Wise Up by Aimee Mann

Album: Bachelor No. 2 Or, The Last Remains Of The Dodo (1996)

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"Wise Up" is a very empathetic song about addiction. Over a sweet melody and gentle, orchestral swells, Aimee Mann offers this advice:

It's not going to stop
Till you wise up

"It's the classic situation of someone going round and round, chasing their own tail," she explained in the liner notes to her album Bachelor No. 2. "I've known many different kinds of addicts, but alcoholism is much easier to grasp than the idea of being addicted to gambling, or sex, or relationships. Here I'm using drinking as a metaphor for unhealthy behaviors that are maybe indicative of a more arcane kind of addiction."
Aimee Mann wrote this song for the 1996 movie Jerry Maguire. It didn't make the film but does appear on the soundtrack along with Bob Dylan's "Shelter From the Storm" and Bruce Springsteen's "Secret Garden." Mann explained that Jerry Maguire writer/director Cameron Crowe loved the demo but didn't like the finished version, so he didn't use it in the film.

"Then after the movie came out, he called me and said, 'I don't know what I was thinking! Your version is awesome. I guess I was just kind of attached to the demo.'" Mann told DCist. "So he put it on the soundtrack album. So it's there, and on the DVD, but it wasn't in the original release of the film."
"Wise Up" didn't make Jerry Maguire but was snatched up for another film starring Tom Cruise: Magnolia (1999), after director Paul Thomas Anderson heard it on the Jerry Maguire soundtrack and decided it would be perfect for his film. Anderson used the song in a surreal sequence where several characters in different locations are seen simultaneously singing the tune aloud. The film is basically a story created around Aimee Mann's songs.
The last line is a gut punch that's often misinterpreted:

No, it's not going to stop
So just give up

Mann explained in the Bachelor No. 2 liner notes: "At the end there's that line, 'Just give up.' For people in recovery, that means admitting that you're powerless over your addiction. Stop doing the same things you've been doing, because it's not working. Sometimes trying again isn't the answer."
The song appears on the soundtracks to both Jerry Maguire and Magnolia. The Magnolia soundtrack includes eight Aimee Mann songs and also two from Supertramp: "Goodbye Stranger" and "The Logical Song."

A different version of "Wise Up" appears as a bonus track on Mann's 2000 album Bachelor No. 2 Or, The Last Remains Of The Dodo.
The song was produced by Mann's husband, Michael Penn, and features piano by Benmont Tench of Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers.

Comments: 3

Mercy from UsaIt’s “give up” what has not been serving you, not “give up” hope, not give into your addiction. Give up the illusion of control.
Brenda from Idaho Falls, IdI find this song a therapeutic as a visit to the psychiatist. It digs into the corner recesses of your mind, and it unearths all kinds of baggage. Maybe that is good, maybe that is bad, but... I think that was that was Mann's intention upon writing it.
Maksim from Murmansk, --It's an incredible song!

First I heard it in Magnolia movie, there was an episode when each character of this movie was singing along to it & that was brilliant!

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