I’m at least a little more musical than your average bear. And I don’t hear any way that Ed Sheeran ripped-off Marvin Gaye.
As for me, “If you don’t know me by now…you will never, never, never know me…”
Which leads me to Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes and their late, great front-man, Teddy Pendergrass. RIP, beautiful man.
Maybe my favorite HM&TBN record is 1975’s “Wake Up Everybody” Not ashamed to admit I tear up every single time I hear it, which I make sure is often.
I love what I think is the deliberate ambiguity of the title, which can be interpreted as either a demand or a plea (Wake Up, Everybody!)
We’re in an American Coma, and our numbed slumber should be a source of shame and embarrassment.
Our Supreme Court is hopelessly politicized and corrupted, and we have an Associate Justice who has committed criminal acts, even as we nap.
We’re playing a tribal game of chicken that could wreck our national—not to mention the world’s—economy. And still, we Take It to the Limit, One More Time.
Our children are slaughtered daily. And we have made it crystal clear that we’re just fine with that.
We are watching our democracy decay daily. And we have a major political party that wants only to accelerate that erosion.
Earth is on fire. Our home is on fire. And we are the convicted arsonists. And we can’t wait to pour more fuel onto the inferno.
Hatred R Us. We have a growing Cult that hates everything and everybody that does not identically reflect their image, pretty much for the hell of it. They scorn any gesture or even thought of basic human decency.
We have an elected governor of a U.S. state who declined to declare war on a virus that has killed one million Americans, but now wants to pick a fight with an animated mouse.
Don’t get smug, Texans. Our governor is a little rolllin’ ball of bigotry, and is eager to re-establish that daily.
We have de-stigmatized and normalized lying.
We reject established yet inconvenient truths.
We have once again relegated women to second-class citizen status.
We have rejected the true genius of America in favor of pursuit of jihad.
Wake Up Everybody.
Or
Wake Up, Everybody.
It works with or without the comma.
“Wake up everybody, no more sleepin’ in bed…”
“Wake up all the teachers…”
“Wake up all the doctors…”
“Wake up all the builders…”
“The world won’t get no better if we just let it be…”
“You preachers, start teaching what you preach…”
We are narcoleptic. And it’s going to kill us.
Wake up.
Tomorrow: There’s an important difference between “inner peace” and “inner strength.”
Oh, and rest well, Mr. Lightfoot.
