"Woke Up This Morning" is a song by English band Alabama 3 from their 1997 album Exile on Coldharbour Lane. The song is best known as the opening theme music for The Sopranos, which used the "Chosen One Mix" of the song.

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 murder case of Sara Thornton, who stabbed her husband after two years of 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 observed. "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."

The song is in 4/4 time and in the key of F minor. It uses combinations of other styles such as electronic music and blues. During the breakdown, there's an electronic chord progression in F major while the lyrics' melodic line is in F minor. It fades out with the electric chord progression in the tonic major.

...
Wikipedia