U2 - Wake Up Dead Man Lyrics






Jesus, Jesus help me
I'm alone in this world
And a fucked up world it is too
Tell me, tell me the story
The one about eternity
And the way it's all gonna be
WAKE UP WAKE UP DEAD MAN
WAKE UP WAKE UP DEAD MAN

Jesus, I'm waiting here boss
I know you're looking out for us
But maybe your hands aren't free
Your Father, He made the world in seven
He's in charge of Heaven
Will you put in a word for me
WAKE UP WAKE UP DEAD MAN
WAKE UP WAKE UP DEAD MAN

Listen to your words they'll tell you what to do
Listen over the rhythm that's confusing you
Listen to the reed in the saxophone
Listen over the hum in the radio
Listen over sounds of blades in rotation
Listen through the traffic and circulation
Listen as hope and peace try to rhyme
Listen over marching bands playing out their time
WAKE UP WAKE UP DEAD MAN
WAKE UP WAKE UP DEAD MAN

Jesus, were you just around the corner?
Did you think to try and warn her?
Or are you working on something new?
If there's an order in all of this disorder
Is it like a tape recorder?
Can we rewind it just once more?
WAKE UP WAKE UP DEAD MAN
WAKE UP WAKE UP DEAD MAN





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U2 Wake Up Dead Man Comments
  1. M.... E....

    I feel the frustration

  2. M.... E....

    The answers come too slowly

  3. D.... O....

    Rem listening to this in rehab at age 19 and what a wretch I was now im 40 and the lyrics are still as prevalent to me but somewhat sacrilegious partially because of the the content Jesus is not hands tied with other concerns its our human condition that has us hands tied and you don't need a good word put in for you WE HAVE A DIRECT LINE TO THE FATHER JUST ASK FORGIVENESS AND ASK HIM INTO YOUR LIFE!!! still though this song has led me down that narrow road, also "she's running to stand still", (Joshua tree) only because its centred around the area I grew up in "i see seven towers butvi only see one way out" you no I took the poison from the poison stream and I floated outta hear", pure heroin talk.. so I can't dis my natives but it's easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle the for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven ✌🙌🤲

  4. T.... C....

    Bono was a great lyricist up till this album ....a storyteller who could stand alongside the best of them ....but since this album I don't think what he has had to say has been much Kop ( good) ..nothing that compared to something like BAD or running to a stand still .. you hear bad an you realise how bad his lyrics have gone

  5. T.... ....

    This album has such atmosphere, like Zooropa, different, unique

  6. L.... M....

    best U2 album ever

  7. G.... 8....

    Bono - Wake up, dead man
    Jesus - Wake up, rich man.

  8. C.... E....

    I love you

  9. A.... C....

    It surely is a fucked up world with rapes killings gang violence wars

    A.... C....

    Drugs alchol

  10. A.... C....

    Pop was am experimentle album that turned out great

  11. K.... L....

    jesus , hope he exists

    K.... L....

    Jesus was just a man. You must look for the One Spirit, divine presence, christ, supersoul, whatever you can call it, the One that all religions talk about it.

  12. L.... ....

    They haven't made a better final track since this

  13. G.... E....

    I heard the original version of this and it sounded more like Bullet the Blue Sky , this version as stripped back as it is just class but prefer original , then again I preceded Xanax and Wine to Fast Cars too.

  14. R.... K....

    Pop is such a weird album

  15. K.... ....

    Best song of this album

  16. I.... ....

    Megadeth's version is better

  17. -.... B....

    What is this song about, something bad happening to someone else? (Did you think to try and warn her?)

    About ten years ago, I dreamed about The Joshua Tree. And it had an additional song on it titled "Black And Blue Sky". (I'm pretty sure that came from my favorite song on the album, Bullet The Blue Sky.) It was about someone he loved leaving him, and he was asking the "black and blue sky" how to go on without her. (as if he was asking god how to go on without her) After I woke up, I immediately thought the song I dreamed about was like this one.

  18. L.... D....

    I hear a man hurting because the world is hurting. Jesus we are waiting, Jesus wake up. Order in this disorder?

  19. t.... ....

    Grande Pierotti capparezzzzzzzza

  20. A.... A....

    bezos, bezos help me, I could used some of your money

  21. D.... O....

    Wake up ... World. This amazing track comes from one' of rock's bravest records ....

  22. G.... ....

    I dislike this song because its U2's only song that says fuck in it. Fucked is the word in this, and I don't like it because i like U2 for it's non-explicit lyrics

    G.... ....

    What about Mofo? (which is short for "motherfucker") Even though the lyrics say "sucking", it sure sounds like he's singing "fucking".

  23. Z.... R....

    Underrated album

  24. P.... ....

    Beautiful song

  25. m.... i....

    I bet that is what a lot of people ask themselves at the last light and end of the rope, can we rewind it just once more? How could a world and words that once had such promise crumble at the mere grasp?

  26. G.... G....

    Achtung baby is a masterpiece for me, this song is also a masterpiece. Great great

  27. D.... D....

    great...

  28. A.... M....

    absolute stomper of a track.

  29. P.... P....

    Us in 2018, wanting to go back to the fucked up 90s that isn't looking so fucked up now! Lmao

    P.... P....

    They need to remake this song, and probably change the lyrics so they're about what's going on now a days.

  30. E.... B....

    Älskar den här låten

  31. J.... S....

    Jesus 
    Jesus help me 
    I'm alone in this world 
    And a fucked up world it is too 
    Tell me 
    Tell me the story 
    The one about eternity 
    And the way it's all gonna be 
    Wake up 
    Wake up dead man 
    Wake up 
    Wake up dead man 

    Jesus 
    I'm waiting here boss 
    I know you're looking out for us 
    But maybe your hands aren't free 
    Your Father 
    He made the world in seven 
    He's in charge of heaven 
    Will you put a word in for me 

    Wake up 
    Wake up dead man 
    Wake up 
    Wake up dead man 

    Listen to your words 
    They'll tell you what to do 
    Listen over the rhythm that's confusing you 
    Listen to the reed in the saxophone 
    Listen over the hum of the radio 
    Listen over the sounds of blades in rotation 
    Listen through the traffic and circulation 
    Listen as hope and peace try to rhyme 
    Listen over marching bands playing out their time 

    Wake up 
    Wake up dead man 
    Wake up 
    Wake up dead man 

    Jesus 
    Were you just around the corner? 
    Did you think to try and warn her? 
    Or are you working on something new? 
    If there's and order 
    In all of this disorder 
    Is it like a tape recorder? 
    Can we rewind it just once more 

    Wake up 
    Wake up dead man 
    Wake up 
    Wake up dead man
    Wake up 
    Wake up dead man

    J.... S....

    Is this song (at least the last verse) about something bad happening to someone else?

    "Did you think to try and warn her? "

  32. J.... ....

    Pop starts at a party and ends at a funeral.

    J.... ....

    just like Zooropa.

    J.... ....

    Never thought of it that way. Pop is gut wrenching deep

    J.... ....

    I read the article you stole that from.

  33. �.... �....

    охуенная песня! а все пидоры кто написал тут блять по иностранному в рот их ебать блять идите нахуй блять нахуй нахуй блять

  34. C.... H....

    amazing

  35. L.... W....

    a great song of losing faith

  36. R.... ....

    EARLY Happy 20th Birthday to the last great-great U2 album : *POP* !!!!!!!!!

  37. C.... B....

    20 anos depois continua a ser a minha musica preferida e o POP para mim o melhor álbum.

  38. M.... P....

    So many memories.

  39. P.... S....

    They should play this in full live, not just an acoustic Segway

  40. G.... ....

    An absolute gem of an eerily, beseechingly desperate, yet beautifully profound song about teetering on the edge of faith or doubt, with a personal existentialistic self-or-worldly examination by way of prayer, or secularized-introspective appraisal concerning God and His son, Jesus Christ - whether or not the Almighty still retains a pervasiveness that unequivocally defeats misery, suffering or a general Evil that opposes all that is good or hopeful.
    Bono's distorted, raw voice alongside the instrumentals that are yearning in a sincere muted atmospheric, dirge, yet however, U2's 'Wake Up Dead Man', is also an amazingly emotional burst of the nature of being human - and being able to comprehend everything severely painful in life as well as the sporadic joyousness that occurs throughout this nexus of confusion called humanity.
    U2's 'Wakeup Dead Man' is one of their most deeply, personal and stunningly beautiful tracks ever released.
    This song never fails to stir my soul.

    G.... ....

    There is no god. Religion poisons everything. Look at the trouble it has caused this man. lol.,i had a u2 cd once. I threw it away.

    G.... ....

    Gahan2Vox agreed

    G.... ....

    Lovin the analysis you did there

    G.... ....

    Perhaps Johannes Climacus wrote this tune just before he took-up his pen and composed 'Philosophical Fragments' and 'Unscientific Postscripts'. Perhaps...


    Now it's entirely possible I may be the only foolish fellow to have stumbled across the OPs comment and indirectly understood what he intended to communicate - If this is not the case one must be reminded that I did say I was a foolish fellow. Nevertheless, the OP's comment is, without a doubt in my mind, a brilliant communication whether one is familiar with certain pseudonymous authors or not.


    n.b.
    One could imagine that the Boston 2001 live version of "Until the End to the World" is a foreshortened theatrical-musical representation of the Judge and that dialectical genius Mr. A. i.e.The Ethical and the Aesthetic. And, if the imaginary constructed Mr. A is really Johannes the Seducer incognito, then Bono's performance becomes even more exceptional. Not to be outdone, the Edge's simple guitar riff steadfastly marches forward to the conflict with Bono much as the Judge's long Ethical letters roll undaunted with their clear simplicity leading the vanguard towards Mr. A's dialectical genius. But alas, that is just my silly imagination running amok for surely the song is a direct adaptation of Judas's Betrayal - Or so I've been told directly by so many good youtube posters.

  41. T.... K....

    Awesome song I never get tired of.  Listen to the gravel in Bonos voice.

  42. M.... M....

    Sounds beautiful, even 20 years after I bought the CD ... & more than ever

    M.... M....

    and now, another year is done, i want to go back. to the roots of this song in my youth...

  43. t.... ....

    pretty ok song

    t.... ....

    No! Pretty fuc*king great song! Hmmph!

  44. T.... S....

    007pjer, someone forgot about Joshua tree.

  45. J.... G....

    This song is fucked up. In a good way. This is one of the darkest, most disillusioned and hopeless pieces of music I have ever heard.

    J.... G....

    Stop listening to music and read books. Start with Dante's Inferno and then Journey to the End of the Night by Céline. Music is child's play next to books. Read Carl Jung and learn about the archetypes that have tied your soul in knots.

    J.... G....

    @unfluster Thanks for the book recommendations. Already read the Divine Comedy, I'll check out Journey to the End of Night, sounds interesting. Already familiar with Jung's archetypes, etc. Unfortunately I will never stop listening to music, it is one of mankind's greatest achievements.

    J.... G....

    I`ll wake up every day, again. And again.

  46. M.... ....

    We need you now more than ever boss.

  47. E.... M....

    Tremendo tema. Nunca tuvo una interpretación en vivo acorde a su peso. Una lástima, 'Wake up dead man' merecía un cierre de show oscuro y desatado, como 'Love is blindness' lo fue en ZooTv.

    E.... M....

    Se tocó alguna vez en el Elevation tour y creo que en el Popmart lo usaron como tema de clausura

    E.... M....

    +The Fly91 Lo se. Mediocres ambas interpretaciones, a eso me refería precisamente, que nunca sono como el tema merecía sonar.

    E.... M....

    Lastima que U2 dejo hace rato esa "oscuridad" de la que hablás para adentrarse en el luminoso mundo del marketing, Esteban

    E.... M....

    Esteban Martínez Esta canción es de las mas oscuras de toda su discografía debo decir que antes no me gustaba mucho pero con el paso del tiempo me ha entrado mas y es uno de los mejores cierres de un album al igual que Love is Blindness de hecho Pop me parece un buen album no de los mejores pero si mejor que los últimos dos

    E.... M....

    Es una canción con forma y estructura Jamás encontrada!! Es un tema en el cual toca en el fondo al ser humano reduciéndolo a nada!! Así es un tema muy maravilloso y difícil de comprender donde prácticamente le está hablando a un muerto algo parecido a un vicioso drogadicto! Así de tan centrado está el tema!!

  48. S.... ....

    I was at the opening show in Vegas and 2nd show in san diego, this was the last u2 concerts i went to as their creative tank of inventiveness has been empty. Half a McDonald's arch and a lemon for a set, I wasnt impressed. in vegas, they screwed up staring at the sun, stopped and restarted. Driving 6 hours from LA, paying $$ to hear an under rehearsed band.  
    RATM better prepared and better set list. If You Wear That Velvet Dress in Vegas was terrible, glad it was dropped from the set in SD.

    S.... ....

    Ah fuck that, *Pop* and the eventually perfected Popmart tour was creativity aplenty in their song-album musical tank.
    Just 'pop' in Joshua Tree and War to quench your mainstream disposition thirst.
    The 'Acthung Baby', 'Zooropa', & 'Pop' era was extremely and excessively creative - just people who don't have patience or a knack for true original creativity became lost in the chasm of artistic irony and pure confusion (as you were immersed within).
    Oh well - the life of subjectivity... who knew???

  49. M.... D....

    sounds like mad season -wake up

    M.... D....

    Michał Dobrowolski - Can't be a coinsidence

    M.... D....

    Damn, you're right -- that chord progression is identical, and loud parts come along at about the same intervals. Which song came first?

    M.... D....

    Andrew Pearson this was originally demoed in 1991, theres some leaks of the studio sessions.. so i think this was first, but cant deny they sound very similar

  50. l.... ....

    Alex Jones says Bono became evil, with eugenics and the United Nations

  51. K.... L....

    Damn, those lyrics.  Terrific song, terrific album. 

  52. r.... g....

    este vale apena ouvir  é dos melhores álbuns da sua careira 

  53. J.... W....

    are u2 a Christian band? rock and roll is the devils music !!!!!!!!!

    J.... W....

    @Brenner Plaehn Bono turned evil, doing eugenics stuff with the United Nations

    J.... W....

    @John Cottonwood you are such a dipshit

    J.... W....

    @John Cottonwood he is into some eugenics stuff
    http://www.exohuman.com/wordpress/2012/05/is-bono-evil-or-just-a-big-eejit/

    J.... W....

    @John Cottonwood if the elites really wanted to help Africa do you not think they would have done it already, you stupid f*cking tool

    J.... W....

    @Austin Williams maybe i am wrong

  54. s.... j....

    rock and roll, DEAD AND GONE TO HELL, SINCE 1997.  DON'T COME HOME.  YOU NEVER HAD ONE. NEVER WILL.

  55. B.... ....

    wake up dead man!

  56. i.... ....

    shame!! u2 copy 'wake up' from mad season!!!!

    i.... ....

    Nope, they have nothing in common

  57. r.... ....

    beautiful !

  58. L.... H....

    I love this song.

  59. t.... ....

    decent song, wake up for sure

  60. W.... B....

    @MrChili64 You may be right (though I would probably vote for October as their 'worst album'). But even Zooropa has cool tunes on it-- like "Stay," "Lemon," "Dirty Day," "The Wanderer," and "Zooropa." It just goes to show what a great band U2 are that their 'worst' album still has some good stuff on it. At least U2 has gone out of their way to try new things and experiment, even if they 'fail' sometimes. That's more than you can say for the vast majority of commercially successful bands.

    W.... B....

    Whammy Bard , that's what I've been saying to people who stopped liking U2 after the Joshua Tree, this band stretched their ways up to the limit, no other band, except the mighty Beatles did that.

  61. R.... M....

    Jesus help me!

  62. M.... G....

    @DrSequoia Pop is great, but I don't think it's the best. Achtung Baby and Joshua Tree are better I think. But I definitely respect your opinion!

  63. J.... R....

    The best part of this song? The lyrics are valid in almost every way.

  64. W.... B....

    'Dead Man' is definitely one of the best tunes U2 ever did. IMHO, if you strip Pop down to it's foundations (Discotheque, Staring at the Sun, If God Will Send His Angels, Last Night on Earth, Gone, Miami, Please, Wake Up Dead Man) it's some of the most innovative rock music in history. The band themselves poo-pooed the album because they felt it was 'unfinished.' They'd booked a tour they couldn't back out of-- and ran out of time. It was labelled a commercial failure-- BUT STILL SOLD 5M+ UNITS!

    W.... B....

    AbbeyRoadkill1 you gotta be kidding. This is the best thing they ever did ? I had a u2 cd once. I threw it away.

  65. B.... ....

    I hated this when it was new. I was 17. Had to group a bit to appreciate how awesome it really is.

  66. f.... ....

    @MrChili64 Hmmm, don't know if I would agree with that. Their newer albums don't compare in my opinion.

  67. M.... ....

    @ferdelance618 The worst album of U2 is Zooropa, true story ;)

  68. B.... ....

    i kinda think that this is more alternative or classic rock?

  69. B.... ....

    @gurdjieff100
    spot on comment, my words exactly

  70. A.... S....

    M0:00RE!!!!!!!!

  71. V.... B....

    Me autodedico este tema... +_______+

    V.... B....

    Te lo dedico

  72. B.... ....

    I never understood this album till I struggled with life and God. My favorite U2 album BY FAR.

  73. G.... R....

    @JustCriticism Even tho I like the last 3 U2 albums, i agree w/your comment: Pop made the masses angry and this kind of made the band gunshy about experimenting to this degree, which is a shame. Agree that Pop is a GREAT album!

  74. G.... R....

    Haunting and beautiful song.

  75. N.... ....

    Pop is their "Kid A". The only song that will stand the test of time will be "Discoteque"
    The band themselves have gone on record saying they were unhappy with this effort. No need to defend a sub-par album.

    N.... ....

    Yuck. Discoteque is the least appealing song on the album.

  76. r.... ....

    @DMcCU2 Well, That's where we differ, I believe they have lost their touch on the last three albums. Although I agree with you on Cedars of Lebanon. It is one of the best songs from No Line on the Horizon album. It contains something special within. Grace and One Step Closer are not that good. At least not for me.
    I hope that new album will be more in Cedars' mood. Not so rock, but more into melody and melancholy.
    That would be a splendid direction.

  77. D.... M....

    @redyossarian I disagree. Their recent albums still maintain that creative spark, but they're carrying it off with a different style and swagger. You should listen to songs like Grace, One Step Closer, and Cedars of Lebanon, and you'll know where I'm coming from.

  78. r.... ....

    Last great album by U2. It's a pity they got scared by its progressive sound and went back to easier music.

  79. B.... ....

    This relates to so many lives.

  80. M.... ....

    i m defenitly agreed you my collegs...

  81. p.... ....

    fue mi primer cd y uno de los mejores hasta hoy de u2

  82. C.... W....

    great lyrics and guitar. an underrated song off an underrated album.

  83. C.... G....

    @dvovd That's a bit extreme don't you think?

  84. f.... ....

    I can't believe people consider Pop to one of their worst!!! Love it, thank you for posting!

  85. C.... L....

    Pop, a great album!!