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Andrew Ridgely shared a home with his parents in the early days before he and George Michael hit the big time with Wham.
One day, he needed a wake-up call, so he wrote a note for his mom that said, " Wake me up up." Realizing his mistake, he went with it, and finished with, "Before you go go."
George saw the note and not only thought it was hilarious, but a great name for a song about dancing at...a Go-Go club!
For you youngsters, Go-Go clubs were popular dance venues in the 60s and 70s. Sometimes they even featured pretty young girls dancing in cages. (They later morphed into strip clubs.) Smokey Robinson and Miracles even had a Great Song in 1965 with "Going to A-Go-Go," but I digress...
George started the song by singing the word "Jitterbug" several times, referring, of course, to the amazingly physical dance made popular in the '40s. He then proceeded to tell his girlfriend never to go dancing without him again!
"Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" is a lot of fun...and yes, VERY danceable!
The song was a hit in TWENTY-ONE countries, reaching #1 in ELEVEN of them...including Canada and the US, while selling well over THREE Million copies!
Up to that point, Wham had scored a few hits in the UK, but NOTHING like this.
"Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" by Wham: a Great Song of 1984. (No word on whether Andrew's mom ever saw the note.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIgZ7gMze7A
Tomorrow: Two Phils walk into a studio....
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