Hard to believe, but with this week's tune we'll wrap up the eighth year of Friday Night Jukebox. And--surprise of surprises--it's yet another tune recommended by my darling daughter. I want to say she and my son-in-law first heard the tune when they went to Great Britain for their belated honeymoon...but the memory, while still pretty good, isn't quite what it used to be, so I won't swear to it. I do remember that she wasn't sure I'd like it (not an unreasonable assumption based on my being an old fart and it being some of that newfangled music), but it proved to be a special single and so here we are, closing season number eight with it....
Avicii (birth name Tim Bergling) was born in Stockholm, Sweden in 1989 and by the time most kids are graduating from college, he'd already had a hit record and was well on his way to becoming a superstar. Over the course of his unfortunately short career, Avicii worked with numerous artists, had numerous releases, and was credited by some for being one of the driving forces behind electronica's transition into the mainstream in the 2010's. His Wikipedia bio had a few too many facts to include all of them here, but it was quite obvious that he was a global phenomenon and an incredibly talented D.J. He released three studio LPs (one posthumously), all of which reached the top twenty in the U.S., and a whopping fifty-six singles in his brief career. He was also nominated for two Grammy Awards. Avicii retired from performing in 2016, but the pressure from fans and management for him to return combined with serious substance abuse issues eventually led to his all too untimely death from suicide in 2018 at the far too young age of twenty-eight. Just a tragic, tragic loss.
Fun Fact: Avicii took his name from Avici, which is the lowest level of hell in Buddhism and the one with the most suffering. It is also one of the twenty-eight hells in Hinduism...so there's a hell of a lot of hells when it comes to Avici.
"Wake Me Up" was the first single released from Avicii's debut album, True. The single reached #4 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100 and hit number one in thirty-one countries (so many cool kids around the world!). The album hit #5 on the Billboard 200 and #1 in four other countries, including his native Sweden.
I'd be the first to admit my knowledge of electronica is just slightly north of my knowledge of string theory, but from the acoustic guitar intro from co-writer Mike Einziger of Incubus, to the soulful vocals of co-writer Aloe Blacc, to the swirling electronica added by co-writer Avicii, it's not too hard to understand just how special this collaboration was. It's poignant, euphoric, and soothing all at once, as well as groundbreaking with the melding of folk/country with electronica (known as Folktronica). I've mentioned it a time or two before, but every now and again musically everything falls into place on a particular piece of music and we as fans are fortunate enough to witness brilliance--and Avicii's "Wake Me Up" is just one more instance of our very good fortune.
Lyric Sheet: "Tried carrying the weight of the world/But I only have two hands/I hope I get the chance to travel the world/But I don't have any plans..."
Enjoy:
Republicans = Losers
Peace,
emaycee
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