The Sopranos Almost Had a Disastrously Obvious Main Theme Song

The Sopranos has one of the most perfect opening title sequences in television history. The opener follows protagonist Tony Soprano as he drives through the Lincoln Tunnel into New Jersey, past the various locales where he exerts his power as a mob boss, all the way to the McMansion where he experiences his existential crises. Even better, he’s accompanied by a perfect song, the soulful techno track “Woke Up This Morning” by English group Alabama 3.

But it almost wasn’t that way. Originally, The Sopranos creator David Chase wanted a different song to introduce Tony. This song was by an undisputed master of popular music, and it would have explicitly laid out the themes of the show. And it would have been a terrible.

According to the book Difficult Men: Behind the Scenes of a Creative Revolution by Brett Martin, Chase originally wanted “Complicated Shadows,” from the 1996 album All This Useless Beauty by Elvis Costello and the Attractions. As Martin observed, “Woke Up This Morning” is, at first listen, “odd, almost perverse choice for a show so steeped in its particular social world—even less “Italian” and “Jersey” than David Chase’s other top choice of song, Elvis Costello’s “Complicated Shadows.” However, Martin contends, Chase “early on, was shy of being too straightforward with his musical choices.”

Even though Costello hails from Liverpool and is the scion of a musical family, “Complicated Shadows” would have been even more “straightforward” a musical choice for the opening titles. Originally written for Johnny Cash, “Complicated Shadows” digs into the apocalyptic morality of the Man in Black’s best work. “Well, you know your time has come / And you’re sorry for what you’ve done / You shoulda never have been playing with a gun / In those complicated shadows.” In the bridge, Costello sings of “all you gangsters and rude clowns / Who were shooting up the town,” warning them that they should “have found someone / To put the blame on.”

“Complicated Shadows” is an incredible track, mixing the punk energy of Costello’s early work with the more complex musical bed of the mature Attractions. And it’s easy to see why Chase would consider a song about gangsters, guns, and complications. But not only does the song have an ethical position The Sopranos famously eschewed, but it lays out the show’s themes in blunt terms. No, Tony shouldn’t have been playing with a gun. And, yes, Tony is a complicated character who abides in the shadows.

In the end, Chase made the right call. The clash between the Alabama 3’s growling vocals and the soulful Howlin’ Wolf sample shows, but does not tell, Tony’s internal struggle, and the pulsating refrain about buying a gun points to the mafioso’s familiar method of dealing with such troubles. But Chase didn’t completely forget about “Complicated Shadows.” The song plays over the credits of the series’ third episode, “Denial, Anger, Acceptance,” in which Uncle Junior meets out violence against Christopher and his friend Brendan for stealing from one his trucks, while Tony and Carmela attend Meadow’s recital.

In that episode, “Complicated Shadows” works perfectly. But for the start of every episode, nothing better sets up the psychological drama and dark comedy that is The Sopranos than the decidedly uncomplicated “Woke Up This Morning.”