The heavy bassline of The Kinks’ “Living on a Thin Line” is used multiple times throughout the episode “University” during scenes at the Bada Bing. Hardly appropriate stripper music, the mesmeric rock tune is about the deterioration of national identity at the end of the 20th century and longing for a return to the “days of old,” one of the key themes in “The Sopranos.” “I’ve got more e-mails and questions from friends about what that song was than anything else we’ve used in the show’s history,” writer-producer Terence Winter told The Star-Ledger.
The song has a brooding quality that serves well as a lament for the tragic character Tracee who meets an untimely end from the cunning and sadistic Ralph Cifaretto. All of the characters, not only Tracee, are living on a thin line — one step away from murder, jail, or committing a crime that will haunt them for the rest of their lives. The somber “Living on a Thin Line” leaves such a strong impression because it mourns a romanticized past and ponders where to go next.
Posted from: https://www.slashfilm.com/984741/dont-stop-believin-the-best-music-moments-in-the-sopranos/
