and five Golden Globes, is more often described by critics as a psychological drama with flashes of comedy, built around suicide, alcoholism, family trauma, and workplace dysfunction.