Woke Up This Morning

"**Woke Up This Morning**" is a song by British band Alabama 3 from their 1997 album *Exile on Coldharbour Lane*. The song is best known as the opening theme music for HBO's 1999 television series *The Sopranos*, which used a shortened version of the "Chosen One Mix" of the song.

## Lyrics

### Original version

*(spoken intro)*

And after three days of drinking with Larry Love

I just get an inkling to go on home

So I'm walking down Coldharbour Lane and head hung low

3 or 4 in the mornin'

The sun's coming up and the birds are out singin'

I let myself into my pad

Wend my way up that spiral staircase and stretch out nice on the Chesterfield

Pithecanthropus Erectus already on the CD player

And I just push that remote button to sublimity

And listen to the sweet sculptural rhythms of Charles Mingus

And J.R. Monterose and Jackie McLean duet on those saxophones and

The sound makes its way out the window

Minglin' with the traffic noises outside, you know and

All of a sudden I'm overcome by a feelin' of brief mortality

'Cause I'm gettin' on in the world comin' up on 41 years

41 stony gray steps towards the grave, you know the box awaits its grisly load

Now I'm gonna be food for worms

And just like Charles Mingus wrote that beautiful piece of music "Epitaph" for Eric Dolphy

I say, so long Eric

So long John Coltrane and Charles Mingus

So long Duke Ellington and Lester Young

So long Billie Holliday and Ella Fitzgerald

So long Jimmy Reed

So long Muddy Waters

And so long Howlin' Wolf

*(lyrics)*

Woke up this mornin'

Got yourself a gun

Your mama always said you'd be the chosen one

She said "you're one in a million, you got to burn to shine"

But you were born under a bad sign with a blue moon in your eyes

And you woke up this mornin'

All that love had gone

Your papa never told you about right and wrong

Hey but you're, but you're looking good, baby

I believe that you're a-feelin' fine

Shame about it

Born under a bad sign with a blue moon in your eyes

So sing it now

Oh, yeah

Oh, yeah

Woke up this mornin'

Oh, yeah

Oh, yeah

Oh, yeah

Oh, yeah

Woke up this mornin'

Oh, yeah

Oh, yeah

I see ya, you woke up this mornin'

The world turned upside down

Lord above, things ain't been the same

Since the blues walked into town

Hey but you're, but you're, one in a million

'Cause you got that shotgun shine

Shame about it

Born under a bad sign with a blue moon in your eyes

So sing it now

You got a blue moon (got a blue moon in your eyes)

(Woke up this mornin') so sad

Goddamn, a God damned shame about it

(Woke up this mornin')

You got a blue moon (got a blue moon in your eyes), yeah

(Woke up this mornin')

Oh, yeah

Oh, yeah

Oh, yeah

Oh, yeah

Mister D. Wayne Love

When you woke up this morning everything was gone

By half past ten your head was going ding-dong

Ringin' like a bell from your head down to your toes

Like some voice tryin'a tell ya there's somethin' you should know

Last night you was flyin' but today you're so low

Ain't it times like these makes you wonder if you'll ever know

The meaning of things as they appear to the others

Wives, husbands, mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers

Don't you wish you didn't function, don't you wish you didn't think

Beyond the next pay check and the next little drink

Well you do so make up your mind to go on

'Cause when you woke up this mornin' everything you had was gone

When ya woke up this mornin'

Ya woke up this mornin'

You wanna be, you wanna be the chosen one

(Woke up this mornin') eah you know it 'cause

You just can't help yourself, yeah

When ya, woke up this mornin'

Woke up this mornin'

Got yourself a gun

Got yourself a gun

Got yourself a gun

### Show intro version

Woke up this mornin'

Got yourself a gun

Your mama always said you'd be the chosen one

She said "you're one in a million, you got to burn to shine"

But you were born under a bad sign with a blue moon in your eyes

And you woke up this mornin'

All that love had gone

Your papa never told you about right and wrong

Hey but you're, but you're looking good, baby

I believe that you're a-feelin' fine

Shame about it

Born under a bad sign with a blue moon in your eyes

So sing it now

(Woke up this mornin')

You got a blue moon (got a blue moon in your eyes), yeah

(Woke up this mornin')

I see ya, you woke up this mornin'

The world turned upside down

Lord above, things ain't been the same

Since the blues walked into town

Hey but you're, but you're, one in a million

'Cause you got that shotgun shine

Shame about it

Born under a bad sign with a blue moon in your eyes, yeah

Woke up this mornin'

Got yourself a gun

Got yourself a gun

Got yourself a gun

## Background and writing

Described as "a propulsive hip-hop song complete with Howlin' Wolf samples and a swelling gospel choir", the song has been cited as a paradigmatic example of a "great theme song", which "generates anticipation, immediately puts the viewer in a focused frame of mind, and creates the kind of sonic familiarity that breeds audience loyalty." Alabama 3 frontman Rob Spragg wrote the song after hearing about the 1996 Sara Thornton murder case, who stabbed her husband after claiming to be the victim two years of his abuse, mistreatment and neglect. The song is co-written with Piers Marsh, Simon Edwards, and Jake Black.
"We started with a Howlin' Wolf loop, but a lot of blues lyrics are quite misogynist," Spragg explained. "So I turned it round to be about a woman who's had enough and gets a gun – it's quite ironic that it's become a New Jersey gangster anthem."