Learn English with "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" by Wham!

Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go was written and produced entirely by George Michael, who recorded it in 1984 at Sarm West Studio 2 in London with a live rhythm section, reportedly finishing the track in only a couple of days. It was released as a single in the UK on 14 May 1984, serving as the lead single from Wham!'s second studio album, Make It Big.

The song's chart run was fast and decisive: it entered the UK Singles Chart at number four and climbed to number one within a week, holding the top spot for two weeks — Wham!'s first ever UK chart-topper. Six months later it repeated the feat across the Atlantic, spending three weeks at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 in November 1984, giving the duo their first American number one and completing a rare same-year double for a British act.

Commercially, the single was certified Platinum by the RIAA in the United States and Gold by the BPI in the UK, and it topped the charts in several other countries, including Australia, Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, Sweden and Iceland. At the 1985 Grammy Awards it was nominated for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals, though the award ultimately went to the Pointer Sisters for 'Jump (For My Love).'

The accompanying music video, directed by Andy Morahan, was filmed with a crowd of teenage extras at Brixton Academy in South London. George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley performed in oversized 'CHOOSE LIFE' T-shirts designed by British fashion designer Katharine Hamnett, and the look became one of the most imitated fashion statements of the decade, later revisited in VH1's I Love the 80s.

The title itself has a small, almost accidental origin story: George Michael said he was inspired by a note Andrew Ridgeley had scribbled for his parents, which was meant to read 'wake me up before you go' but accidentally repeated the word 'up.' Rather than cross it out, Ridgeley deliberately doubled the word 'go' as well, and Michael turned the quirky repetition into the song's title and hook.

More than four decades later, the track still holds its place in 80s pop history — VH1 ranked it number 28 on its list of the 100 Greatest Songs of the '80s, and it remains a fixture of retro radio and throwback dance floors. In this catalogue it plays the role of pure high-energy British pop: all bright synths and breathless pace, a sharp contrast to the slower, more introspective British ballads sitting alongside it.

If you liked this, we recommend:

• Karma Chameleon — Culture Club (British English, the other unmistakable 80s new-wave anthem)
• I Wanna Dance with Somebody — Whitney Houston (American English, the US answer to 80s dance-pop euphoria)
• Total Eclipse of the Heart — Bonnie Tyler (Welsh English, the slow, dramatic 80s power ballad counterpart)
• I Want It That Way — Backstreet Boys (American English, the 90s boy-band heirs to Wham!'s pop-duo energy)