Thanks for the question!
The song "Woke up this morning" is from a 1997 Alabama 3 album _Exile
on Coldharbour Lane_. Despite being the opening song to _The
Sopranos_, the song is not about the mafia but rather about an actual
case in the UK in which a woman, who is a victim of domestic violence,
takes matters into her own hands and shoots her husband.
In an interview with ABC Rob Spragg, a member of Alabama 3 (now known
simply as A3), says "It’s a song written about female empowerment.
It’s about a young woman who’s had enough of domestic violence and
blows the guy away. Maybe that was a transferable identity for what
they were doing on the show. It’s ironic — a British band exporting a
track into America. We do have a love for American indigenous music;
for that to come back and hit the U.K. as well is pretty funny to us.”
From http://abcnews.go.com/sections/entertainment/DailyNews/sopranos001110.html
JS Online offers a similar explanation of the song: "Wedded to the
opening sequence of Tony Soprano driving past New Jersey sights, the
song sets the show's tone so convincingly it's hard to believe it
wasn't written for that purpose. The song's true inspiration was the
story of a British woman convicted, then pardoned, for murdering her
abusive husband."
http://www.jsonline.com/enter/music/jan01/alabama04010301.asp
From Rollingstone.com: "The song's origins date back to the early
Nineties when Spragg, forever drawn to Howling Wolf and Muddy Waters
samples, was inspired by a high-profile case in the British press
about a wife who, after twenty years of spousal abuse, one day picked
up a gun and shot her husband. Hence the song's infamous opening line:
"Woke up this morning, and I got myself a gun.""
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/newsarticle.asp?nid=10282
Lyrics for the song can be found at:
Sopranoland
http://www.sopranoland.com/mall/wokeup.html
Search strategy
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Spragg interview
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Best,
blinkwilliams-ga |
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