"Wake Up Boo!" is a song recorded by British indie band
the Boo Radleys for their fourth album, ''
Wake Up!
''Wake Up!'' (stylized as ''Wake UP!'') is the debut studio album by Australian-American indie pop musician Hazel English released on April 24, 2020. The album is produced by Justin Raisen and Ben H. Allen.
Background and recording
On May 12, 2 ...
'' (1995). It was by far their biggest hit both in the UK and internationally. The track is an upbeat guitar-pop song about the change from summer to autumn, contrasting the narrator's optimism ("Wake up, it's a beautiful morning") with his companion's pessimism ("You have to put the death in everything"). Part of the song was used as a jingle by
Chris Evans for his
BBC Radio 1 breakfast show in the mid nineties.
Composition and recording
According to Martin Carr, he spent a year working on the song's music. He described the lyrics of the song as being "about staying up all night". In a 2021 interview, Sice said that "Wake Up Boo!" was "about grabbing the last of summer while you can", and described it as a reflection of Carr's personality: "He can be very up and ebullient – 'Wake up, it’s a beautiful morning' – and then he can have that drop: 'You have to put the death in everything'". The band first recorded the song at
Real World Studios in a heavier, more downbeat arrangement, which Tim Brown described as "a bit underwhelming". After pressure from Creation Records, they re-recorded it at
Rockfield Studios, where they were inspired to use a
Motown beat after listening to a
Style Council
The Style Council were a British band formed in late 1982 by Paul Weller, the former singer, songwriter and guitarist with the punk rock/ new wave/mod revival band the Jam, and keyboardist Mick Talbot, previously a member of Dexys Midnight Run ...
b-side. They also recruited
Tom Jones
Tom Jones may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
*Tom Jones (singer) (born 1940), Welsh singer
* Tom Jones (writer) (1928–2023), American librettist and lyricist
*''The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling'', a novel by Henry Fielding published in ...
'
brass section to play on the track.
Versions
On the album version of the song, the "Wake up, it's a beautiful morning" refrain is performed as an
a cappella
''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Ren ...
round as a prelude to the main track; this is absent from the single edit, which is otherwise identical. The second CD single and 12" feature a version called "Wake Up Boo!: Music for Astronauts" which has three distinct
segued sections: the standard radio edit in full, followed by a version of the a cappella round, and finally a mostly instrumental electronic dance track reprising musical elements of the main song. It was this "Music for Astronauts" version which later featured on the group's self-selected "best of" compilation, ''Find the Way Out'', along with the B-side, "Blues for George Michael". The basic single version has never appeared on a Boo Radleys album (their other greatest hits collection ''Best of The Boo Radleys'' contains the album version) though it has appeared on many various artist collections.
Critical reception
James Masterton
James Masterton (born 2 September 1973) is a music writer and columnist, his work focusing on the UK Singles Chart having been an online fixture on various sites since the 1990s. Masterton is also a producer for talkSPORT, and has worked on air ...
said in his weekly UK chart commentary, ""All of a sudden the bunch of
Liverpudlians have turned on the magic and released what has to be the best single of the year so far, and then some. Quite simply it is the perfect piece of exuberent
pop
Pop or POP may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Music
* Pop music, a musical genre Artists
* POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade
* Pop!, a UK pop group
* Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band
Albums
* ''Pop'' (G ...
, an exquisite pastiche of the
Liverpool beat bands that inspired a whole generation before them, complete with
Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developme ...
que harmonies and a melody that could have been lifted from every
Monkees record ever made." Pan-European magazine ''
Music & Media
''Music & Media'' was a pan-European magazine for radio, music and entertainment. It was published for the first time in 1984 as ''Eurotipsheet'', but in 1986 it changed name to ''Music & Media''. It was originally based in Amsterdam, but later ...
'' wrote, "If you're young in the UK you either make
dance
Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...
or '60s-inspired pop. In the latter category the uncrowned champions the Boo Radleys deserve an equal share of the media attention as
Oasis
In ecology, an oasis (; ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment'ksar''with its surrounding feeding source, the palm grove, within a relational and circulatory nomadic system.”
The location of oases has been of critical imp ...
." A reviewer from ''
Music Week'' rated it five out of five, picking it as Single of the Week. The reviewer also described it as "a
Wham!-style upbeat, summer song", adding that "it's a song to make you smile".
Music video
The promotional
music video for "Wake Up Boo!" was filmed at
Battersea Power Station.
Track listings
CD One
CD Two
12-inch
Credits and personnel
*
Tim Brown Timothy, Timmy, or Tim Brown may refer to:
Music
* Timothy Brown (bassist) (born 1969), bassist for the band The Boo Radleys
* Timothy Brown (conductor) (born 1946), English choral conductor
* Timothy Brown (hornist), English hornist
Sports Gridir ...
–
bass
Bass or Basses may refer to:
Fish
* Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species
Music
* Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range:
** Bass (instrument), including:
** Acoustic bass gui ...
,
piano, keyboards
*
Martin Carr –
backing vocals, guitar, keyboards, writer
*
Rob Cieka – drums
*
Sice –
lead vocals
The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...
* The Boo Radleys – producer
*
Andy Wilkinson
Andrew Gordon Wilkinson (born 6 August 1984) is an English former professional footballer who played as a defender.
Wilkinson joined Stoke City's academy from his local club Stone Dominoes and made his professional debut in October 2001. Sin ...
–
audio engineer
An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproduction, ...
* Stephen A. Wood –
cover art
Cover art is a type of artwork presented as an illustration or photograph on the outside of a published product such as a book (often on a dust jacket), magazine, newspaper ( tabloid), comic book, video game (box art), music album (album art), ...
Charts and certifications
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
References
{{Authority control
1995 singles
1995 songs
The Boo Radleys songs
Creation Records singles