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"Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" is a 1984 song by the English pop duo Wham! which became their first UK number one hit. It was written and produced by George Michael, one half of the duo. This song also appeared in soundtrack for the movie Zoolander.

History

Michael's inspiration for the song was a scribbled note left by his Wham! partner Andrew Ridgeley for Andrew's parents, originally intended to read "wake me up before you go" but with "up" accidentally written twice, so Ridgeley wrote "go" twice on purpose. Released in May 1984, it heralded the beginning of a softer, sunnier image for Wham!, who had spent the previous year as a moodier, more politically themed duo, with songs about unemployment, young marriage, and battles of will between parents and their children. With the release of "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go", they re-emerged with wider smiles, more colourful clothing, and a more positive disposition in interviews.

In 1984, George Michael had this to say on the development of the song:

I just wanted to make a really energetic pop record that had all the best elements of Fifties and Sixties records, combined with our attitude and our approach, which is obviously more uptempo and a lot younger than some of those records. It's one of those tracks that gets rid of a lot of your own personal influences; it reminds me of so many different records that I couldn't actually nail them down. I'd done a demo at home that just had a bass line and a vocal on it. Usually, I write the record in my head; I know what all the parts are going to be and I sing them to all our musicians. And it was great. ... We actually did it as a rehearsal. We used a Linn drum because the drummer was late, and it was such a good track that we kept it."

— George Michael

The song entered the UK singles chart at number four — after much hype from the duo claiming they would go straight in at number one, which was a rare occurrence then — and climbed to the top spot seven days later, staying there for two weeks.

Michael followed it up with a solo single, "Careless Whisper" and another Wham! hit, "Freedom", both of which were also UK number-one hits. The song also went to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States followed by the number-one singles "Careless Whisper" and "Everything She Wants" and the number-three "Freedom". The album, Make It Big, was an unqualified success. Wham! had three more UK number one singles and split at their height in 1986.

Music video

The music video, essentially the duo performing (it also introduced Ridgeley as a guitar player for the band) to a teenage audience, was memorable for the clothes, which became a lasting sartorial image for the 1980s as a decade. Michael and Ridgeley, plus backing singers Pepsi and Shirlie, along with motor trade Guru Peter (Froudy) Froud, were wearing Katharine Hamnett T-shirt designs which said "CHOOSE LIFE" (originally a slogan targeted at drug abuse and suicide) and "GO GO", which became much sought-after fashion items of the year. Michael was also seen in luminous gloves, which he later bemoaned as the clip of him always picked out by advertisers whenever "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" went on to a compilation album. The video was filmed at the Brixton Academy in South London.

Covers

• 1984: Kids Incorporated covered the song again on the 1984 edition of the United Cerebral Palsy Telethon.
• 2004: Japanese actor Yuji Oda made a cover of the song ("Wake Me Up Go! Go!") as a companion to his cover of "Last Christmas", both songs being the main soundtrack of the Japanese television drama he was starring in, Last Christmas
• 2004: Westlife performed the song for their Turnaround Tour
• 2004: German Popstars girlgroup Preluders covered the song on their album Prelude to History
• 2009: On the sixth series of The X Factor, the six remaining finalists performed the song on the results show for the seventh live show, on 22 November.
• 2010: Selina Ren performed the song on S.H.E's "S.H.E is The One" world tour.
• 2013: Blaine Anderson and Sam Evans, characters on Glee, cover the song on an episode in season 4 called "Guilty Pleasures". List of songs in Glee (season 4)
• The Kwartet covered this song on their debut EP, Enter The Cactus
• Finnish singer Vicky Rosti covered the song with the title Riisu pois jo arkipaita
• On Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway, Dec's team sung it as part of Ant Vs. Dec: The Teams. His team won as it was downloaded the most times, and subsequently it charted at No.64 on the UK Singles Chart.
• The song was performed and referenced by Chris Griffin from the Family Guy episode "Jungle Love"
• Mickey and Gloria sang lead vocals for Kids Incorporated's cover of the song in Season 1, Episode 8: "New Image"
• The song is also used in the music simulation game Wii Music and is one of the songs on the Just Dance 2 video grame
• The line "Wake me up before you go-go" is sung in the punk rock song "Whatever Happened to the 80s" by the Donots.
• In the season 5 episode of Chuck, "Chuck versus Bo," Morgan is reported to have convinced everyone is a ski resort bar to sing the song ironically.
• Singapore actor, Huang Wen Yong also sang a cover of it.

Track listing

All tracks are written by George Michael

• Note: The US 7" single (Columbia 04552) has identical track listing.

Chart performance

References

1. "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" by Wham! Songfacts.com. Retrieved 26 July 2009.
2. Connelly, Christopher (25 October 1984), "Wham! A wake-up call to the U.S.", Rolling Stone magazine (433): 48
3. "Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway - Charity singles". ITV. 27 May 2011. Retrieved 8 January 2012.
4. "UK Singles Top 75 - Music Charts". Acharts.us. 1 January 2012. Retrieved 8 January 2012.
5. Worldcharts.co.uk. "Australia n°1 Hits - 80's". Retrieved 14 June 2013.
6. Hung Medien. "Wake me up before you go-go in Austrian Chart". Retrieved 14 June 2013.
7. "Wake me up before you go-go in Belgian Chart". Ultratop and Hung Medien. Retrieved 14 June 2013.
8. "Wake me up before you go-go in Canadian Adult Contemporary Chart". Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 14 June 2013.
9. "Wake me up before you go-go in Canadian Top Singles Chart". Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 14 June 2013.
10. Hung Medien. "Wake me up before you go-go in French Chart". Retrieved 14 June 2013.
11. "Wake me up before you go-go in German Chart". Media control. Retrieved 14 June 2013.
12. "Wake me up before you go-go in Irish Chart". IRMA. Retrieved 14 June 2013. Only one result when searching "Wake me up before you go go"
13. "Indice per Interprete: W". HitParadeItalia (it). Retrieved 14 June 2013.
14. "Wake me up before you go-go in GfK Dutch Chart". Hung Medien. Retrieved 18 June 2013.
15. "De Nederlandse Top 40, week 29, 1984". Retrieved 27 February 2008.
16. Hung Medien. "Wake me up before you go-go in New Zealand Chart". Retrieved 14 June 2013.
17. Hung Medien. "Wake me up before you go-go in Norwegian Chart". Retrieved 14 June 2013.
18. John Samson. "Wake me up before you go-go in South African Chart". Retrieved 14 June 2013.
19. Hung Medien. "Wake me up before you go-go in Swedish Chart". Retrieved 14 June 2013.
20. Hung Medien. "Wake me up before you go-go in Swiss Chart". Retrieved 14 June 2013.
21. "Wham!". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 14 June 2013.
22. ^ "Make It Big awards on Allmusic". Allmusic. Retrieved 14 June 2013.

External links

• Song review from AllMusic

• Use dmy dates from February 2011
• Wham! songs
• 1984 singles
• Dance-pop songs
• UK Singles Chart number-one singles
• Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles
• Number-one singles in Australia
• European Hot 100 Singles number-one singles
• Number-one singles in Norway
• Dutch Top 40 number-one singles
• Number-one singles in Sweden
• RPM Top Singles number-one singles
• Songs written by George Michael