http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/article/journey%20rocker%20kept%20sopranos%20boss%20waiting_1033922
http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/TV/06/12/tv.sopranos.thatsong.ap/
So Steve Perry's consent was last to come in, and it was down to the wire.Perry is a huge Sopranos fan and feared his 1981 rock anthem would be remembered as the soundtrack to the death of James Gandolfini's character Tony Soprano - until Chase assured him that wouldn't be the case. Perry says, "The request came in a few weeks ago and it wasn't until Thursday that it got approval, because I was concerned. "I was not excited about (the possibility of) the Soprano family being whacked to Don't Stop Believin'. Unless I know what happens - and I will swear to secrecy - I can't in good conscience feel good about its use." And Perry was so true to his word, he didn't even tell his family the song featured in the finale.
Question: Do you think cryptic, mysterious David Chase would actually tell him a definite answer on whether Tony got whacked? (I don't.) But I'm LMAO at how he must have told him something true but ultimately something as facially mundane and unresolved as "The family is just going to sit down and eat onion rings.":icon_biggrin::icon_biggrin::icon_biggrin: Wonder what Perry thinks now.
This further explains why the camera focussed in several times on alternative songs. Had the Journey songwriters not agreed to the use, we'd have gotten a different song and, consequently, a different meaning from the musical subtext. That's confirmed by this excerpt from another piece on the selection of the song:
I find the last minute nature of everything particularly interesting, and it explains this quote from Chase in an interview from France a few days back. He said he was asked by two French guys if he was finished with the work, and he said, "I have two more edits to do." He then remembered that he HAD done them and just couldn't get used to the feeling of being finished.Chase even had a bit of fun in the end, having Tony skip past a few other tunes whose titles would have made for much easier tidying up (Heart's "Who Will You Run To" and Tony Bennett's "I've Gotta Be Me"/"A Lonely Place").
That's further proof that hitting just the right tone with just the right song in your season finale is a lot harder than it looks, according to music supervisor Tricia Halloran ("Men in Trees"). "You need a song that wraps up your season and helps define the idea of the show," said Halloran, who 'fessed up to being turned down once when she asked Journey for permission to use "Believin' " in a burger commercial.
"And even after the music supervisor has seen the script, which might have some suggestions from the writers, the first question is, 'Does it fit the writer's palette of music that has been used on the show?' and then, 'Can you get clearance?' I'm sure Journey don't approve all TV requests, but it's a heritage song and they'd be crazy to turn down 'The Sopranos.' "
One thing is for sure: Because rights requests routinely do get turned down, anyone working in TV or film has to have one, or more, backups just in case their ideal track doesn't get cleared. "For 'The Sopranos,' it was perfect," she said. "They tried to do something Tony would love, and it says, 'We're family, we're here, and nothing will get us down.' But I'm sure they had a few other songs just in case it didn't work out."
So just be glad Tony didn't stop on one of the other choices, because you might be walking around singing Sawyer Brown's "My Baby Drives a Truck" or T. Graham Brown's "Rock It, Billy" for the next week.
The fact that he was having to complete editing from France goes along with the last minute use of the song, since I'm sure principle editing was completed before he ever left the country.