I Want to Wake Up
Writers - Tennant/Lowe
First released - 1987
Original album - Actually
Subsequent albums - (none)
Other releases - bonus track with single "Can You Forgive Her?"
The torture of being in love with someone who doesn't love you back. "You're in love with he, she's in love with me, but you know as well as I do I can never think of anyone but you." Tormented by unrequited love, the narrator feels as though he's living a nightmare from which he desperately wants to wake up. That's pretty much the gist of it—although at the end of the song, in an extremely clever lyrical twist, Neil notes that the only possible way to wake up from this terrible dream is to "wake up with you."
Later this track would resurface in a version remixed by their friend Johnny Marr, formerly of The Smiths, as one of the bonus tracks on the "Can You Forgive Her?" CD single.
Annotations
- "My radio played songs like 'Tainted Love' and 'Love Is Strange'" – "Tainted Love" was written by Ed Cobb, formerly of the vocal quartet the Four Preps, and was originally recorded by Gloria Jones as a b-side in 1965. It was later popularized during the U.K. Northern Soul club scene of the 1970s. It's best known, however, for its 1981 hit electropop cover version by Soft Cell. "Love Is Strange" (the songwriting credits for which are subject to debate of almost legendary proportions) was originally recorded by Bo Diddley in 1956, but gained fame a year later as a hit single by Mickey & Sylvia. It was subsequently covered by Buddy Holly, the Everly Brothers, Peaches & Herb, Paul McCartney and Wings, Everything But the Girl, and many others. These two pop classics are mentioned in "I Want to Wake Up" as poignant signifiers of mood; as the song's narrator states, hearing them evokes "sudden tears." (Love can indeed be both tainted and strange.)
Mixes
Officially released
- Mixer:
Pet Shop Boys and Shep Pettibone
- Album
version (5:10)
- Available on Actually
- There are slight variations at around 4:21 between the original 1987 album version and the 2001 reissue, but probably not sufficient to distinguish them as truly "different mixes"
- Breakdown
Mix (6:00)
- Available on the Further Listening bonus disc with the Actually reissue
- Album
version (5:10)
- Mixer:
Johnny Marr
- 1993 Remix (5:26)
- Johnny Marr Groove Mix (5:45)
- Mixer:
unknown
- Demo
(5:58)
- Reportedly extremely similar to the above-noted "Breakdown Mix" except very slightly faster
- Demo
(5:58)
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