Musical inspiration can come from anywhere. It could be a perceived melody flying through the air, a sequence of words strung together, or even seemingly unconnected elements that get balled all together and strike like lightning. In the case of Wham! and their hit, “Wake Me Up Before You Go Go,” it was scribbled note left for mom and dad.
On this date in 1984 (Nov 17), Wham! had the number one in the U.S. with the hit “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go.” Their album, Make It Big, was also topping the U.K. charts and you could barely turn on MTV without seeing the video for the song.
George Michael is credited with writing the song but the inspiration came from a note written by his Wham! companion and collaborator Andrew Ridgeley.
The story goes, Ridgeley had written a note for his parents and it was intended to read “wake me up before you go.” However, he wrote “wake me up up before you go.” So, being all cutesy, he purposely wrote “go” a second time, making it “Wake me up up before you go go.”
SAN DIEGO – JUNE 17: Singer George Michael performs at the Sports Arena on June 17, 2008 in San Diego, California. Album sales from singer and his former duo Wham, have increased since his December 25, 2016 death. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
About the song, George Michael told Rolling Stone in 1984, “I just wanted to make a really energetic pop record that had all the best elements of Fifties and Sixties records, combined with our attitude and our approach, which is obviously more uptempo and a lot younger than some of those records.”
“Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” went to number 1 in fifteen countries.
