Children of Chaos

by Mike the Red

"Wake Up John"

Song link here.

I decided I was going to escape into my music, so I fired up my karaoke machine. I had put together a CD of my favorite songs to perform in karaoke style, songs which would not be found on any karaoke disc as these were not well-known songs -- well, some of them were, but there was one particular song I absolutely loved to sing, even going so far as to pretend to perform it on stage. At least I wouldn't have to worry about anypony thinking I was crazy while doing this.

The monitor showed the title and artist of the first song: "Wake Up, John" in the style of Little Eva. This is a very short song, only about two minutes long, but it's one of my all-time favorites. I stand on my hind legs, holding the microphone in my fore-hooves, making sure it's on. The title disappears, only to be replaced by eight small dashes to signify the intro. As the intro starts, I tap my left rear hoof in time with the tambourine hits, nodding my head in time with the tapping of my hoof. As the crash cymbal is hit, I take a breath to start singing the first line of the song, blinking my eyes once and smiling broadly.

"Oo-wake up John and tell meeeeeeee," I sing, the vocal being very breathy, and drawing out the word 'me.' As I draw out the word 'me,' I turn my head quickly to the left and then back to the front, and blink my eyes and nod quickly once before singing the second line of the song.

"That you really love meeeeeeee," I smile even more broadly with the drawing out of the word 'me' again, the word 'that' having been the least breathy word sung. Once again, I turn my head to the left very quickly, then back to the front, again nodding and blinking before going to the third line of this song.

"Johnnn, tell meeee everything's all riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight," I seem to almost chew on the word 'John,' and nod as I say the name. The word 'me' flows into the word 'everything's', then I take a big breath before drawing out the words 'all right,' blinking a couple of times and quickly turning my head left to right, then back to the front while drawing out the last part. I'm in the zone now, and loving my performance. Maybe I should use my camcorder and take a video of this performance...

"Oo-wake up John and tell meeeeeee," again a quick look left then back front and another blink. I love emphasizing the breathiness of the vocal, almost exaggerating it a bit too much as I draw out the last word again.

"Oo-why you didn't kiss meeeeeee," I blink on the word 'kiss' and nod again, giving another broad smile as I draw out the word 'me' once again.

"Before you cu-lose your eyes to-nnniiiiiiiiiiiight," I emphasize the two syllables used for the word 'close' and slightly draw out the 'n' of 'tonight', blinking a couple more times during the line, and giving another quick nod and blink as I draw out the last syllable of the line. The chorus is just one line long, but drawing it out makes it last almost twelve seconds.

"Oo-wake up Jooooooooooooooooooohn, wake up joooooooh-ah-ah-aaaahhnnn," I draw out the first 'John' and give a staccato to the second 'John.' Before going to the second verse, I quickly turn my head to the left, then back to the front, and give another quick nod and blink.

"Oo-wake up John and tell meeeeeeeee," I sing, repeating my head motions again, still tapping my left rear hoof in time to the beat. I seem to be enjoying drawing out the last word of each line a little too much. I can't help but smile a very wide smile as I sing the song.

"That you really nnneed meeeeeeeee," I chew on the 'n' in the word 'need' a little bit, and repeat the head motion again. I guess you might call it a habit, but it's what I would most likely do if performing before an audience. I can't begin to count the number of times I have sung this song, but I have firmly committed it to memory.

"Nnnnoooowww as the perfume fills the aaaaaaaaaaaaaaairr," I almost chuckle at this line, but manage to hold it in. Another blink and a nod as I prolong the last syllable again.

"I'm not the kind to worreeeeee," I sing, listening to the backing vocals echo the last word. I almost instinctively repeat the word 'worry' in response to the backing vocalists.

"So wake up John and tell meeeeeeee," I sing, mentally preparing myself for what happens next. Little Eva flubbed the last line of the second verse, and I still can't seem to find what it was exactly she sang, so I kind of half-way figured it out, more or less, but even so, I haven't got it down exactly.

"Just what this love of mine awaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay," I sing with a little confusion on my face. I still smile, but this line still gets me as I haven't determined conclusively what the correct lyrics are. The chorus is repeated three times, fading out on the last repeat.

"Oo-wake up Joooohn, yeah yeah yeah," which is my favorite version of the chorus, causing me to give another big smile, another nod and blink.

"Wake up Jooooooh-ah-ah-ahhhn, wake up Joooooooooooohnnn" I sing as the song fades out. I would have liked the song to be longer, but even so, I still love singing it. I never seem to tire of this song, finding that I could probably listen to it twenty times in succession without getting bored by the song. The drumming is top-notch, and the backing vocalists are virtually on fire. I smile broadly as the song ends.

"Very good! Wonderful performance!" Discord says, beaming his approval and clapping his mis-matched hands in applause.

"Discord! When did you come in?" I asked with some concern.

"About half-way through your performance," he says, still smiling. "You are quite impressive!"

"Thanks for the compliment," I said, still smiling, but not as broadly as when I was performing the song. The next song in the queue comes up, but I let it play while Discord and I talk.

Author's Note:

There was a video on youtube I was going to link to this chapter which features the song in question on a 45 RPM. That version is, in my opinion, the best version of that song. Difficult to find, but a real treat for the ears. I have found another video with the album recording of this song, though her singing is not as bright and exuberant sounding as on the 45 RPM. This version is representative of that better version, the video having been taken down some time back.

Comments

[Renodil]

Little Eva flubbed the last line of the second verse, and I still can't seem to find what it was exactly she sang, so I kind of half-way figured it out, more or less, but even so, I haven't got it down exactly.

Aren't they on the screen? It's a blooming karaeoke machine for crying out loud! Just read what it says.