Tony Tells Us to 'Enjoy the Music' in 'Sopranos' Finale

In the final episode ever, Tony Soprano advised Paulie Walnuts (and, by proxy, us) to "enjoy the music" emanating from their car radio. And while many fans have been left scratching their heads due to the ambiguous ending of this ultimate episode of 'The Sopranos,' what it withheld in the script it revealed in spades musically.

As in the entire 86-episode run of the series, the series finale's songs were strategically placed to set scenes, offer commentary and even serve as misdirection or comic relief -- from a tense Tony and Paulie enjoying the music of Randy and the Rainbows' 1963 oldie 'Denise' in the aforementioned scene, to Paulie being spooked by the crew's new feline mascot to the tune of 'Pretty Little Angel Eyes' by Curtis Lee. The recently politicized youngsters A.J. and Rhiannon discover Bob Dylan -- as well as each other -- while listening to his 'It's Alright Ma, I'm Only Bleeding' before their SUV goes up in flames.

In the course of the exalted show's final hour, the soundtrack veered from Vivaldi to Vanilla Fudge, and from Sonic Youth to the Noisettes, concluding with the mob boss at a restaurant booth jukebox selecting Journey's 1981 anthem 'Don't Stop Believin'' as the series swan song, which blares through the show's final minutes. Instead of the song concluding into the credits, as usual, it ends abruptly and chillingly when the scene -- and the show -- cut to black, offering an ironic ending to a groundbreaking television series.

Reader Comments(1 of 1)

Add your comments

If you are posting a comment for the first time, please enter your name and email address in the fields above. Your name will be displayed with your comment. Your email address will never be displayed.

Please keep your comments relevant to this blog entry. Off-topic, promotional or otherwise inappropriateinappropriate comments will be removed.

When you enter your name and email address for the first time, you'll be sent a link to confirm your comment, as well as a password. To leave another comment, just use that password.