Wake Me Up

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I've got this phosphorescent portrait of gentle Jesus meek and mild

I've got this harlot that I'm stuck with carrying another man's child

The solitary star announcing vacancy burnt out as we arrived

They'd throw us back across the border if they knew that we survived

 And they were surprised to see us

 So they greeted us with palms

They asked for ammunition, acts of contrition and small alms

Wake me up, wake me up, wake me up, wake me up, wake me up
With a slap or a kiss
Wake me up, wake me up, wake me up, wake me up, wake me up
There must be something better than this


I've got this imaginary radio, and I'm punching up the dial

I've got the A.C. trained on the T.V. so it won't blow up in my eye

 And everything that I thought fanciful or mocked as too extreme

 Must be family entertainment here in the strange land of my dreams

And I'm practising my likeness of St. Francis of Assisi

And if I hold my hand outstretched

 A little bird comes to me


And I might recite a small prayer

If I ever said them

 I lay down on an iron frame

 And found myself in Bedlam

 Stepping on the fingers that were stretching through the bars

 Wailing echoes down the corridors


 Wake me up, wake me up, wake me up, wake me up, wake me up
With a slap or a kiss
Wake me up, wake me up, wake me up, wake me up, wake me up
There must be something better than this


 They've got this scared and decorated girl strapped to the steel trunk of a Mustang

 They drove her down a cypress grove where traitors hang and stars still spangle

They dangled flags and other rags along a coloured thread of twine

 They dragged that bruised and purple heart along the road to Palestine


Someone went off muttering, he mentioned thirty pieces

 Easter saw a slaughtering, each wrapped in bloodstained fleeces

My thoughts returned to vengeance but I put up no resistance

Though I seemed a long way from my home

It really was no distance


Wake me up, wake me up, wake me up, wake me up, wake me up
With a slap or a kiss
Wake me up, wake me up, wake me up, wake me up, wake me up
There must be something better than this


 And the player piano picks out "Life Goes On"

 The Ringtone rang out "Jerusalem"

 Into the pit of sadness

Where the wretched plunge

 We've buried all the Innocents

We must bury revenge


Wake me up, wake me up, wake me up, wake me up, wake me up
There must be something better than this
There must be something better than this
There must be something better than this


In the name of the Father and the Son
In the name of Gasoline and a Gun
Wake me up, wake me up, wake me up, wake me up, wake me up

Wake Me Up
Written byElvis Costello, Ahmir Thompson and Steven Mandel
Performed byElvis Costello and The Roots
Produced byElvis Costello, Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson and Steven Mandel
MusiciansElvis Costello - vocals, Ampeg bass, Wurlitzer electric piano, rhythm guitar
Kirk Douglas - lead guitar
?uestlove - drums
Korey Riker - baritone saxophone
Matt Cappy - trumpet
Damon Bryson - sousaphone
AlbumsWise Up Ghost, 2013
Length5:52

First known performance:
September 16, 2013, New York, NY
Last known performance:
May 6, 2022, New Orleans, LA
     (7 known performances)


Wise Up GhostWise Up Ghost album cover.jpg


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