Wake Up Boo!

Album: Wake Up! (1995)
Charted: 9
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This track is an upbeat guitar-pop song in which vocalist Martin Carr contrasts his own optimism ("Twenty-five I don't recall a time I felt this alive") with his lover's pessimism ("You have to put the death in everything").
  • The song was the lead single from Wake Up!. Its release in March 1995 coincided with the emergence of Britpop as a driving force in mid-1990s British music and the track's brassy optimism fitted in well on the radio alongside the likes of Oasis and Supergrass. As a result, it became the Boo Radleys' biggest hit in the UK.
  • The origins of "Wake Up Boo" lay in some sessions spent by the Boo Radleys at London's Protocol Studios in June 1994, when they pierced together early versions of the song along with a few other tracks. The plan was to release the tune in October 1994 but Martin Carr halted the original recording. He recalled to Music Week:

    "I'd heard Take That's cover of 'Could It Be Magic' and liked the way the beat moved the song along. I knew Wake Up Boo should have a certain sound and momentum without relying on guitars, so we changed it."

    Carr told Mojo it took four days to piece together the final version of "Wake Up Boo" and it was the only track on the album that was written "just for the fun of writing a pop song."
  • The Boo Radleys recorded the bulk of this song at Rockfield Studios in the countryside of Wales. Many famous bands recorded there - Queen, Rush, Oasis - but there are few tales of debauchery or shenanigans, in part because there wasn't much trouble to be found, but also because the studio owners wanted to protect the artists from the press. One rumor that did leak concerns The Boo Radleys. While making the Wake Up! album, they supposedly took a lot of acid and tried to paint sheep on the property blue. This has not been confirmed, but makes a great story.

Comments: 1

  • Daddio from UkTheir name is taken from the character Boo Radley in Harper Lee's 1960 novel, To Kill a Mockingbird.
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Edwin McCain

Edwin McCainSongwriter Interviews

"I'll Be" was what Edwin called his "Hail Mary" song. He says it proves "intention of the songwriter is 180 degrees from potential interpretation by an audience."

Church Lyrics

Church LyricsMusic Quiz

Here is the church, here is the steeple - see if you can identify these lyrics that reference church.

Julian Lennon

Julian LennonSongwriter Interviews

Julian tells the stories behind his hits "Valotte" and "Too Late for Goodbyes," and fills us in on his many non-musical pursuits. Also: what MTV meant to his career.

Jay, Peaches, Spinderella and other Darrining Victims

Jay, Peaches, Spinderella and other Darrining VictimsSong Writing

Just like Darrin was replaced on Bewitched, groups have swapped out original members, hoping we wouldn't notice.

Who Did It First?

Who Did It First?Music Quiz

Do you know who recorded the original versions of these ten hit songs?

Judas Priest

Judas PriestSongwriter Interviews

Rob Halford, Richie Faulkner and Glenn Tipton talk twin guitar harmonies and explain how they create songs in Judas Priest.