Wake Me, Shake Me by The Coasters

Album: Coast Along with the Coasters (1960)

Charted: 51

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Songfacts®:

"Wake Me, Shake Me" is a lighthearted plea to be woken up in time for work. Coasters frontman Billy Guy, who wrote the song, sings about his miserable job as a sanitation worker (a profession sometimes called "a garbage man") and his fears of sleeping in and failing to punch the clock on time. He dreams of garbage trucks bearing down on him and reminds us repeatedly that his boss is a "big, fat slob." Still, he can't be a minute late because he needs the money.
The Coasters had a run of jovial hit sin the late '50s that were written by the team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. In the early '60s, they could still earn some airplay, but they weren't nearly as popular. "Wake Me, Shake Me" was one of several minor hits for the group in this era. Leiber and Stoller are merely listed as "supervisors" on the album it came from.

Comments: 1

Larry E from Boulder, CoSee the 'Song Facts' under the Blues Project [song arranged by Al Kooper from a public domain gospel tune about getting into heaven] for the true origin of this song. First known recording by Alan Lomax in 1930's and on an album of gospel recordings by various groups in the 1940's. The Wikipedia entry on this song is also lacking in any research on the origin of the melody, words and message.

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