Shake Me, Wake Me (When It's Over)

Album: On Top (1966)
Charted: 18
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • "Shake Me, Wake Me (When it's Over)" is about lost love. In the song, lead vocalist Levi Stubbs sings about hearing his neighbors' voices coming through his thin apartment walls. The neighbors are talking about how his woman doesn't love him anymore; he is knocked out by the news and asks to be woken up when the nightmare is over.
  • This was written by the Motown team of Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier and Eddie Holland. Most of their hits went to The Supremes, but they also wrote some songs for the Four Tops, including the #1 hits "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)" and "Reach Out I'll Be There." "Shake Me, Wake Me" was a modest hit, reaching #18 in the US on March 26 while "Ballad Of The Green Berets" was #1.
  • A group of female vocalists named The Andantes did background vocals for the track. It's one of 16 Four Tops songs they contributed to.
  • This was the first single released from On Top, the third Four Tops album. The B-side was "Just as Long as You Need Me."
  • This wasn't the only song doing some shaking and waking in 1966: Al Kooper's band The Blues Project released "Wake Me, Shake Me" that year.
  • In 1975, Barbra Streisand did a disco version of the song for her album Lazy Afternoon. She released it as a single. It earned her a #14 position on Billboard's US Dance Club Songs chart and a #10 on Billboard's US Disco Singles chart.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

The 10 Bands Most Like Spinal Tap

The 10 Bands Most Like Spinal TapSong Writing

Based on criteria like girlfriend tension, stage mishaps and drummer turnover, these are the 10 bands most like Spinal Tap.

Michael Sweet of Stryper

Michael Sweet of StryperSongwriter Interviews

Find out how God and glam metal go together from the Stryper frontman.

Jim McCarty of The Yardbirds

Jim McCarty of The YardbirdsSongwriter Interviews

The Yardbirds drummer explains how they created their sound and talks about working with their famous guitarists.

Butch Vig

Butch VigSongwriter Interviews

The Garbage drummer/songwriter produced the Nirvana album Nevermind, and Smashing Pumpkins' Gish and Siamese Dream.

Rob Halford of Judas Priest

Rob Halford of Judas PriestSongwriter Interviews

Rob Halford dives into some of his Judas Priest lyrics, talking about his most personal songs and the message behind "You've Got Another Thing Comin'."

Tom Keifer of Cinderella

Tom Keifer of CinderellaSongwriter Interviews

Tom talks about the evolution of Cinderella's songs through their first three albums, and how he writes as a solo artist.