The HBO television drama The Sopranos received considerable critical attention for effective use of an eclectic array of music.[1] [2] [3] [4] Series creator David Chase personally selected all the show's music, with the producer Martin Bruestle and music editor Kathryn Dayak—sometimes also consulting Steven Van Zandt, who portrays Silvio Dante on the show and is also a guitarist for Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band.[1] They often selected music after completing an episode's production and editing, but occasionally filmed sequences to match pre-selected pieces of music.[5]
Stylistically, the music on the show ranges from mainstream pop (Britney Spears, The Bangles) to oldies and classic rock artists (The Beach Boys, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd), from classic jazz and soul (Ella Fitzgerald, Ben E. King) to hip-hop (Xzibit, Time Zone), often within a single episode.[6]
In the opening credits for each episode, Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) drives from the Lincoln Tunnel to his home in North Caldwell, New Jersey. The musical accompaniment for this segment is the "Chosen One Mix" of the song "Woke Up This Morning" by the British band Alabama 3 (known in the United States as A3 for legal reasons). "Woke Up This Morning (Chosen One Mix)" is four minutes and five seconds long,[7] so a shortened version of it is used in the opening credits, which is approximately one minute and thirty seconds long.[8]
Each episode's closing credits sequence features a unique piece of previously recorded music, with few exceptions. The episode "A Hit Is a Hit" uses a song by the fictional band Defiler, which appeared earlier in the episode. Three episodes feature multiple songs in the credits sequence ("Commendatori," "Whitecaps" and "Cold Stones"), while two episodes ("Full Leather Jacket" and "Made in America") have no music at all.
The following is a list of songs used at the end of each episode:
| Episode title | Song title | Artist | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "The Sopranos (Pilot)" | "The Beast in Me" | Nick Lowe | |
| 2 | "46 Long" | "Battle Flag" | Pigeonhed | |
| 3 | "Denial, Anger, Acceptance" | "Complicated Shadows" | Elvis Costello & the Attractions | |
| 4 | "Meadowlands" | "Look on Down from the Bridge" | Mazzy Star | |
| 5 | "College" | "Gold Leaves" | ||
| 6 | "Pax Soprana" | "Paparazzi" (instrumental version) | Xzibit (produced by Thayod Ausar) | |
| 7 | "Down Neck" | "White Rabbit" | Jefferson Airplane | |
| 8 | "The Legend of Tennessee Moltisanti" | "Frank Sinatra" | Cake | |
| 9 | "Boca" | "Buena" | Morphine | |
| 10 | "A Hit Is a Hit" | song unnamed | Defiler (fictional group) | |
| 11 | "Nobody Knows Anything" | "Manifold de Amour" | Latin Playboys | |
| 12 | "Isabella" | "I Feel Free" | Cream | |
| 13 | "I Dream of Jeannie Cusamano" | "State Trooper" | Bruce Springsteen |
| Episode title | Song title | Artist | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | "Guy Walks into a Psychiatrist's Office..." | "Time Is on My Side" | Irma Thomas | |
| 15 | "Do Not Resuscitate" | "Goodnight My Love" | Ella Fitzgerald | |
| 16 | "Toodle-Fucking-Oo" | "Viking" | Los Lobos | |
| 17 | "Commendatori" | "Con te partirò" | Andrea Bocelli | |
| "Piove" | Jovanotti | |||
| 18 | "Big Girls Don't Cry" | "White Mustang II" | Daniel Lanois | |
| 19 | "The Happy Wanderer" | "The Happy Wanderer" | Frankie Yankovic & His Yanks | |
| 20 | "D-Girl" | "Vedi, Maria" | Emma Shapplin | |
| 21 | "Full Leather Jacket" | none — only a ventilator and an electrocardiogram are heard | none | |
| 22 | "From Where to Eternity" | "My Lover's Prayer" | Otis Redding | |
| 23 | "Bust Out" | "Wheel in the Sky" | Journey | |
| 24 | "House Arrest" | "You Can't Put Your Arms Around a Memory" | Johnny Thunders | |
| 25 | "The Knight in White Satin Armor" | "I Saved the World Today" | Eurythmics | |
| 26 | "Funhouse" | "Thru and Thru" | The Rolling Stones |
| Episode title | Song title | Artist | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 | "Mr. Ruggerio's Neighborhood" | "High Fidelity" | Elvis Costello & the Attractions | |
| 28 | "Proshai, Livushka" | "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles" | Les Paul | |
| 29 | "Fortunate Son" | "Where's the Money?" | Dan Hicks | |
| 30 | "Employee of the Month" | "Fisherman's Daughter" | Daniel Lanois | |
| 31 | "Another Toothpick" | "Shuck Dub" | R. L. Burnside | |
| 32 | "University" | "Living on a Thin Line" | The Kinks | |
| 33 | "Second Opinion (The Sopranos)" | "Black Books" | Nils Lofgren | |
| 34 | "He Is Risen" | "The Captain" | Kasey Chambers | |
| 35 | "The Telltale Moozadell" | "I (Who Have Nothing)" | Ben E. King | |
| 36 | "...To Save Us All from Satan's Power" | "I've Got a Feeling" | The Campbell Brothers with Katie Jackson | |
| 37 | "Pine Barrens" | "Sposa son disprezzata" (from Bajazet) | Cecilia Bartoli | |
| 38 | "Amour Fou" | "Affection" | Little Steven and the Lost Boys | |
| 39 | "Army of One" | "Blur" | Aphex Twin |
| Episode title | Song title | Artist | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 40 | "For All Debts Public and Private" | "World Destruction" | Time Zone featuring John Lydon |
| 41 | "No Show" | "Kid A" | Radiohead |
| 42 | "Christopher" | "Dawn (Go Away)" | The Four Seasons |
| 43 | "The Weight" | "Vesuvio" | Spaccanapoli |
| 44 | "Pie-O-My" | "My Rifle, My Pony and Me" (from Rio Bravo) | Dean Martin and Ricky Nelson |
| 45 | "Everybody Hurts" | "Take Me for a Little While" | Dave Edmunds |
| 46 | "Watching Too Much Television" | "Oh Girl" | The Chi-Lites |
| 47 | "Mergers and Acquisitions" | "When the Battle is Over" | Delaney & Bonnie |
| 48 | "Whoever Did This" | "The Man with the Harmonica" | Apollo 440 |
| 49 | "The Strong, Silent Type" | "Drum Score" | Eric J.Tuener; Drum Major for George Westinghouse School of Music |
| 50 | "Calling All Cars" | "Surfin' U.S.A." | The Beach Boys |
| 51 | "Eloise" | "Little Bird" | Annie Lennox |
| 52 | "Whitecaps" | "I Love Paris" (Vegas) | Dean Martin |
| "I Have Dreamed" | Fantastic Strings |
| Episode title | Song title | Artist | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 53 | "Two Tonys" | "Heaven Only Knows" | Emmylou Harris | |
| 54 | "Rat Pack" | "Undercover of the Night" | The Rolling Stones | |
| 55 | "Where's Johnny?" | "Earth, Wind, Water" | Mitch Coodley (The Metro Music Production Library) | |
| 56 | "All Happy Families..." | "La Petite Mer" | Thierry 'Titi' Robin | |
| 57 | "Irregular Around the Margins" | "Chi il bel sogno di Doretta" (from La rondine) | Luba Orgonášová | |
| 58 | "Sentimental Education" | "The Blues is My Business" | Etta James | |
| 59 | "In Camelot" | "Melancholy Serenade" | Jackie Gleason | |
| 60 | "Marco Polo" | "Bad 'N' Ruin" | Faces | |
| 61 | "Unidentified Black Males" | "If I Were a Carpenter" | Bobby Darin | |
| 62 | "Cold Cuts" | "I'm Not Like Everybody Else" (live) | The Kinks | |
| 63 | "The Test Dream" | "Three Times a Lady" | Commodores | |
| 64 | "Long Term Parking" | "Wrapped in My Memory" | Shawn Smith | |
| 65 | "All Due Respect" | "Glad Tidings" | Van Morrison |
| Episode title | Song title | Artist | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 66 | "Members Only" | "Seven Souls" | Material featuring William S. Burroughs | |
| 67 | "Join the Club" | "When It's Cold I'd Like To Die" | Moby | |
| 68 | "Mayham" | "The Deadly Nightshade" | Daniel Lanois | |
| 69 | "The Fleshy Part of the Thigh" | "One of These Days" | Pink Floyd | |
| 70 | "Mr. & Mrs. John Sacrimoni Request" | "Every Day of the Week" | The Students | |
| 71 | "Live Free or Die" | "4th of July" | X | |
| 72 | "Luxury Lounge" | "Recuerdos de la Alhambra" | Pepe Romero | |
| 73 | "Johnny Cakes" | "I'm Gonna Move to the Outskirts of Town" | Ray Charles | |
| 74 | "The Ride" | "Pipeline" | Johnny Thunders | |
| 75 | "Moe N' Joe" | "Let It Rock" | Chuck Berry | |
| 76 | "Cold Stones" | "Home" | Persephone's Bees | |
| "As Time Goes By" (from Casablanca) | Dooley Wilson | |||
| 77 | "Kaisha" | "Moonlight Mile" | The Rolling Stones | |
| 78 | "Soprano Home Movies" | "This Magic Moment" | Ben E. King and The Drifters | |
| 79 | "Stage 5" | "Evidently Chickentown" | John Cooper Clarke | |
| 80 | "Remember When" | "Sing, Sing, Sing (With a Swing)" | Benny Goodman Orchestra | |
| 81 | "Chasing It" | "Goin' Down Slow" | Howlin' Wolf | |
| 82 | "Walk Like a Man" | "The Valley" | Los Lobos | |
| 83 | "Kennedy and Heidi" | "Minas De Cobre (For Better Metal)" | Calexico | |
| 84 | "The Second Coming" | "Ninna Ninna (Lullaby)" | Smithsonian Folkways recording, artist unknown | |
| 85 | "The Blue Comet" | "Running Wild (Extended Instrumental)" | Tindersticks | |
| 86 | "Made in America" | none — the credits play in complete silence | none |
For the version of the series aired in Europe, the producers partially replaced the music for licensing reasons. European DVD editions (in the case of the first season, only the re-issue) contain these altered versions as foreign-language dubs as well as the original unaltered English soundtrack in Dolby Digital 5.1.
| Italic Title: | no |
| The Sopranos: Music from the HBO Original Series | |
| Type: | Soundtrack |
| Artist: | various artists |
| Cover: | Sopranos Soundtrack.jpg |
| Released: | December 14, 1999 |
| Genre: | Various |
| Length: | 54:11 |
| Label: | Sony |
| Producer: | Various David ChaseMartin Bruestle (exec. producer) |
| Italic Title: | no |
| The Sopranos: Peppers & Eggs: Music from the HBO Original Series | |
| Type: | Soundtrack |
| Artist: | various artists |
| Released: | May 8, 2001 |
| Genre: | Various |
| Label: | Sony |
| Producer: | Various David Chase, Brad GreyMartin Bruestle(exec. producers) |
To date, there have been two official soundtrack compilations released in association with The Sopranos. The first, titled The Sopranos: Music from the HBO Original Series, was released in 1999, and contains selections from the show's first two seasons.[9] The second, titled The Sopranos: Peppers & Eggs: Music from the HBO Original Series, was released in 2001, and contains two Compact Discs of songs from the show's first three seasons.[10]