The Story of “Woke Up This Morning”
Track: Woke Up This Morning, by Alabama 3
The beat kicks in and James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano, reaches out and grabs the – now defunct – New Jersey Turnpike ticket. It’s a perfect pairing of music and drama. The song Woke Up This Morning is from the British band Alabama 3. It was on their 1997 album “Exile on Coldharbour Lane” and was co-written by bandmates including Rob Spragg. It was based on the 1996 second trial of British woman Sara Thornton for the 1989 murder of her husband.
Already, sentence to “life”, the second trial occurred because Thornton's case was taken up by “Justice for Women”. That group believed that her case had not been handled correctly due to the domestic violence she suffered throughout her marriage.
A bit of license was taken in the lyrics…since Sara killed her husband with a knife…so technically she never “got herself a gun”.